The No. 1 Rule to Follow When Booking a Trip With Travel Rewards

Travel rewards are one of the best ways to save money on your trips. Instead of paying for airfare and accommodations in cash, you can redeem points or miles you've earned. It's also easier than ever to earn these, as you can use travel rewards credit cards to earn points on your regular expenses.

Once you have the points, the next step is the fun part: Using them to book the trip you want. It doesn't get much better than paying for that $3,000 business-class ticket with 75,000 miles, or that $1,000 hotel stay with 50,000 points. Before you cash in your hard-earned travel rewards, there's one helpful rule to keep in mind. It has served me well on dozens of trips, and it's a great way to make the most of your points.

Always prioritize convenience with travel rewards bookings

Travel points open up a lot of booking opportunities. That's especially true if you have a travel card with transferable points. Some cards have points that can be transferred to a number of airline and hotel loyalty programs. For example, Chase travel cards, including the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (see rates and fees), have points you can transfer to United Airlines, Southwest, Hyatt, and several other travel partners.

Apply now for the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card.

The possibilities can get overwhelming as you compare your options and how much they cost in points. Here's my rule that always helps with narrowing down options: Put convenience first. Prioritize the booking that will save you the most time and fit seamlessly into your travel plans.

Here are a few examples of putting this into action:

• Book a direct flight if possible.
• Book the flight with the fewest stops if direct flights aren't available.
• Book a hotel or vacation rental in a convenient location.

Some travelers try to stretch their points as much as possible. For example, they book flights with stops just to save some points. To me, this doesn't make sense. This can significantly lengthen your total travel time, and each stop increases the likelihood of issues, such as flight delays or cancellations. Long journeys like these are also more tiring, so you get to your destination wanting to do nothing but rest.

I've been in this situation many times, and I've never regretted booking the most direct flight. To give you one example, I flew from Mexico City to Buenos Aires a few years ago. I could've transferred Chase points to United and booked a flight on its partner, Copa Airlines. But it would've had a stop, making it a 12-hour flight.

Instead, I booked through Chase's travel portal and paid in points for a direct, nine-hour flight with Aeromexico. Since I had the Chase Sapphire Reserve® (see rates and fees), I got a decent value of $0.015 per point. It cost me more points this way, but it was well worth it to get there faster, and in one go.

Apply now for the Chase Sapphire Reserve® card.

Make the most of your travels

Travel is a special, and sometimes even life-changing, experience. When you prioritize convenience, you have more time for the fun parts. Exploring a city you've never been to before. Talking to friends and family you don't get to see that often. Meeting people from a completely different cultural background.

When you're comparing flights and places to stay at home on your computer, prices are usually one of the first things you notice. But traveling isn't done on a spreadsheet. When you go on your trip, getting to your destination ASAP and staying in a convenient location are going to be much more important.

That's true even if you're paying cash, but especially if you're paying with travel rewards. The whole point of using these credit cards is to redeem your rewards for the travel experiences you want. You can always earn more, so there's definitely no need to hoard them for later.