Is Travel Hacking Worth It in Canada? Honest Answer From Real Travellers (2026)

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We get some version of this question constantly — from friends, from family, from readers who have followed our 100-day Asia trip and looked at the numbers and thought: that seems too good to be true. Twenty thousand dollars saved on hotels and flights through points? Free nights at the St. Regis Beijing and the InterContinental Da Nang? Vancouver to Paris for $140 CAD in taxes?

The question underneath all of it is always the same: is this actually worth it, or is it more complicated and more limited than it looks?

We had the same question before we started. We were skeptical, then curious, then convinced — not by a travel blog telling us it was easy, but by the actual experience of doing it over two to three years and watching everyday spending convert into extraordinary travel.

This is our honest answer. Every objection addressed. Every genuine limitation acknowledged. And the clear, direct case for why travel hacking is worth it for most Canadians who are willing to approach it with patience and a reasonable amount of attention.

First: What Travel Hacking Actually Is (And What It Isn’t)

Travel hacking is not hacking in any technical sense. It is not exploiting loopholes, gaming systems, or doing anything that credit card companies or loyalty programs don’t explicitly allow and actively encourage.

It is simply the deliberate use of travel rewards credit cards and loyalty programs to convert everyday spending — groceries, restaurants, utilities, subscriptions, every purchase you were going to make anyway — into points and miles that can be redeemed for flights and hotel nights at significantly better value than cash.

The mechanism is straightforward: credit card companies pay loyalty programs for every point they issue to cardholders. Loyalty programs price their awards in ways that, for certain redemptions, deliver more value per dollar than the cash alternative. Travel hackers identify these redemptions and position themselves to use them — by accumulating the right points in advance and booking when the value is good.

That’s it. No tricks. No complexity beyond the initial learning curve. No exploitation of anything. Just the deliberate use of programs that are designed to reward exactly this behaviour.

The Honest Numbers: What We Actually Saved

Before addressing the objections, here is the concrete financial picture of what travel hacking produced for us on a single 100-day trip:

Hotels on points and certificates: Over 60 nights across the trip redeemed on Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, and World of Hyatt. Conservative cash equivalent at the rates available at booking: $15,000–$18,000 CAD.

Flights on points and miles: Multiple regional flights and the Korea to Vancouver return on Alaska Miles. Conservative cash equivalent: $3,000–$4,000 CAD.

Elite status benefits (complimentary breakfast for two, lounge access, suite upgrades): Conservative estimate across Marriott Platinum Elite and Hilton Diamond stays: $2,000–$2,500 CAD.

Total conservative estimate: $20,000–$24,000 CAD in travel value extracted from points accumulated over approximately two to three years of everyday spending.

The annual fees paid across all cards during that accumulation period: approximately $1,500–$2,000 CAD total.

The net saving: $18,000–$22,000 CAD. On a single trip.

The Objections — Addressed Honestly

“It’s Too Complicated”

This is the most common objection and the one we most understand — because the Canadian travel hacking community, for all its genuine usefulness, can make the subject feel intimidatingly complex. Multiple programs, transfer partners, award charts, dynamic pricing, cents-per-point calculations — it reads like a specialist hobby rather than something accessible to normal people with busy lives.

Here is the honest truth: the basics are genuinely simple, and the basics are sufficient for most of the value.

The basic version of travel hacking is: get a Marriott Bonvoy card for free hotel nights, get an Amex Cobalt for 5x points on food spending, get an Aeroplan card for flights. Use them for everyday spending. Don’t carry balances. Redeem when you have enough for something meaningful.

That’s it. Three cards, two rules (no balances, use for normal spending), one outcome (significantly cheaper travel). The complexity available in the hobby beyond this is optional — it can improve your returns, but the basic version alone delivers life-changing travel value to most Canadians who implement it.

We started simply. We added complexity gradually as we learned what worked for our specific travel patterns. Most people should do the same.

“The Annual Fees Cancel Out the Value”

This objection deserves a specific, mathematical response because it is almost never true in practice for people who use the included benefits.

