How credit-card points travel advisor build their businesses and give advice

• People seek expert help with points and miles because the amount of customer deals is daunting.
• Experts agreed that a passion for everything involving points and miles is key in the industry.

Max Do's career as a miles and points expert started as a hobby, stemming from a trip his now-wife took around the world.

"I saved up miles and points for two years and earned an epic three-week vacation — flying business class and staying at luxury hotels," said Do, a miles and points educator.

After that trip, he was excited about what he had learned and created an Instagram account to share his knowledge. After gaining more than 430,000 followers across TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube during the pandemic, he quit his job to work full-time as a credit card miles and points expert.

He made money from sponsored posts, credit card affiliate links, and offering consultations.

What are credit card points travel awards?

Travel advisors like Do offer consultations to teach clients about maximizing hotel points and airline miles earned for travel.

"The main draw is that you can earn points and miles using your everyday spend. You can buy groceries, pay for gas, utilities, and bills, all while earning points that can eventually lead to discounted travel or luxury experiences," said Do.

Why hire a credit card points travel advisor?

There's a demand for help with points and miles because the details can be vast and daunting for customers.

"There are tons of reward programs and quite a learning curve. By hiring an advisor, you can leverage an expert's knowledge, so you don't have to weed through all the blogs and podcasts," said Erik Paquet, director of marketing of AwardWallet.

The price for their services varies. For individual consultations, Dave Grossman, founder of MilesTalk, charges $175 for 45 minutes. "My consulting is meant to teach you to fish, not just give you a fish," he said.

Grossman also creates consulting plans for CFOs of small businesses to maximize credit card points — this service can run into thousands of dollars.

Do charges $90 for 30-minute consultations and Award Wallet just launched Award Travel 1-On-1 at a rate of $100 for 30 minutes. Savanti Travel works with small to medium businesses on points and miles travel redemption strategies, and uses a subscription model on a minimum retainer of about $3,000 bucks a month.

How to get started?

Experts agreed that the key is a passion for everything involving points and miles, and a willingness to invest time learning the ins and outs of loyalty programs.

"When I started in the early 2000s, I would read hundreds and hundreds of pages of FlyerTalk threads," said Grossman.

"I'm the type who likes to win games, and loyalty programs are similar; it feels like winning the lottery when you earn a difficult-to-book flight. The people that are really into miles and point love the challenge. I just went down the rabbit hole, and I never climbed out. It's an oddly fulfilling career."

Much information is accessible for free online on blogs, podcasts, and social media, including Facebook groups like Award Travel 101®.

After that, it's essential to b

uild credibility. "Without having a blog, Instagram, or Tiktok, I don't think you could just hang out a shingle and announce that you do points consulting," said Grossman. "It's not a bad idea to work for a company like The Points Guy to gain experience. Also, freelance writing for major publications would give you that leg up to start."

It's also essential to be a people person.

"It starts with the duty of care, really loving and being passionate about people and taking care of them and helping them achieve their dreams, visions, or goals," said Leigh Rowan, founder of Savanti Travel.

"Talented people are working in this industry, committed to helping people achieve wonderful trips and creating sound strategies to take care of clients," said Rowan. "It's not purely transactional; it's asking clients, 'how I can help you achieve your goals, ' and the bonus is to make money along the way."