misty

I am a newbie and have been going crazy trying to decide which card to get so I decided to ask for help. I have excellent credit. We fly primarily for leisure, not that much but already have lots of United and USAir points. We will be paying for tuition on this card (so probably flying less) - so was thinking cash or a hotel program may be best. I know we got a 62500 HHonors offer, but heard Starwood may be better??? Was also wondering if Marriott is a good option.

Any suggestions? Thank you!

Kate_Canuck

I have the Hilton Surpass Amex, Marriott Rewards Premier and Starwood Amex. I think a hotel-affiliated credit card is a good idea if you already have a lot of miles, especially if you like to experience a splurge from time to time by staying at high-end hotels. Which card is/cards are best for you depends to some extent on which hotel group suits your travel preferences/patterns best and also on your spending patterns.

The Hilton Surpass is a great deal right now - although it has an annual fee, you can try to talk your way into getting that fee reduced. It provides automatic Gold status in the first year (which secures you free breakfast at most full-service hiltons/Conrads, plus upgrades from time to time), Gold status thereafter if you hit $20,000 spend in a year and Diamond status if you hit $40,000 spend. It sounds like it wouldn't be difficult for you to spend $20,000 this year if you're going to have tuition bills. Amex also offers a 4-night reward that's not available to other HHonors members - we used it for our stay in Venice last month. (It used to be a better deal than it is now, but it's still a decent offer.) You'll get 3 points per $ spent in most places, an extra 3 points for certain categories of spending (groceries and drugstores but, alas, not restaurants any more), and another 3 points for spending at Hiltons (plus a 500 point bonus for booking online with your Amex). I like Hilton because they seem to have a good range of hotels in different price points in many of the places I like to travel. I find Starwood hotels a bit spendy in many locations and there are fewer mid-range/moderate options.

I also think the Marriott Premier Rewards card is great. It does have an annual fee (about $65, I think) but there is a good sign-up bonus (about 20,000 immediately and then 5,000 on your one-year anniversary), plus you get a one-night stay certificate immediately (good for six months for a Cat 1-4 hotel). (Note that there's a less expensive Marriott Visa that doesn't offer as many points.) Every year thereafter, you get another certificate good for a Cat 1-5 hotel. I found it a little difficult to use the Cat 4 cert in the places we visit (but ended up using it at a Courtyard in Norwalk on New Year's Eve - when they wanted $250 a night). It will be much easier to use the Cat 5 cert - we'll use it for a top-of-the line Marriott in Cairo this October. You get double points for restaurants with Marriott, so I use the Marriott at restaurants and the Hilton for most other purchases (until I hit $20,000 spend, then switch to a split of Marriott/SPG). The Marriott Premier Rewards card also provides you with 15 nights credit toward elite status (which gets you automatic silver status - not much but something. It's a good deal if you tend to stay in Marriotts anyway, because the nights help you reach Gold status.)

Both Marriott and Hilton have shopping portals through which you can earn additional points by clicking through the portal to various internet retailers. You don't have to use a Marriott/Hilton-branded card to earn the points, but I like the fact that I can increase my point totals through everyday internet shopping. This makes me somewhat more loyal to Marriott and Hilton than Starwood, where it's harder to earn points.

I only got the SPG Amex because I found that a number of the hotels we wanted to stay at in Egypt this fall a) are Starwood properties and b) don't require a lot of points. Through a combination of a sign-up bonus, conversion of some American Express MR points, a referral bonus and about $1,000 in spending, I managed to cover about 8 nights in top-end hotels for our upcoming trip. I'm not sure how much I'll use it going forward because it's harder to earn points and there seem to be fewer Starwood properties in my price/points range. The SPG Amex gets you a strange little intermediate status between the basic SPG member status and Gold - gives you a few minor perks but nothing really special.

That said, a lot of people like the SPG Amex for its flexibility, because it seems to offer pretty good value if you want to exchange SPG points for airline miles. If that kind of flexibility is important to you, then the SPG might be the best option. One other good thing about Starwood is that it has a "points plus $" option for booking, which can make it possible for you to stay at certain top-end hotels (e.g. in Paris) for a reasonable outlay of miles and $, even if you don't accumulate buckets of points. If, however, you're primarily interested in accumulating hotel points, then the Hilton Amex or Marriott Visa might be a better deal.

By the way, one option you might consider is having one of you get the Hilton Surpass (and charge tuition to it) and have the other person get the Marriott Visa.

misty

I appreciate your input, and it was laid out so clearly. I can see the advantages of using multiple as you explained.

CandymanJim

Easy choice, if you dont fly United Airlines, then the SPG AMEX is the overwhelming choice. The hotel benefits are great, but the 25% bonus on MOST airlines makes it THE top contender.

Jim

cnsoccer

I know certain cards five extra cash back for groceries or gas. Has anyone seen one that does so for paying tuition? Even if its only seasonal bonus periods.

smcrmo

I've been with AMEX for years, and now my daughter is getting ready to go to college. I want to pay the tuition with a credit card to take advantage of earning miles for the college expenses. However, the university she is going to does not accept AMEX. Would someone please suggest other alternative programs they like? Thanks in advance for any help.

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk.

We need more information to provide useful replies. How do you redeem your American Express Membership Rewards points? Which airlines do you typically fly, and which hotel chains do you prefer?

smcrmo

Thanks for the prompt response. First of all, we live in Costa Rica, so any travel we do will entail international tickets. We've been with Continental for years, and generally roll our AMEX rewards over into OnePass. Our daughter will be going to school in Colorado, so we might be looking at Frontier as well. We're pretty much amateurs with all this. As far as hotels are concerned, we don't travel enough to have preferences, as we usually stay with friends when we go somewhere. Hope this helps, and I'll be happy to provide more info.

mia

I imagine you are aware that over the weekend Continental agreed to merge with United Airlines. You can read early speculation about how this will affect Membership Rewards in this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...transfers.html

The merger shouldn't affect your immediate decisions. The best course is probably to apply for a OnePass credit card issued by Chase. (Chase is also the issuer of United's affinity cards, there should be a smooth transition when the frequent flyer programs are eventually combined.)

http://www.continental.com/web/en-US...s/default.aspx

There is a relevant discussion here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...nnual-fee.html

The Continental section of Flyertalk is chaotic right now, but if you use the Search this Forum tool you can extract further discussions of the credit cards if you need more information.

gregthekeg

A lot of universities pass on the merchant transaction fees to you which usually translates to roughly 2.5% of the total transaction. If the tuition is $5000 a quarter that is $125 a quarter or $375 a year that you will be paying to get these miles!

bl540611

Does anybody have any suggestions/ideas to earn miles when paying college tuition? 60K*4 a year equals alot of miles For the record, the school does not accept credit card

russrexrey

transfer to a school that accepts credit cards

kidding aside, I wouldn't know how else your would go around it.

barely_flying

haha understandably, a university doesn't want to take the transaction hit when students pay by a credit card maybe start a facebook group to petition the bursar's office to do something 'streamline secure payments' or something.

ooodaveb

There wouldnt be any way to do it without paying someone the fees. You will have to use some thirparty processor who will send a check to the school after charging your CC. For a 60K charge they would probaby charge a lot to protect themselves against possible chargebacks.

You routinely see "pay your mortgage" type threads here, this would be the same category.

javabytes

If the school doesn't accept it, you're essentially SOL. There are some services that allow you to pay via credit card even though the institution might not, but they usually charge a fee that is more than the miles are worth (in the neighborhood of 3%).