[ 2011 ] What's the best hotel credit card

[Nolathyme]

I based the $300 a night on a few hotels that I would like to use during high demand.

Can someone to some quick math for the Starwood and Marriott cards for the first year or two?

Additional notes:
I don't plan on staying at a hotel unless it is with points.
No black out dates are key.

 

[elaine]

I have used the free extra year warranty on the Marriott card severals times and found them great. It might be the same for all Chase cards. I also use the free night for travel on I-95--lowest hotel price is usually around $90+ tax. The card keeps me silver, which has actually gotten me upgraded a few times.
Otherwise, we exclusively use AA card for miles.

 

[MichaelColey]

Otherwise, we exclusively use AA card for miles.

If your only goal is to earn AA miles, take a look at the Starwood AmEx. You earn a Starpoint for each dollar spent, but when you transfer 20k Starpoints you get 25k AA miles. Plus, you have the flexibility to do that with other airlines or use some Starpoints for hotels.

 

[Nolathyme]

I've decided on the Hilton card.

The present sign up bonus is 40K for the regular amex card and 60K for the surpass amex card.

Are these bonus amounts the norm? Do they offer better sign up bonuses?

 

[Talent312]

I've decided on the Hilton card.
The present sign up bonus is 40K for the regular amex card and 60K for the surpass amex card.
Are these bonus amounts the norm? Do they offer better sign up bonuses?

AFAIK, that's the standard bonus... I haven't seen any greater sign-up bonuses.
HHonors will occasionally offer special bonus-points or double-points for hotel stays.

The current deal is 30% points-back for using "Premium Room" or "Points & Money" rewards.

 

[squeeze]

Maybe I'm confusing those two programs. I know that I was refused on a Diamond force once because of extraordinary demand due to an event. (There are a NASCAR race at the same time as a funeral we were attending.)

The extraordinary demand date or event is one of the very very few exceptions to the 48 hour guarantee for diamond members at Hilton.
This simply means the hotel has been reserved by a particular event and they do not have a way of overriding or 'walking' another guests who has already booked so they can give you that room.

When the hotel has simply 'sold out' diamond members do get their reservation as long as its at least a 48 hour request and the hotel is not sold out to a group event (extraordinary demand event). In this case, they are 'walking' another guest and paying extra to place them at another hotel (often times a competitors hotel).

However, when they do this for a diamond member, you should not expect to get to use a reward certificate or expect to get to use a corporate rate. It's most likely going to cost you rack rate because it is costing the hotel to 'walk' the other guest they are displacing to give you that room.

The first people usually walked is the third party bookings (i.e. expedia, orbitz, hotels.com, etc.). If you are ever travelling during a very busy season or for an event that is likely going to sell out the area hotels, you are at risk to book third party.

Sorry, to get off topic from the OP's questions on best hotel cards.
My opinion is the starwood card. but, Hilton visa maybe best for this OP.
With the Starwood AMX we often find many places won't take AMX,:annoyed: so we use our visa card then.

 

[Talent312]

Hilton visa maybe best for this OP.
With the Starwood AMX we often find many places won't take AMX, so we use our visa card then.

I have both Hilton AmEx and the Citi-Hilton Visa.
$20K on the AmEx is what scores you gold-tier status
... bonuses, breakfast, upgrades, executive lounge ...

The Visa earnes fewer points per $$, so I use it only as a back-up.
Neither has an annual fee, so having both costs nothing.

 

[MuranoJo]

Any Recent Marriott to UA miles experience?

Hoping to get some updated Marriott card experiences.

I'm still considering a Marriott CC, mostly to save my large bank of Marriott points which will expire if I don't do something--plus I need a chip card with no foreign transaction fees.

Was reviewing the transfer ratio of Marriott to UA and found this RewardsPlus page. I was somewhat surprised to see it takes 8000 Marriott pts. to get only 2000 UA miles. Meanwhile other cards usually have a 1:1 or 2:1 transfer ratio for airline miles.

Am I reading this right?

 

[dioxide45]

Hoping to get some updated Marriott card experiences.

I'm still considering a Marriott CC, mostly to save my large bank of Marriott points which will expire if I don't do something--plus I need a chip card with no foreign transaction fees.

Was reviewing the transfer ratio of Marriott to UA and found this RewardsPlus page. I was somewhat surprised to see it takes 8000 Marriott pts. to get only 2000 UA miles. Meanwhile other cards usually have a 1:1 or 2:1 transfer ratio for airline miles.

Am I reading this right?

The redemption rate for MR points to airline miles is very poor. I would never advocate converting points to miles at that ratio. The best use of Marriott Reward Points is to convert them to travel packages. When you do that, on top of the 7 night hotel certificate you get, the miles convert at a ratio of 1:1.

 

[MuranoJo]

Thanks for confirming.
Not sure I'd even convert to UA miles, but it may be a consideration down the road, so better to know in advance. (For some reason, I was thinking when I checked some time ago the ratio was much better, but I must have been confusing it with another hotel card.)

Haven't checked into the travel packages yet, but did see a link to them.

 

[MichaelColey]

Starwood is, by far, the best for transferring to miles. They have a 1:1 ratio with most airlines (2:1 to United, unfortunately), with a 5k bonus for every full multiple of 20k points you transfer, so that generally works out as 1:1.25 (or 1:0.625 for United) if you transfer it in the 20k multiples.

