This is another post in our series titled “Ask A Blogger” where we ask different bloggers a different question each week. You can view more posts in this series by clicking here.
Question I asked:
What is your favorite hotel credit card and why?
Keep in mind this question was asked before U.S Bank removed the last night free benefit on the Club Carlson cards.
Contents
Responses
Citi Hilton Reserve
My second favorite hotel card is the Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve. Its $95 fee buys you Hilton Gold status, a mid-tier with meaning. I like it better than the Amex Surpass that’s $20 cheaper because I consider the Citi card’s 2 free weekend night signup bonus better than the points offered by Amex, and because of the annual free weekend night with modest spend.
American Express Hilton HHonors Surpass. People complain about Hilton devaluations but ignore the fact that you can earn HHonors points 6 TIMES faster than, for example, SPG.
Club Carlson
Club Carlson is my favorite hotel credit card for the earning and burning points. Doesn’t get better than that.
US Bank Club Carlson card, for the 2nd night free on an award stay benefit.
I’m going to sound like a Club Carlson whore… but be what you is. I said this for my most under rated but the card is incredible. 85k plus a free night on awards essentially doubles the value. Plus the 5x and, gold status, and 40k on the anniversary.
My favorite hotel credit card is the Club Carlson card. I LOVE the Club Carlson bonus night award. I’ve used it to stay in Colorado Springs, Milan, and Sydney. The free night bonus came in handy for our second trip to Australia last year. We used the bonus night award from the Club Carlson card to stay 2 nights at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Sydney. Our first trip to Australia was in 1994 and we paid cash. Last year we used miles and points so our total cash outlay for everything including transportation, meals, entertainment, etc. was less than $400 for 1 week.
Club Carlson for the second night free and consistent elite recognition (upgrades).
Club Carlson Business – besides earning 5x on every purchase, I am constantly targeted (3 times in 8 months for 10x per dollar at restaurants). This has made Club Carlson a constant in my wallet. I also enjoy the anniversary bonus (40k) and last night free benefit (which for me is usually 2 for 1s, I book back to back stays 2 days with personal account then 2 days with business). No other hotel card comes close to this for me in terms of worthiness to MS for stays besides SPG for airline points transfer.
Hyatt
If Hyatt changes their hotel card to what they asked on their survey like receiving Diamond after $50,000 spend I would be all over that card. Or if Hyatt continues and commits to keeping the 20% rebate on points redemptions, I would sign up for it too then it would be my favorite hotel card. But at this time, I don’t have any specific favorite one.
IHG
Pretty hard to go with anything other than IHG or Club Carlson here. For me, the choice is IHG. Top status and the best annual free night around. Easy choice.
Once again, Chase IHG MasterCard. You get free top-tier status and the hotel night anywhere upon annual renewal. Getting to stay at a beachfront hotel (we live in Florida) for $49 in March… How can you beat that?
It has its detractors, but the IHG card’s annual free night has never let me down, so it takes top billing for me.
IHG: $49 for Platinum status that matters in many parts of the world, annual free night certificate without category limits, and 10% off all awards. Who cares that it is not worth putting any spend on it? But then there’s those US Bank Club Carlson cards, don’t want to give up my 2 (personal and business)!
My favorite hotel card is probably the IHG card. The card gives you Platinum status which has given me some upgrades and breakfast benefits over the years and it comes with an annual night certificate that you can use anywhere in the world at any property with standard award availability. I usually use it during NYE when property costs are the highest. Here is a helpful post of how to use the IHG certificate.
I mentioned this card as my most underrated card as well but the IHG credit card is my favorite. With no limits on using the annual free night, I am always able to take advantage of it unlike annual free nights from Hyatt or Marriott. For a card with only a $49 annual fee that is impressive.
Right now I’m loving the IHG Rewards Credit Card for a laundry list of reasons. Primarily because of the free annual night certificate (without usage restrictions) just by paying the $49 annual fee. I also get 10% back on points redeemed, Platinum Status (which has always been good for me in terms of perks, upgrades, amenities, etc).
