A regular Costco Gold Star membership not only gets you into the Warehouse Club doorway, but it also lets you save some serious money on your travels using the Costco Travel Portal. This is an increasingly popular Costco perk, but not everyone is taking advantage of it yet.
If you're saving money with Costco Travel but aren't yet an Executive Member, consider upgrading. Why? Because Executive Members earn Annual Costco Rewards worth 2% of eligible Costco purchases each year.
And guess what? This includes purchases made at Costco Travel.
2% of a four-figure vacation is a lot of money.
Add in hotels, flights, and rental cars, and even a long weekend can easily cost over $1,000. Also, if you book a big vacation or honeymoon, he could end up paying 10 or 20 times more.
On either end, 2% actually adds up pretty quickly. This is what it looks like when expressed in real numbers.
|
vacation costs |
Costco 2% return |
|---|---|
|
$1,000 |
$20 |
|
$1,500 |
$30 |
|
$2,000 |
$40 |
|
$2,500 |
$50 |
|
$3,000 |
$60 |
|
$4,000 |
$80 |
|
$5,000 |
100 dollars |
|
$6,000 |
$120 |
|
$7,000 |
$140 |
|
$10,000 |
200 dollars |
|
$15,000 |
300 dollars |
|
$20,000 |
400 dollars |
|
$25,000 |
500 dollars |
Data source: Author calculations
If you buy one $3,000 vacation package, you'll earn enough rewards to cover the $60 upgrade cost. So any other eligible Costco purchases you make during the year are pure savings.
And what about longer vacations? You're talking about serious savings. In fact, 2% of a five-figure honeymoon trip is enough to pay for a luxurious night out on your first anniversary. (And nothing makes for a more romantic evening than thrifting, friends!)
Combine with Costco Travel discounts
If you're not familiar with Costco Travel, you might not realize how great of a service it is. My research on Costco Travel shows that you can get great discounts on hotels, flights, and rental cars.
In fact, the lowest savings I found was 7%, while the highest was 15%. And as the table above shows, if we're talking about big numbers to begin with, even small percentages add up quickly. (For reference, 7% of $10,000 is $700 and 15% is $1,500.)
That means you're already saving hundreds of dollars before even including executive compensation. Plus, with an additional 2% in rewards, you could save up to 17% on your travel costs.
But wait, that's not all.
Costco Travel is typically coded as “travel.”
According to the report, purchases made at Costco Travel will show up on your credit card as either your travel agent, Costco Travel, or your travel provider (Budget, Delta, Hilton, etc.). Either way, this should count as “travel” on most travel rewards credit cards.
This means you can receive bonus benefits on your travel purchases even if you book through Costco Travel. Depending on how you value these benefits, you could save an additional 6% or more on the effective cost of your vacation.
This may not work, so I'll add the necessary warning here. all travel card. For example, according to Reddit users' experiences, US Bank typically does not count “travel agent” as an eligible part of the travel category. Check your card's terms and conditions or contact your card issuer directly to find out.
Must use Visa or Mastercard
One thing to note is that Costco's ridiculous credit card policy also applies to Costco Travel. Specifically, you must use a Visa or Mastercard credit card for your Costco Travel purchases. (This is at least a little better since only Visa credit cards can be used for purchases in US stores.)
However, there are still plenty of great travel rewards cards to choose from, so you don't have to worry about getting solid rewards here.Especially when combined with Costco Travel Portal discounts. and 2% benefit on newly upgraded Executive Membership.
With all these savings, you're almost ready to pay for your next vacation.
The best credit cards to use at Costco (and everywhere else!)
If you're shopping with a debit card, you could be missing out on hundreds or even thousands of dollars each year. These versatile credit cards offer huge perks everywhere, including Costco, and are rated his best cards of 2024 by experts because they offer hefty sign-up bonuses and great cash rewards. It has been. Plus, all of these recommendations include competitive 0% interest periods, so you can save on credit card interest.
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We strongly believe in the Golden Rule. As such, editorial opinions are our own and have not been previously reviewed, approved or endorsed by any included advertisers. Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content on The Ascent is separate from editorial content on The Motley Fool and is produced by a separate team of analysts. Britney Myers has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Costco Wholesale, Mastercard, US Bancorp, and Visa. The Motley Fool recommends long January 2025 $370 calls on Mastercard and short January 2025 $380 call options on Mastercard. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
“Why You Should Upgrade Your Costco Membership When Using Costco Travel” was originally published by The Motley Fool.
