Best Ways to Earn Cash Back on Travel: Rakuten & Capital One Shopping Hacks

You’re already spending the money.

Flights. Hotels. Tours. That dreamy apartment in Paris with the suspiciously photogenic balcony. 🤔

The question isn’t whether you’ll spend. The question is: are you leaving free money on the table?

Let’s talk about two gloriously underused tools: Rakuten and Capital One Shopping. If you travel even semi-regularly, or just like to online shop, they’re basically cashback engines hiding in plain sight.

📖 Estimated read time: 3 minutes and 30 seconds

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👀 Hey you! Rakuten is currently offering new members a $50 referral bonus for making qualifying purchases of $50 or more within the first 90 days of account opening. You can use my referral code here and learn more!

*This is part of a referral program and I will earn a commission as well - thank you for helping to support me and this free content!

What Rakuten Actually Is (And Why It’s Not Sketchy):

Rakuten is a cashback portal. That means you click through their site (or browser extension or app) before making a purchase, and they give you a percentage of your spend back.

Why? Because brands pay them a commission for referring you. Rakuten shares part of that commission with you.

💰 It’s affiliate marketing, but you’re the one getting paid.

Rakuten sends cashback via PayPal or check quarterly, but the option that can be much more valuable (and is my cashback method of choice) is connecting your Amex account to Rakuten to receive payouts as Amex points instead.

Travel Portals That Pay You to Book:

✈️ Here’s where it gets interesting for travel - Rakuten often partners with platforms like:

• Vrbo

• Viator

• Tripadvisor

  
  

Instead of going directly to those sites, you click through Rakuten first.

Let’s say:

• You book a $2,000 Vrbo for a group trip.

• Rakuten is offering 5% cashback.

That’s $100 back. For clicking a different button first.

Sometimes cashback spikes to 8%, 10%, often higher during promos, Black Friday, or special events and holidays.

You were going to book the villa anyway. Now the villa buys you dinner.

Now layer that with:

• A travel rewards credit card

• A sale rate

• Loyalty points (if eligible)

💵 This is what stacking looks like - a bit of a financial Jenga, if you will.

👀 Hey you! Rakuten is currently offering new members a $50 referral bonus for making qualifying purchases of $50 or more within the first 90 days of account opening. You can use my referral code here and learn more!

*This is part of a referral program and I will earn a commission as well - thank you for helping to support me and this free content!

Capital One Shopping (The Reward Credit Go-To):

Capital One Shopping is a browser extension and app that automatically searches for better prices and offers rewards credits.

Important distinction: it doesn’t give straight cash. It gives rewards you can redeem for gift cards.

But the percentages can be wild - sometimes you’ll see:

• 15% back at certain hotel sites

• 20% on travel booking portals

• Random high-percentage boosts that feel like pricing glitches from another dimension 🚀

  
  

💡 Here’s the trick: check both Rakuten and Capital One Shopping before booking.

One might offer:

• 5% cash back

The other might offer:

• 18% in rewards

That difference matters.

On a $1,500 booking:

• 5% = $75

• 18% = $270 in rewards

That’s a significant difference for a 30-second comparison.

👀 Hey you x2! Capital One Shopping is currently offering new members an $80 referral bonus for joining, enabling the browser extension on desktop or mobile, then carrying out your shopping within 90 days! You can use my referral code here and learn more!

*This is part of a referral program and I will earn a commission as well - thank you for helping to support me and this free content!

A Few Tips and Tidbits:

Keep in mind - cashback portals are amazing, but they don’t justify bad spending!

If the “deal” convinces you to upgrade from a $1,500 stay to a $2,500 stay just to get 12% back, you didn’t win. The hotel did (unless it's maybe a dream hotel and lifelong goal...then maybe you win 👀).

❗Also - sometimes extensions can be finicky if you have multiple installed. I typically find the extension that has the best deal, then uninstall the rest before going through the platform to book.

It's a bit of a hassle, but it's all about the Benjamins and whether they're worth it to put in the extra few minutes of work.

That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed this read, and 'til next time ✈️

Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities. No information provided is medical, legal, financial, or other advice of any kind. This page contains affiliate links which may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, opens an account, or carries out another action. This site does not include all financial companies or all available offers.