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The coronavirus pandemic has changed many facets of life, and how you use rewards credit cards may be one of them. If you’ve been hunkered down at home over the past year, you haven’t been racking up many points or miles on travel purchases or exchanging rewards for flights and hotel stays.
During the pandemic, some issuers have juiced up travel rewards cards by providing temporary rewards in categories more in line with how consumers have been spending their money—offering extra cash back or points when you spend on groceries, gas, home improvements or takeout orders, for example, or giving higher point values when you redeem rewards for such purchases. Even as travel takes off again, issuers of travel cards may keep touting heightened rewards on categories outside the travel arena, too.