By
Travel & Rewards Editor
Marcus Reid is The Global Credit's Travel & Rewards Editor, covering airline miles, hotel points and the credit cards that earn them. He joined journalism from inside the industry, having worked as a loyalty-program manager for a major airline, where he helped set the award pricing and partnership rules that determine what a mile is actually worth. He has personally valued more than 10,000 award redemptions across dozens of programs and maintains the conservative point valuations behind the site's rewards coverage. His guides always compare award redemptions against simply paying cash, price out annual fees against realistic earning patterns, and flag the transfer partners, blackout dates and devaluation risks that marketing pages leave out — so readers can see when a deal is real and when a 'free' flight costs more than it should. Over eight-plus years covering travel rewards, his rule has stayed the same: a point is only worth what it saves you. Articles are researched with AI assistance and reviewed by a human editor before they go live, and updated when programs change their charts or terms.
Expertise
Standalone travel insurance costs 4–8% of trip cost. Sometimes your credit card already covers what you need — sometimes it leaves a six-figure gap. Here's how to tell the difference.