Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2025: Travel Credit Cards
About the Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards 2025
The Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards aim to recognize and celebrate the best products and services in the personal finance arena. We asked you, our Kiplinger community, to help us name the products and services you think have delivered excellent value in the past year.
The survey results, which we’re sharing here in our second annual Readers’ Choice Awards, offer valuable insight into which providers shine when it comes to your everyday interactions and experiences with them. Our Awards recognize excellence in everything from credit cards, banks and brokers to insurers, tax software and financial apps. For each category, we’ve listed an overall winner that earned the highest score. We’ve also highlighted other products and services that earned above-average scores for various criteria we asked readers to assess.
By voting, our community has helped us form our guide to the very best financial products. These are the products and companies that you think stand out from the crowd.
Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards: Travel Credit Cards
These cards typically offer extra points or miles on travel spending. And many heap on additional perks, such as statement credits for hotel, airline or dining purchases. Readers rated travel rewards cards on the strength of customer service, the likelihood they’d recommend the card to others and overall satisfaction.
OVERALL WINNER: The Platinum Card® from American Express
Outstanding for:
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- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
The Platinum Card® from American Express comes with a high annual fee of $695. But one survey respondent says that for frequent travelers, the fee “absolutely pays for itself” thanks to the abundance of benefits the card provides. You get annual statement credits of up to $200 on select prepaid hotel bookings through American Express Travel, $200 for incidental fees (such as for checked bags or in-flight refreshments) with one qualifying airline of your choice, $155 for a Walmart+ membership (which provides free shipping and other perks from Walmart), $240 for certain digital entertainment subscriptions (including select TV streaming and newspaper subscriptions), and $200 in Uber Cash. Cardholders also get free access to a number of airline lounges, including Amex’s own Centurion lounges and partner lounges in the Delta Sky Club®, Plaza Premium and Priority Pass Select networks (enrollment required).
Cardholders earn five points per dollar on prepaid hotel bookings through AmexTravel.com and on airfare purchases. Other spending earns one point per dollar. Terms apply.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Outstanding for:
- Customer service
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
One reader says that getting a Chase Sapphire Preferred® card (annual fee $95) was a “no-brainer” because of its impressive welcome bonus, which was recently 100,000 points (worth $1,250 in travel booked through Chase) for anyone who spends at least $5,000 in the first three months. You also get five points per dollar spent when you book reservations through Chase Travel, three points per dollar on dining, two points per dollar on other travel purchases, and one point per dollar on other spending.
You can transfer points you earn to partner airline loyalty programs, including Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards and United MileagePlus, and hotel programs, such as World of Hyatt, Marriott Bonvoy and IHG Rewards Club.
Capital One Venture X
Outstanding for:
- Most recommended
- Overall satisfaction
The Capital One Venture X Rewards credit card has a $395 annual fee, but you can take advantage of plenty of perks to offset it. Chief among them is the $300 annual travel credit you receive when you book travel through Capital One.
You’ll also earn 10,000 miles, worth $100 in travel bookings, each year on your account anniversary. Hotel stays and rental cars booked through Capital One earn 10 miles per dollar, and flights and vacation rentals reserved through Capital One earn five miles per dollar; other spending earns two miles per dollar.
One survey respondent commended Capital One for its service: “The company is responsive to inquiries. Their website is user-friendly and easy to use.”
American Express® Gold Card
Outstanding for:
Like other premium cards, the American Express® Gold Card offsets a hefty annual fee ($325) with a host of benefits. Cardholders get four points per dollar on U.S. restaurant and supermarket purchases (yearly spending caps of $50,000 and $25,000, respectively, apply to those rewards), three points per dollar on flights booked through American Express Travel, two points per dollar on prepaid U.S. hotel and other eligible bookings through the AmexTravel.com portal, and one point per dollar on other spending.
You’ll also receive up to $120 in Uber Cash annually and up to $100 in yearly credits when you dine at restaurants that offer reservations through the Resy platform and there are no foreign transaction fees. Terms apply.
Capital One Venture Rewards
Outstanding for:
With the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card($95), you earn five miles per dollar spent on vacation rentals, hotels and rental cars booked through Capital One and two miles per dollar for all other purchases.
Cardholders also receive a statement credit of up to $120 to reimburse the application fee for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck and automatic Five Star status with Hertz, allowing you to skip long lines at the rental counter.
Chase Sapphire Reserve Visa
Outstanding for:
One reader with high household spending on dining out and travel says Chase Sapphire Reserve® Credit Card ($550) “offers a ton of value.” It rewards cardholders with a $300 travel credit each year for bookings through Chase Travel and access to more than 1,300 airport lounges in the Priority Pass Select network.
Cardholders also get 10 points per dollar on hotel reservations and car rentals booked through Chase Travel, five points per dollar on flights reserved through the portal, three points per dollar on other travel spending and on dining and one point per dollar on other purchases.
Kiplinger Readers’ Choice Awards Categories
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