Don't get the big following around travel rewards on credit cards

[JD Martin]

Hey all,

I've listened to a lot of podcasters and I always hear people hawking the idea of travel hacking/travel rewards on credit cards. I don't get the attraction of points over pure, hard cash back on the cards. All of the credit cards I have are cash back cards, and I can use that money for anything - credit against the statement (I pay for everything with the card and pay it in full each month), get them to send me a check and save it for vacation, whatever. 

What is the value of getting points versus just getting the cash? 

[Ryan Dossey]

So my wife and I have been to Vienna, Budapest, Los Angeles and Denver this year. I'm going to Funchal in Portugal in a few weeks. And we're taking 8 people with us to Hawaii for 2 weeks in August. I'm also looking at going to Medellin with some friends in fall. This is all on miles. The reason we use miles over cashback is the airline/transfer partners. I use Chase and AMEX. If I'm smart with who/what I redeem for I get a WAY better deal. Example: Cash Back from Amex ends up valuing points at like 1cent per point. One of my transfer partners gets me 14 cents per point. 

At the end of the day getting to travel excites me a hell of a lot more than a few bucks back. Not to mention the 14x ROI.