Take the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card at $120 CAD annual fee. It includes an annual free night certificate. At a Marriott property with a cash rate of $250 CAD per night — entirely typical for a mid-range Marriott in a major city — that certificate delivers $250 in value for a $120 fee. The card pays for itself in the first redemption, before a single point is earned.

The Amex Platinum at $799 CAD includes a $200 travel credit (reducing the effective fee to $599), unlimited Priority Pass lounge access (at $30–$50 USD per visit, a couple using it on four trips annually saves $240–$400), and complimentary Marriott Gold and Hilton Gold status (delivering room upgrades and in some cases breakfast). The annual fee is real and significant — and for travellers who use these benefits, it is routinely exceeded in value.

The honest version of this objection is: some people pay annual fees and don’t use the benefits, in which case the fee does cancel out the value. The solution is not to avoid annual fee cards — it is to only hold cards whose benefits you will actually use.

“I Don’t Spend Enough to Accumulate Meaningful Points”

The Canadian average household spends approximately $90,000–$110,000 per year according to Statistics Canada — on housing, food, transport, utilities, insurance, entertainment, and everything else. The proportion of this that can be directed through rewards credit cards varies by individual, but for most households it is substantial.

At 2 points per dollar on the conservative end of a mixed spending portfolio, $60,000 in annual card spending produces 120,000 points. At Marriott Bonvoy’s standard rates, 120,000 points covers multiple free nights at quality properties. At Aeroplan’s award pricing, 120,000 points covers transatlantic business class.

The issue is usually not that people don’t spend enough — it is that their spending isn’t directed through rewards cards. Mortgage payments, rent, utilities paid by direct debit, insurance premiums — all of this spending can often be redirected through rewards cards with no additional cost. The points accumulation follows.

“I’m Worried About Carrying a Balance and Paying Interest”

This is the right concern and the right limitation — and we will be completely direct about it: travel hacking is only financially beneficial if you pay your full credit card balance every month without exception.

Credit card interest rates in Canada typically run 19.99–22.99%. A single month of carrying a balance on $3,000 in spending costs approximately $50–$60 in interest — potentially wiping out weeks of points accumulation in a single statement period. Carrying balances consistently destroys the financial case for travel rewards cards entirely.

If you carry credit card balances currently, fix that first. Get to a position where you pay in full every month reliably before starting a travel hacking strategy. The points are not worth the interest — not by any calculation.

For people who already pay in full every month, this concern doesn’t apply and the financial case is clear.

“Programs Devalue Their Points and the Value Disappears”

True — and worth taking seriously. Loyalty programs do periodically restructure their award pricing, and these restructurings almost always reduce the value of existing points balances. Marriott Bonvoy has done it. Aeroplan has done it. Flying Blue has done it. Every major program has done it at least once.

The response to this risk is not to avoid accumulating points — it is to diversify across programs and to redeem rather than hoard. Points sitting in an account for years are maximally exposed to devaluation. Points redeemed deliberately on a specific trip timeline are exposed for a much shorter period.

We spread our accumulation across Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, Aeroplan, Flying Blue, and IHG — so no single program restructuring could devastate our overall position. And we redeemed consistently toward specific trips rather than building indefinitely toward some future perfect redemption.

Diversify and redeem. The devaluation risk is real and manageable.

“I Don’t Travel Enough to Make It Worthwhile”

The break-even calculation for travel hacking is lower than most people assume.

The Marriott Bonvoy card’s free night certificate is worth $200–$400+ CAD at typical property cash rates. The card’s annual fee is $120. If you take one hotel trip per year and use the certificate, you are already ahead — before any points are earned or redeemed.

The Amex Cobalt’s 5x on food spending generates approximately 60,000–90,000 Membership Rewards points annually for a household spending $1,000–$1,500 per month on food. At Aeroplan transfer value, this represents enough points for a round-trip flight to a short-haul destination. For one trip per year.

Travel hacking doesn’t require you to be a frequent flyer or a hotel loyalty obsessive. It requires you to eat food and put the spending on the right card. The minimum return on that effort is meaningful for anyone who takes at least one trip per year.

What Travel Hacking Won’t Do

In the interest of complete honesty, here is what travel hacking does not deliver:

It won’t make travel free. Taxes, fees, airport transfers, activities, food, and the hundred other costs of a trip are paid in cash. Points cover flights and hotels — often the two largest costs — but travel hacking is a cost reduction strategy, not an elimination strategy.

