You can guess which hotel card im referring to 🙂
But basically I’ve been using a hotel card setup to earn free night certs through spend and renewals. I usually line up 5 certs a year and use points for 1–2 vacations. Most of my spend goes on these cards, including taxes.
With recent changes to point values, I’m wondering if this strategy is still worth it. I also have a few flexible rewards cards (CSR, Amex Biz Plat, Ink Biz Preferred, Amex Gold) and use those points for flights.
Thinking about shifting to more flexible rewards. What’s working for you lately?
Hotel Card Strategy Feels Less Worth It – What’s Your Approach?
byu/poisonsag inCreditCards
Posted by poisonsag
3 Comments
I’ve looked at manyyyy hotel cards and I found all of them (except the Wyndham business cards) are mathematically worse at earning hotel nights **through spend** than cash back cards or points transfer after you do a reasonable cpp calculation for your intended redemption targets
That said, the ancillary benefits (non-spend related) are themselves worth the annual fee for many and that’s their primary use (same w/airline cards).
I personally don’t think it’s worth it for Hilton and Marriott. The value just isn’t there for me. I think they could be useful to high rollers who stay at hotels frequently, always want the high end hotels, and value the perks even if they don’t get the perks all the time. I’m just looking for the kind of value that’s better than a cash back setup. I think most other hotel cards have the potential to give you that kind of value if you use them correctly.
I use the IHG Premier card. Between the free night, fourth night free, and buying points for only 0.5 cpp during their promotions, I know I’m getting value. I’ll use it for paid stays so I earn 26X points, but I won’t use it for everyday spending. I think the Hyatt card also gives you good value especially if you have Chase travel cards and can transfer points to them. I think that certain cards from Wyndham and Choice also give you good value, but they aren’t my favorite hotel chains.
I have cards from IHG, Hilton, Marriott & Wyndham.
I got my dad to switch to a 2 Aspire card set up and on $120k spend he is getting nearly 7% return (*without counting* the points earned). In that case, it’s well worth it.
For me… the Wyndham Earners Business is the most valuable. I almost only put utilities on the card and I have enough to get 3 nights with the annual bonus. Wyndham mid & upper properties outside the US are quite nice.
The Hilton & Marriott cards I have are the business cards and they certainly aren’t worth much. IHG… I’m getting annoyed with their blackout/award caps.