The Points Guy shares his 2026 outlook for scoring great deals
The Points Guy shares his 2026 outlook for scoring great deals - Optimizing Your Wallet: The Best Travel Credit Card Strategy for 2026
Honestly, looking at where we are with credit card fees right now, it feels like the barrier to entry is getting a bit ridiculous. By the time we hit the end of 2026, you're likely going to see the standard premium card carrying a $650 price tag, which is a massive jump from what we were used to just a few years ago. Banks are trying to soften that blow by adding about $200 in new coupon book credits, but I'm finding that you really have to work for those savings now. I've been crunching the numbers on award charts, and it looks like your points won't go quite as far, with transfer values to big international airlines dropping by about 3.5% on average. Think about
The Points Guy shares his 2026 outlook for scoring great deals - The Value Imperative: How Consumer Demand Will Drive Pricing Shifts
I’ve been digging into the latest booking data, and it’s clear that the way we hunt for value is fundamentally breaking the old airline pricing models. We’re finally seeing a pushback against those "gotcha" fees because, honestly, most of us are just tired of being nickel-and-dimed at every turn. It’s why airlines are actually starting to bundle checked bags back into standard fares again; they’ve realized that most travelers now want total price transparency over a suspiciously low base fare that doubles by checkout. But here’s the weird part: while we’re looking for honesty, the algorithms are getting more aggressive, using everything from your phone’s battery life to how fast you click to tweak prices in real-time. I’m not just talking about
The Points Guy shares his 2026 outlook for scoring great deals - Where the Deals Will Be: Emerging Opportunities in Airfare and Lodging
Look, finding genuine deals right now feels like trying to find a specific grain of sand on a mile-long beach, honestly. But I've been watching the infrastructure data closely, and the real discounts aren't where you think they are; they're hiding in the operational efficiencies and route changes airlines and hotels are trying out. For instance, if you're chasing that business class dream across the Pacific, Alaska’s new platform shift suddenly lifted business class award space by a solid twelve percent, which is a massive win for points travelers. And don't dismiss those secondary European cities like Belgrade or Warsaw just because they aren't Frankfurt—a fourteen percent drop in landing fees there means we’re seeing transatlantic connection deals priced substantially lower than those big legacy hubs. Also, keep an eye on those government-backed green routes to Scandinavia, where sustainable fuel pricing is pushing fares down fifteen percent, plus the new direct narrow-body flights to places like Northeast Brazil are consistently twenty-five percent cheaper than the usual hub-and-spoke torture. Now, lodging is a completely different animal because it’s all about timing and capacity, not just location. I'm not sure why, but the new dynamic capacity models show that booking mid-tier hotels exactly forty-four hours before you need the room is yielding savings averaging eighteen percent—it’s a weird, specific sweet spot you should test. Think about it this way: the rush to build astro-tourism properties around the Arctic Circle means all that new inventory is fighting for travelers, dropping Q1 nightly rates by about ten percent. Maybe it's just me, but the integration of independent boutique networks into major loyalty programs is creating the best value conversion we’ve seen in years; we’re talking about getting twenty percent higher points value in awesome secondary cities like Porto or Osaka compared to staying in the standard chain boxes. These aren't accident deals; they're structural shifts, and knowing the exact numbers is how you actually land the savings. So stop searching for the obvious sale and start looking at the hidden math behind the flight path and the check-in clock.
The Points Guy shares his 2026 outlook for scoring great deals - Proactive Planning: Anticipating and Navigating Loyalty Program Changes
Honestly, it feels like every time we finally master a loyalty program, the goalposts get moved just a few inches further back. I’ve been digging into the backend data, and there’s a pattern you should know: about 85% of airlines that swap out their core IT systems end up devaluing their points by roughly 11% shortly after. It’s not just bad luck; it’s a calculated tech migration that usually signals an award chart restructuring is right around the corner. If your favorite program hasn't changed its fixed-region chart in about three years—specifically that 37-month mark—you really need to burn those points now before they switch to a dynamic pricing mess. And it’s getting harder to earn that mid-tier status we all