Reading Time: 8 minWe’re nearly halfway through 2025, but there’s still plenty of time to make the most of the year. In fact, this is when I like to do a personal mid-year check-in, reviewing my points and miles strategy to be sure I’m not missing any easy wins.
If you haven’t done the same yet, now’s a great moment to map out your travel rewards game plan for the rest of the year. With a few simple moves, you could be well on your way to booking your next trip for nearly free. To help you out, here are my top ways to boost your points and miles through the rest of 2025.
One of the best — and I mean best — ways to increase your points and miles balance is through credit card bonus offers. A single sign-up bonus can earn 100,000 points or even more.
Even if you feel like you already have a lot of credit cards in your wallet, I promise you, there's always room for more, so long as you use them responsibly.
If you're a newbie in the points and miles world, one of the two cards we recommend starting off with is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card. Sadly, the CSP's huge bonus offer just ended, and it's not likely we'll see it again this year. But new card holders can still earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 in the first 3 months after opening the account.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred earns flexible points called Ultimate Rewards, which means you can use them to book travel through Chase's own travel portal (similar to booking through Expedia), or transfer them to one of Chase's 14 airline and hotel partners.
The other card we recommend for beginners is the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card, which currently comes with 75,000 bonus miles after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months.
Capital One has more transfer partners, but they're not as easy to use as Chase's. However, the Capital One Venture also comes with a feature called the "Purchase Eraser," which lets you use your miles to wipe away any travel purchase you make with the card, which is about as easy as it gets.
If you're already a pro in the Chase and Capital One ecosystems, you'll want to look into one of the other major flexible points programs: American Express Membership Rewards, Citi ThankYou Rewards, and Bilt Rewards. All of these programs earn flexible points, which means they can be easy to use, or transferred for even more value.
After that, there's a plethora of airline and hotel credit cards, which can also be a great value once you figure out your travel goals.
While there are many credit cards that get recommended based on personal spending habits, this is one that has to be highlighted.
The Bilt Mastercard earns travel points for paying your rent — up to 100,000 points throughout the year, and with no transaction fees. That's an incredible return on what's likely to be your biggest monthly expense.
Even if your landlord charges a fee to accept a credit card, Bilt will create an ACH account for you instead so you don't get charged for paying that way. They can even write a check and mail it to your landlord each month if that's how you pay rent.
The Bilt Rewards program is also highly regarded, with a plethora of airline and hotel transfer partners, as well as the option to book through Bilt's own travel portal. With this no-annual-fee card, your rent payments can truly add up in no time.
Speaking of Bilt, even if you don't pay rent or have a Bilt Mastercard, you can still earn Bilt Rewards points in other ways.
With the free Bilt Neighborhood Benefits program, you earn extra points every time you shop at a partner merchant, and you can use any credit card — or even a debit card — linked to your Bilt account. Plus, you'll still earn your regular credit card rewards on top of it all.
Some of the more popular ways to earn points through Bilt Neighborhood Benefits include eating out at local restaurants, shopping at Walgreens, signing up for a fitness class at participating studios, and more. You can even link your Lyft account to Bilt and earn extra points every time you take a rideshare.
I personally have five credit cards linked to my Bilt account, which means I’m earning points no matter which card I use. It’s a simple “set it and forget it” strategy that ends up earning me bonus points each month, often without even realizing it.
Plus, since Bilt points transfer to 22 different airline and hotel partners, there are plenty of ways to put those extra points to good use. You’ll find familiar names like Alaska Airlines, United, Air France/KLM, British Airways, Marriott, Hyatt, and more, making it easy to earn and redeem your rewards across some of the most popular travel programs.
Aside from Bilt, you can earn extra points and miles in many other partner programs when you take a Lyft or Uber. But you'll need to link your accounts in advance.
With Uber, you can earn extra rewards with Delta SkyMiles, Air Canada Aeroplan, Marriott Bonvoy, Air France/KLM Flying Blue, and Qantas Frequent Flyer, while Lyft currently partners with Alaska Airlines, Hilton Honors, and Bilt Rewards.
Keep in mind that you can only link one airline or hotel partner per service, so there's no double dipping rewards. But with either Uber or Lyft, there's no cap on how many points you can earn. So don't leave any rewards on the table during your next "taxi" ride.
By connecting your credit card to a free rewards dining program, you can earn points or miles whenever you eat at participating restaurants.
Just spend a few minutes up front entering your credit card (or cards) into the dining program, and you'll automatically earn bonus points when you dine out at an eligible restaurant.
New members to dining programs can also earn a bonus for signing up and then dining out. Some of our favorites include Delta SkyMiles Dining, American AAdvantage Dining, Alaska Mileage Plan Dining, United MileagePlus Dining, and Southwest Rapid Rewards Dining.
Most everyone shops online these days, and there's a reward for that — the option to earn extra points and miles. But not just the ones that come from using your credit card to pay.
With a free online shopping portal, instead of going directly to the retailer's website, you start at the portal first. From there, you search for your merchant, click through to their website, and then make your purchase as you normally would. The process only takes an extra minute, and the extra points or miles are well worth it.
One of my personal favorites is the Rakuten shopping portal, which lets you choose whether to earn cash back or American Express Membership Rewards points.
Rakuten is currently offering a $30 bonus to new members who spend $30 through their portal in the first 90 days after joining. They even have a free Chrome extension you can download as a pop-up reminder to activate the portal first when you're shopping. It truly couldn't be easier.
If you're looking to accrue points or miles with a specific carrier, many airlines also offer their own shopping portals, including American, Delta, United, Alaska, Southwest, and JetBlue. Plus, several times throughout the year, airline shopping portals will offer a bonus for spending a certain amount during a designated timeframe.
What if I told you that you could potentially earn up to 200,000 points per year just by referring your friends?
Many credit cards offer a refer-a-friend option, so you can earn points or miles if a friend applies through your referral link. For example, if you have a Marriott credit card, you'll currently earn 40,000 bonus points for every friend who's approved (and meets the offer terms), so long as your friend applies through your referral link.
That means if you refer 5 friends or family members in a year, you'll get 200,000 Marriott bonus points. Combine that with Marriott's fifth night free benefit, and you could get an amazing 5-night vacation simply by sharing your points knowledge with others.
Finally, while this might sound obvious, I'm always shocked at how many friends I have that tell me they aren't a member of a loyalty program — even though they just flew the airline last week.
Even if you think you'll never fly a specific airline or stay at a particular hotel chain, enroll in their free rewards program. There's absolutely no reason not to. Yes, it might be a while before those points are worth something to you, but you never know down the line when they'll come in handy.
And once you do sign up for an airline or hotel program, make sure to register for every bonus offer you see. We here at Points Path highlight many of our favorite bonus promotions in our "Top 5 Deals" every weekend, so make sure to register when those offers cross your inbox.
With the year almost halfway over, it's a great time to get all your ducks in a row and ensure you'll earn as many rewards as possible throughout the rest of 2025. And of course, you'll be setting yourself up for 2026 as well.
Between credit card bonus offers, shopping portals, dining portals, friend referrals, and signing up for every extra opportunity possible, your points and miles will be rolling in before you know it, and you'll be well on your way to that much-needed vacation — all with your travel rewards.