It won’t work without time. Meaningful points balances take one to three years to accumulate for most households. If you want to travel in three months, points accumulated over the next three months won’t transform your budget. Travel hacking rewards patience.

It won’t work if you carry balances. Already stated, worth repeating. The strategy is incompatible with credit card debt.

It won’t be optimal without attention. The basic version requires minimal ongoing effort. Maximising value — monitoring award availability, tracking promo sales, making strategic transfer decisions — requires more. Most people land somewhere between the two and get proportional results.

How to Start: The Simple Version

If this article has convinced you and you want to begin, here is the simplest possible starting point:

Step 1: Get the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card. Use it for everyday spending. Don’t carry a balance. Redeem the annual free night certificate at a Marriott property worth more than $120 CAD per night.

Step 2: Add the Amex Cobalt. Use it specifically for all food and drink purchases — groceries, restaurants, delivery. Let the 5x points accumulate.

Step 3: Get a Visa or Mastercard backup. RBC Avion for the Avios transfer pathway if Europe is in your future. TD First Class Travel if you want something simpler.

Step 4: Be patient. Keep spending normally on the cards. Pay in full every month. Watch the balances build.

Step 5: When you have enough points for a specific redemption — a free hotel night, a flight, a series of properties for a longer trip — book it. Feel the specific satisfaction of a $300 hotel night costing you nothing but a credit card annual fee.

Then do it again.

For our complete guide to the best Canadian travel credit cards for each program, read our ultimate Canadian travel credit cards guide.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is travel hacking legal? Completely — loyalty programs and credit card companies design these benefits specifically to attract and retain cardholders. Using them as intended is not exploiting anything; it is using a product as designed.

Does travel hacking hurt your credit score? New credit applications generate hard inquiries that can temporarily reduce your score by a small amount. Responsible use — on-time payments, low utilisation — builds credit score over time. Most travel hackers with disciplined payment habits see their credit scores improve over years of card use.

How many credit cards should I have? Start with two — one Amex, one Visa or Mastercard. Add cards gradually as your strategy develops and you’re confident managing them responsibly. Most experienced travel hackers hold four to six cards across multiple programs. More than that is rarely necessary and increases complexity without proportional benefit.

Is travel hacking worth it for families? Yes — often more so than for individuals, because the points requirement scales with group size but the accumulation strategy can scale too. Both adults in a household holding complementary cards builds balances faster and covers more programs.

What if I have existing credit card debt? Pay it off first — completely, before starting any travel rewards strategy. The interest costs of carrying balances are incompatible with points value. There is no travel hacking strategy that works while paying 20%+ interest on existing debt.

Can you really save $20,000 on a single trip? We did — on a 100-day trip across eight countries. The figure is real, documented across every hotel and flight redemption we made. It required two to three years of accumulation, both of us holding cards in multiple programs, and deliberate redemption strategy. It is not typical for a first trip. It is achievable over time for anyone who approaches the strategy with patience and consistency.

Final Thoughts

Is travel hacking worth it? For most Canadians who pay their credit card balances in full and travel at least once per year — yes, clearly and substantially.

The complexity is manageable. The annual fees are exceeded by the benefits for anyone who uses them. The time required is primarily upfront learning that rapidly becomes second nature. And the outcomes — nights at extraordinary hotels, flights that would otherwise be unaffordable, the specific freedom of travelling knowing the accommodation is already covered — are real and transformative in a way that the spreadsheet version of the argument doesn’t fully capture.

We saved $20,000 on a single trip. We are flying to Paris in 2026 for $140 CAD in taxes. We slept at the St. Regis Beijing on a credit card annual fee.

The points are real. The travel is real. The question is just whether you’re ready to start accumulating.

For exactly which cards to start with, read our ultimate Canadian travel credit cards guide. For how the whole strategy played out across a real 100-day trip, read our how we saved $20,000 guide.

Disclosure: This post contains referral links. All recommendations reflect our genuine firsthand experience.

Follow our journey: Instagram @angeandzee | TikTok @angeandzee