Marriott Rewards
I like the Marriott Rewards Visa Signature (at least that’s what it says on my card). It was my first loyalty program-specific card, and I use it almost exclusively at Marriott Hotels. There’s no foreign exchange fee — so it ends up being my back-up for overseas transactions when Barclay’s flags my card–, it earns 5x at Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, and last but not least, for every $3k spend, you get 1 elite qualifying night. The card also provides 15 Elite Qualifying Nights annually, and an Annual Free Night Stay at a Marriott hotel in 1-5 Categories. That last benefit has paid my annual fee generally 3-6x annually, but it is getting harder! It’d be great if this card offered more incentive to use it for Manufactured Spending, but I just can’t justify it based on the Marriott earn rate, even if MSing $180k ($60kx3 would generate 60 EQNs + 15 EQNs provided by card) would get me Platinum Status annually.
Ritz Carlton
I recently signed up for the 140,000 point offer for the Ritz-Carlton card, so that’d take the cake for the moment. Longer term, though, I’d have to go with the SPG Amex. It’s eligible for Amex Offers and Small Business Saturday and earns some of the most valuable points around, all for a very modest annual fee.
The Ritz-Carlton credit card offers the most well-rounded travel benefits in my opinion. Some of the perks include automatic Marriott Gold status, free airport lounge access, $300 in travel credits each year, plus top-notch travel insurance it makes it a great card to have.
Starwood
My favorite hotel card is the underappreciated Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Business Card. Starwood points are one of the toughest currencies to earn, because SPG isn’t especially rewarding for in-hotel spend and doesn’t have a lot of partners. The SPG Amex doesn’t have category bonuses outside of Starwood spend, either. But I consider SPG points to be the most valuable loyalty currency. I’ve been an SPG Amex cardholder for 14 years. I like the business card better than the personal for OPEN savings, and I make use of it most paying for domestic Hyatt stays.
It’s a razor-think tie between the Starwood Preferred Gold American Express card and the Marriott Rewards Visa Signature. It’s always been my opinion that SPG Starpoints are some of the most versatile in the entire world, and can be transferred very easily between programs. However, the Marriott Rewards Visa has the edge because of the free night every year, and the easy way to continually earn points on the card through creative means. With both brands offering dedication to the customer experience, I find myself going back and forth with my loyalty between both of these cards.
Starwood AMEX Business, due to the 5% discount on Hyatt and the value of Starwood points.
My favorite hotel credit card is a tough one. I really love the SPG American Express card. It’s tough to accrue Starpoints, so this helps me stock up on this hard to get currency. But, they don’t have any bonus categories. The Chase Hyatt Visa awards double points for all charges on restaurants, airline tickets and car rentals. Also, unlike the SPG AMEX, it doesn’t charge a foreign transaction fee.
I can’t think of a better card than the SPG Amex. The reason is simple; Great earning potential and strong value for low to upper-mid tier properties. I’d love to include a #BYOE tip here: Chat and ask SPG to look into how many more Starpoints it costs to confirm a room upgrade. I can usually confirm into a club level room for just 1,000 SPG per night. Even better: Just last weekend I upgraded from a standard room to a suite at a Cat 4 (double upgrade) for just 1,500 SPG per night. Sorry to whoever’s upgrade I stole.
Misc
Gary Leff from View From The Wing had some additional thoughts, I wasn’t sure where to put this so I’ve just added it here:
No doubt the best single hotel card benefit is second night free on award stays with the Club Carlson card, but Club Carlson hotels don’t really match my stay patterns so I’ve never signed up.The IHG Rewards Club annual free night cert is worth more than the annual fee for sure, but I haven’t had that card in years (since before the free night benefit) because it offers very weak earning for spend and because I don’t especially like accumulating IHG Rewards points because the programs terms don’t require honoring most elite benefits on award stays and because the program doesn’t offer premium room redemption options either.I view the Marriott card as weak – the annual free night is heavily devalued with hotel category increases over the past several years, plus poor earn for spend. The Ritz-Carlton card though is much better and offers Gold status to everyone the first year and with $10,000 spend each year thereafter.
Final Thoughts
Once again, thank you to all of the bloggers that took the time to participate in this series, I really appreciate it. It seems like it was a fairly even split between the Club Carlson & IHG cards, it’s hard to beat the last night free Club Carlson benefit but a lot of bloggers love the free night anywhere for $69 a year from IHG.
If you enjoyed anybodies answer in particular (or found it interesting) then consider checking out their website as well with the links provided above. You can also view more posts in this series by clicking here.
