Help deciding which credit card to earn hotel status.

padthai2go · Dec 20, 10, 6:58 pm

I’m considering which card to get: the Hilton HHonors American Express, the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express, or the Marriott Rewards Premier credit cards. Currently I use the Amazon Visa as my main card, as well as American Express Blue, and Citi PremierPass.

I don’t think I will ever spend/stay enough to make it to the Platinum level with any of the cards. Definitely not with stays and annual credit carding spending is approximately $27K…so I probably don’t have the luxury of spreading out my use among 2 cards. The Hilton Surpass probably wouldn’t be a good choice for me because our spending isn’t high enough to achieve Diamond status. From what I've read on this forum, the regular HHonors Amex is supposed to be the best option for those who can only make it to the Gold level, but I just wanted to make sure before I apply for the card. I would have guaranteed Silver VIP status with 15% bonus credited, and then 25% when I reach Gold VIP status.

Last year our hotel spending was about $1500. I tend to stay at an assortment of hotels...mostly booked using Priceline or researched on tripadvisor. This past year we stayed at the Doubletree, Club 36, Hyatt, Park Royal Cancun, and smaller hotels abroad. Westins/W Hotels/St. Regis/Waldorf are much higher than our typical budget.

I like Hilton’s ability to earn points for things other than stays: online booking bonus, Earnings Mall, 6 points for categorical spending (gas station, supermarkets, drugstores, internet/phone/cable/cell). Annual spending for these categories is about $5.5K.

I like Starwood’s ability to generate a 5K bonus when transfer 20K miles for various airlines. The Starwood hotels also seem very nice, particularly the ones abroad. However, I'm not sure how much I could take advantage of the Starwood stays secondary to cost.

I have a small account with Marriott and I love that their points do not expire. I recently logged onto my account sure that my balance would be zero because I hadn't stayed at Marriott in a few years. Surprisingly, my (small amount of) points were still there. 2 points for airline and dining is definitely a plus. The annual free night stay seems nice too. Annual restaurant spending is about $8K and airfare was about $1400 (got 3 free tickets using miles but that isn't typical).

Any credit card suggestions for me based on my useage? Thanks!

**JDiver** · Dec 20, 10, 8:02 pm

Probably better discussions on the credit card fora, but perhaps you ought to look at a cash back card if you can't justify the fees and committing yourself to one hotel chain / airline-chain combination? You're definitely doing the right thing, checking it out before you make a decision and perhaps change your credit profile as a result.

jamesteroh · Dec 20, 10, 8:35 pm

JDiver is right you might be better off with a cash back card if you don't stay in hotels much. The chase freedom card has no fee and I think they are offering a $100 cash back bonus after the first $600 in spending this year.

With the Marriott credit card there is an annual fee and you only get silver status (I always get targeted offers to get the first year free so I sign up and then cancel the card right before renewal and then get another offer). Silver at Marriott doesn't get you much, but you can use the elite check in lines if they have one which can save you time on checking in.

If you think you will stay at hilton a lot next year and have enough activity to get gold, I would sign up for the surpass card and pay the fee for the first year so you can enjoy the gold benefits until you have enough activity to get the status for another year and then downgrade to a free hilton Am Ex. The regular hilton Am Ex is free and you can get gold with $20K in spending.

I could never achieve diamond the regular way, and have a lot of business charges so I can easilly charge $40K so it is worth it to me. If you can't achieve $40K in spending I wouldn't recomend the surpass card.

One other advantage to a lot of cash back cards is if they are visas or mastercards they are accepted at a lot more places. One thing I hate about hilton and Delta partnering with Am Ex is a lot of merchants won't accept Am Ex.

padthai2go · Dec 22, 10, 12:48 pm

Is the $75 annual fee for the Hilton Surpass worth the immediate gold status and 20K extra points (versus the free card)? If I went with Surpass, I would probably drop down to the free card after the first year since I probably can't achieve Diamond status. Is it worth calling Amex to see if they will waive the annual fee in the first year like Starwood? Anybody have any luck with this? Thanks

**mia** · Dec 22, 10, 1:09 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by padthai2go

Currently I use the Amazon Visa as my main card, as well as American Express Blue, and Citi PremierPass.

The problem I see with your current approach is primarily that each card has its own rewards program and there is no way to combine them. Why would you prefer a hotel card over the Amazon card?

padthai2go · Dec 22, 10, 1:19 pm

Amazon really gets the majority of my use. I really like to travel and wanted to try to consolidate use into 1 card to achieve gold status and free hotel stays. If I switched to the Hilton Amex, I would use that exclusively unless Amex wasn't accepted by the merchant.

**mia** · Dec 22, 10, 1:26 pm

Thank you for the clarification. I have edited the thread title to reflect the status objective.

I think the first step is to decide which hotel chain(s) match your budget, and then investigate if the benefits provided by elite status translate into anything that you would be able to use. Typically, status benefits do not apply to stays booked through Priceline or similar sites.

toomanybooks · Dec 25, 10, 11:24 am

Looks to me like your spend may not be enough to get a lot of use out of the hotel cards you mention. $30K on Starwood Amex would get you Gold, but neither SPG nor Hilton Gold is worth all that much.

Priceline/Hotwire may be your best bet for hotels if you stay that infrequently.

I like the Amex Blue with its 5% cashback for gas, groceries, and pharmacy once you get over the $6500 annual hurdle. Hard to beat 5% cash.

With $8K annual spend at restaurants, you might consider the Costco Amex. 3% cashback at restaurants. 2% on travel (hotels, rental cars, airfare).

lively1nc · Dec 28, 10, 5:43 pm

I have 3 AMEX rewards program cards and have never found it to be a problem for acceptance in the US. I use another card for foreign travel so not really sure what the acceptance rate around the globe is? I would say find a couple of cards that will give you hotel and airline miles and stick with them and grow your points!

Middle_Seat · Dec 28, 10, 6:02 pm

Priority Club is an alternative that hasn't been mentioned yet. This year I've been able to take advantage of several of their Point Saver (or whatever they call it) stays at only 5000 points per night.

It may be instructive that (probably) the largest FlyerTalk Do ever, with ~500 attendees, was held at a Priority Club motel. Ref: Chicago Seminar DO October 16th and 17th 2010
100 Days Until the Chicago Seminar DO

A blog devoted entirely to PC is http://www.priorityclubinsider.com/a...points-offers/

kenbo · Jan 6, 11, 2:03 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by padthai2go

Amazon really gets the majority of my use. I really like to travel and wanted to try to consolidate use into 1 card to achieve gold status and free hotel stays. If I switched to the Hilton Amex, I would use that exclusively unless Amex wasn't accepted by the merchant.

If you really like to travel, I'd say Hilton Gold is definitely worth having over Silver. I was very happy with Gold status. Depending on which hotel you're at, you may get some type of breakfast (continental or buffet) as a perk so that could also help reduce some costs on your trips. It sounds like you could reach Gold via spend without any problems.