Hi all,
I'm preparing for an upcoming 2 month trip to Europe in November this year. Since last year I have learnt about churning credit cards which has paid for a good portion of my flights to and from Europe. I'm wanting to continue the streak of good rewards but I don't want to get greedy.
Over the past few months I have booked most of the accommodation for my trip through Booking.com. Normally I do not pay until I have arrived at the accommodation so that if there's any issues I can walk away. For all of my bookings, I have elected to pay at the non-refundable date for the accomodation (usually ~2weeks out).
However, I am wondering if I might be able to take advantage of more credit card sign-on bonuses by paying the accommodation in advance over the next 6 months (i.e. spread across 2 or 3 cards). There would also be a few other expenses that could potentially be roped in - car hire, some entertainment, etc.
I am looking for some advice from anyone who has considered doing this and/or done this before. My main concerns are:
What if I for some reason need to refund a booking but I have closed the card that I paid on? Based on some previous forum posts I found here, this isn't really a big deal, and the CC bank will just send the money to an account I have (or a cheque).
Will I be screwed if I need to refund a booking for some reason (before the non-refundable date) and the hotel decides not to refund me, especially given I will be dealing with an overseas company?
Ultimately I am wondering if the risk of parting with the credit to overseas hotels is worth the reward of bonus points? Please let me know your thoughts!
Cheers!
Keep in mind that if you close the card before you go, you may lose the complimentary travel insurance.