[UPDATE: Some offers mentioned below have expired and/or are no longer available on our site. You can view the current offers from our partners in our credit card marketplace. DISCLOSURE: Cards from our partners are mentioned below.]
What do travelers, deal-hunters and William Shatner fans have in common? They’re all probably familiar with Priceline.com, the website that offers discount rates on airfare, hotel stays, rental cars and other travel bookings. Priceline guarantees the lowest available price on all bookings, and it claims you can save up to 60% on hotels and 40% on rental cars using its “Name Your Own Price” feature.
Frequent travelers and Priceline customers might be intrigued by the Priceline Rewards Visa Card, which offers travel rewards and other perks. (Be sure to check your credit first, so you’ll know if you can handle a new credit inquiry. You can do so using our free credit report snapshot. It’ll show you two of your credit scores and help you determine whether you can qualify for some new plastic.) Plus, there’s no shortage of travel rewards credit cards on the market. Does the Priceline credit card really offer great value?
The Priceline credit card earns five points for every dollar spent on eligible priceline.com purchases. Non-eligible priceline.com purchases and all purchases made elsewhere earn one point per dollar spent. Currently, Priceline is offering 5,000 bonus points (at least a $50 value) as an introductory bonus when you make your first purchase or balance transfer. There is no limit to the points you can earn.
Points can be redeemed for merchandise, gift cards or travel, with travel redemptions getting the most back for your buck. When you make an eligible travel purchase of $25 or more, you can redeem your points as a statement credit within 120 days of purchase. Eligible travel-related purchases can include airfare, hotel reservations, timeshares, campgrounds, car rentals, cruise lines, and much more.
For standard statement credits, Priceline points are worth one cent. But for eligible priceline.com purchases, these points can be redeemed at a 1.5% redemption value. You also get 10% of your points back for those purchases. So, for instance, redeeming 5,000 points on an eligible priceline.com purchase will earn you 500 points back.
The card can make international travel cheaper, as Priceline won’t charge foreign transaction fees.
The purchase APR on the Priceline credit card is a variable 16.99%, 21.99% or 26.99% based on your credit. For balance transfers, Priceline is currently offering a 0% introductory APR for 15 subsequent billing cycles for every balance transfer you complete within 45 days of opening your account. After that, balance transfer APR is a variable 16.99%, 21.99% or 26.99% .
The card does not carry an annual fee.
There are a few draws to owning a Priceline credit card:
The Disadvantages of the Priceline Rewards Visa Card
The Priceline credit card has a few nice features, including five points on the dollar for Priceline.com purchases, redemption bonuses, and extra perks like price protection and free foreign transactions. With no annual fee, the card could be fairly inexpensive — especially if you can qualify for the lower APR or pay off the balance in full each month.
However, a number of competitors offer far better signup bonuses, a greater variety of purchase rewards and other perks.
You’d have to be a frequent traveler who’s exceptionally loyal to Priceline.com to get the best value from this card. If you can’t commit to booking frequent travel on priceline.com, you simply won’t earn enough rewards to make it worthwhile. What’s more, you’ll need an excellent credit score to get a truly competitive APR.
If you’re looking for travel rewards credit cards with good introductory offers and flexible rewards, you may want to consider a few alternative options. Here are two of our favorites.
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Why We Picked It: The Chase Sapphire Preferred card is offering 60,000 signup points when you spend $4,000 in the first three months of opening your account — a $750 value credit when redeemed for travel through Chase’s Ultimate Rewards portal. Cardholders earn two points for every dollar spent on dining and travel and one point for every dollar spent elsewhere. There are no foreign transaction fees and cardholders get a number of travel protection benefits.
At publishing time, the Barclaycard Arrival Plus World Elite MasterCard and Chase Sapphire Preferred credit cards are offered through Credit.com product pages, and Credit.com is compensated if our users apply and ultimately sign up for this card. However, this relationship does not result in any preferential editorial treatment. This content is not provided by the card issuer(s). Any opinions expressed are those of Credit.com alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the issuer(s).
Note: It’s important to remember that interest rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products frequently change. As a result, rates, fees and terms for credit cards, loans and other financial products cited in these articles may have changed since the date of publication. Please be sure to verify current rates, fees and terms with credit card issuers, banks or other financial institutions directly.
This article was last updated September 21st, 2017.
