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If points are burning a hole in your pocket but you don't know where to go, consider the Caribbean. Trips to the Caribbean islands are a great use of your points.

The reason is simple: Redemptions on flights to the Caribbean are fairly low, especially compared with flights to Europe, Asia, or Australia. 

A lower redemption cost means:

In addition to Caribbean flights requiring fewer points, the shorter distance from the US means lower fees for award tickets. 

Redemption rates will vary by route, airline, and the timing of your trip. We've sent Points Deals to Caribbean islands for around 20,000-25,000 points roundtrip. 

We've sent Points Deals to Puerto Rico for 10,000 roundtrip.

When looking for flights, use those figures as a ballpark, not a dealbreaker.

There are several ways to use your points and miles, as well as your credit card's other benefits, to make a Caribbean getaway possible. 

Let's start with your flights to and from the islands. You can redeem your card's points or miles for your flight. As I mentioned above, redemption rates can be pretty reasonable. 

Your redemption method depends slightly on whether you're using a general-purpose travel credit card or a co-branded airline credit card to book your trip.

General-purpose travel cards:

General-purpose travel cards, like Going's favorite card, earn flexible points that you can transfer from the credit card account to an airline or hotel partner. 

If you're using a general-purpose travel card, your process will be:

Credit card points

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Transfer to airline miles

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Book flight with airline miles

On our blog, I list which credit card points transfer to which airline. Compliance rules don't let me say this in the email.

Airline cards:

Airline cards earn miles that can be used to book flights with that airline or its partners. The process to book is more straightforward:

Airline miles

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Book flight with airline miles

Airline cards:

Let's be real: Even if you snag a cheap flight to a Caribbean island, your hotel or lodging may be the most expensive part of your trip.

General-purpose travel cards also have hotel loyalty programs as transfer partners, so you can transfer points and book your hotel stay, just like with your flight. Before you do, just check the costs first. 

Another option is to use a co-branded hotel card for your stay. The points from that card could book some or all of your stay. This hotel card even gets you the fourth night free when you redeem your points for a consecutive four-night stay.

You could also use points to book through your card's travel portal, but because hotels treat this as a third-party reservation, your status perks may not apply. 

Even if you use points for a hotel stay, you may still have to pay a resort fee in dollars.

Beyond redeeming points for your hotel or flight, your cards may offer extra perks to make your Caribbean trip more enjoyable.

Airline cards commonly offer:

Hotel cards may offer:

With expert:

Kurt Adams

Kurt Adams is the Points and Miles Expert for the Going travel app. As a personal finance expert with a deep understanding of credit card rewards and frequent flier programs, Kurt helps consumers navigate the intersection of money and travel. A graduate of Princeton, he lives in New York.

Due to the quirks of credit card compliance, we are sometimes not allowed to use the actual names of cards or certain banks in emails. This means we have to resort to using more generic language when talking about some credit cards.

We know this can be confusing or frustrating, but we encourage you to click through to our site, where we can name and talk more candidly about the cards and their benefits. While we are bound by the rules of credit card compliance, our mission will always be to put our readers first and help you travel better for less.