 

[dioxide45]

Thanks for confirming.
Not sure I'd even convert to UA miles, but it may be a consideration down the road, so better to know in advance. (For some reason, I was thinking when I checked some time ago the ratio was much better, but I must have been confusing it with another hotel card.)

Haven't checked into the travel packages yet, but did see a link to them.

With Marriott, UA miles are have a little better ratio when converting from points to miles. I think they offer a 10% bonus. This also applies to the travel packages. If you convert to a package that provides 120,000 miles (by far the only one to ever convert to), you actually get 132,000 UA miles in your MileagePlus account.

The Marriott Travel Packages are not cheap, think from 270,000 to 390,000 points, depending on category. This though gives you 120,000 miles with most airlines along with a 7 night hotel certificate. These are best used in European cities where the hotel rates are very expensive.

 

[MuranoJo]

With Marriott, UA miles are have a little better ratio when converting from points to miles. I think they offer a 10% bonus. This also applies to the travel packages. If you convert to a package that provides 120,000 miles (by far the only one to ever convert to), you actually get 132,000 UA miles in your MileagePlus account.

The Marriott Travel Packages are not cheap, think from 270,000 to 390,000 points, depending on category. This though gives you 120,000 miles with most airlines along with a 7 night hotel certificate. These are best used in European cities where the hotel rates are very expensive.

That's a bit pricey in points for my taste. But really appreciate the further food for thought.

Thanks also, Michael. I'm beginning to switch my thinking back to SPG--I know there were lotsa fans in this old thread. I have points there I want to save as well. (As long as they offer free foreign exchange rates--at one time they didn't--will look it up.) Meanwhile, even though the Marriott card offers 50k free points, I may be better off just saving my bank of points by ordering something through their online shopping site.

 

[Ken555]

As long as they offer free foreign exchange rates--at one time they didn't--will look it up.

This was just announced for the Starwood AMEX cards, along with a higher annual fee, and will be in effect in a few months IIRC.


Sent from my iPad

 

[MuranoJo]

That's good to hear, Ken. Have you heard if they'll automatically convert to this for existing card members, or should I hold off to order? I'd need this in about 3 mos.

 

[Quilter]

Hoping to get some updated Marriott card experiences.

I'm still considering a Marriott CC, mostly to save my large bank of Marriott points which will expire if I don't do something--plus I need a chip card with no foreign transaction fees.

Was reviewing the transfer ratio of Marriott to UA and found this RewardsPlus page. I was somewhat surprised to see it takes 8000 Marriott pts. to get only 2000 UA miles. Meanwhile other cards usually have a 1:1 or 2:1 transfer ratio for airline miles.

Am I reading this right?

A way to get activity on your MR account without staying at a hotel is to open a house account, dine at their restaurant and put it on the account. I have also done this on vacation when I've used spa services at one of their hotels.

For MVCI owners there are 5 night certificates for the travel packages. For 235K points you get category 1-5 certificate plus 132K UA miles + 10% + another 10,000 miles until 6/30.

Think of it this way, you get 5 nights for point price of 4 nights for 115K points. Then you get 142K miles at a greater than 1:1 ratio. Later if you find you want a higher category hotel you call and upgrade certificate for the necessary amount of points. For example, a category 6 would be an extra 15K points.

 

[Ken555]

That's good to hear, Ken. Have you heard if they'll automatically convert to this for existing card members, or should I hold off to order? I'd need this in about 3 mos.

This starts on August 11, 2015 for all cardholders, from what I've read online (and available to all who use Google! )


Sent from my iPad

 

[MuranoJo]

This starts on August 11, 2015 for all cardholders, from what I've read online (and available to all who use Google! )


Sent from my iPad

Yes, I think I've heard of Google. I figured it was just some advance notice privvy only to existing card holders. Thanks for the info.

 

[MuranoJo]

Just an update:

Today I applied for and was instantly approved for a Marriott Visa.
What pushed me to this decision was an offer I got July 7 for 80,000 bonus points with $3k spent in 3 mos.

The increased bonus points offer must be fairly new as my last offer from them was 50k w/$1k spent in 3 mos. Also, I didn't see any mention of this offer on FT earlier today. The offer only lasts until end of August.

Benefits include:
80k point bonus after 3 mos.
1 Free Cat 1-5 night each anniversary
5 pts. for each $ spent with Marriott
2 pts. for each $ spent on air, car rental, or restaurants
1 pt. for each $ spent on all else
15 credits toward Elite level after approval & every anniversary after
1 Elite credit for every $3k spent
No foreign transaction fees
Prevents me from losing my accumulated Marriott points from business travel

I also found the transfer of points to UA miles wasn't so horrible after all; if you transfer to 25k UA miles, it's about a 2:1 ratio. Might come in handy in a squeeze.

Edited 7/10/15: I did finally find a discussion about this offer on FT today. Discovered there's another offer still out there which might be better, with these differences from above:
70k bonus points with $2k spent in 3 mos.
$85 annual fee waived for the first year
Immediate free cat 1-4 room after approval (vs. waiting a year for a cat 1-5)

For some reason, I don't remember getting this offer and I've been a Marriott Rewards member for years.