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How to save on travel with a Costco credit card

Yahoo Personal Finance· Getty Images
Kendall Little
·Senior Writer, Credit Cards
Updated 7 min read

If you’re a regular Costco shopper, the Costco Anywhere Visa® Card by Citi can make a lot of sense for your wallet. With savings both at the wholesale club and on additional everyday spending categories, it has a lot of savings potential.

Before you plan your next vacation, you should also consider its potential value as a travel credit card. Specifically, as a way to save more money when you book a trip through Costco Travel.

Whether you’re a Costco member already or considering joining the club, here’s what to know about saving on your next Costco Travel booking with a Costco credit card.

Annual fee: $0 (though you must be a Costco member, which costs $60-$120 annually)

Welcome offer: N/A

Rewards:

  • 4% cash back on eligible gas and electric vehicle charging purchases (up to the first $7,000 spent each year, then 1%)

  • 3% cash back at restaurants

  • 3% cash back on eligible travel purchases (including Costco Travel)

  • 2% cash back on all other Costco and Costco.com purchases

  • 1% back on everything else

More details: This card offers few added benefits beyond the cash rewards it offers. You’ll receive your cash-back rewards once per year as a rewards certificate, which you can redeem only at U.S. Costco warehouses in a single transaction.

Costco Travel is a service Costco members can use to book hotels, rental cars, cruises, and whole vacation packages at discounted rates. You can even find theme park tickets (including Disneyland and Walt Disney World) and all-inclusive resort packages.

While you must be a Costco member to use Costco Travel, there’s no option to book your trip in-store at a warehouse. You can either search travel options through the online Costco Travel portal or speak with an expert by phone at 1-866-921-7925.

If you have a Costco Executive membership (the $120/year tier), Costco Travel purchases also count toward your 2% annual rewards. You’ll earn 2% rewards on the bulk of your travel costs, though taxes, fees, surcharges, and some other parts of the transaction may not be included.

When you book through Costco Travel, your package often comes with additional credits or other benefits to add even more value to your vacation. You may also earn Digital Costco Shop Cards with your travel purchase. These are essentially Costco gift cards that you can use on future Costco spending with Costco Travel, on Costco.com, or at Costco warehouses.

When you search for deals through the Costco Travel site, the itinerary overviews will typically indicate whether the trip comes with a Digital Costco Shop Card (along with info about daily resort credits and other savings). These gift cards can offer you hundreds of dollars in value back on your vacation to put toward future everyday spending with Costco.

When you use your Costco Anywhere Visa to book a trip through Costco Travel, you’ll get 3% cash back on the purchase. These 3% rewards are in addition to the 2% you’ll earn as an Executive Member and any potential Digital Costco Shop Cards.

Plus, your Costco Anywhere Visa includes a few travel protections that can help keep you covered on your trip. These include travel accident insurance, car rental insurance, travel and emergency assistance, and more. Make sure you read your card’s terms to see what your exact protections are.

Finally, this card has no foreign transaction fees — so you can use your Costco card and earn more rewards when traveling abroad without taking on any extra charges.

With multiple ways to earn rewards, it’s possible to score a lot of potential savings on your Costco Travel booking.

Let’s take, for example, a family of four planning a vacation to an all-inclusive family resort in Cancun during the fall. They’ll leave from Dallas and want to book a room at the Hyatt Ziva Cancun from Oct. 6-11.

If they were to book this vacation through Costco Travel today — the all-inclusive resort, flights for four, and transportation to and from the airport — the cost would total $5,748.58. For comparison, we also looked up the price to book the same trip directly through the airline and hotel — today, that cost is about $5,700.

While, on the surface, the two bookings are almost exactly the same price, that doesn’t account for the extra Costco rewards.

Here’s the savings breakdown when we account for the Costco Travel rewards. The below amounts assume all costs are eligible for rewards and that our family has an Executive membership.

  • 3% cash back with the Costco Anywhere card: $172.46

  • 2% back with Executive membership: $114.97

  • Digital Costco Shop Card included with booking: $321

  • Total: $608.43

Of course, you can also save when you book directly with the airline and hotel if you’re a member of their loyalty programs. You could also use another travel credit card with rewards for travel bookings.

But there is a ton of value in the multiple ways to earn and save through Costco — if you’re already a regular Costco shopper and will get the full value of your rewards. In this case, you could essentially reduce your cost from $5,748.58 to $5,140.15, with those savings going toward your future Costco spending.

Note: These totals are just examples; the actual amount you’ll owe will change depending on when you’re looking to book and your specific travel details, as well as adding on fees and taxes not included here

If you’re not sure a Costco credit card is the best option for your travel savings, there are plenty of great travel rewards credit cards available today with a range of rewards programs, categories, and added benefits. Here are some of our top picks:

Why we like it: For a $95 annual fee, the Chase Sapphire Preferred offers travel rewards and great redemptions. After you’re approved you can earn 75,000 bonus points when you spend $4,000 within the first three months. Ongoing rewards include 3x points on dining, online grocery purchases, and select streaming services, and 1x points on all non-bonus category spending. You’ll also get an annual $50 statement credit each account year for hotel purchases through Chase Travel; travel you purchase through Chase Travel (excluding spending that qualifies for the hotel credit) earns 5x points and all other travel spending earns 2x points.

When you’re ready to redeem your Chase Sapphire Preferred points, you can get a 25% boost when you redeem for travel through Chase. That means that every point is worth 1.25 cents toward travel when booking through the issuer's portal. For example, you can get more than $900 in value with the 75,000-point welcome offer. You’ll also get an annual points bonus on your account anniversary equal to 10% of your total purchases over the year prior.

Why we like it: Solid travel rewards earnings don’t get more straightforward than the Capital One Venture. This card has a $95 annual fee and a welcome offer worth 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 within the first three months. For rewards, you’ll earn 5x miles when you book hotels and rental cars through Capital One Travel and 2x miles on every other purchase.

To redeem your miles for travel, you’ll have the option to book a trip through Capital One Travel or to put the rewards value toward a travel purchase on your card statement. The Venture Card also offers a credit up to $100 toward TSA PreCheck or Global Entry and a $50 experience credit when you book a hotel stay through Capital One Travel’s Lifestyle Collection.

Why we like it: The American Express Gold Card is another great travel option for earning rewards today to use on future travel. It carries a $250 annual fee (see rates and fees) but offers 4x points at restaurants, 4x points at U.S. supermarkets (up to $25,000 spent per year, then 1%), 3x points on flights booked directly with airlines or through Amex Travel, and 1x points on all other purchases. You can also earn 60,000 bonus points when you spend $6,000 within the first six months.

Despite the high annual fee, there is plenty of opportunity to get the value back through annual credits. When you add your Amex Gold card to your Uber account, you can get up to $120 annually ($10 per month) in Uber Cash — and get up to $120 ($10 per month; with enrollment) in dining statement credits for eligible spending at Grubhub, The Cheesecake Factory, Goldbelly, Wine.com, Milk Bar and select Shake Shack locations.

This article was edited by Rebecca McCracken

Editorial Disclosure: The information in this article has not been reviewed or approved by any advertiser. The details on financial products, including card rates and fees, are accurate as of the publish date. All products or services are presented without warranty. Check the bank’s website for the most current information. This site doesn't include all currently available offers.