Agreed on DC: the two biggest benefits are the primary car rental insurance (AFAIK, they are the only card that provides this) and the ability to funnel points/miles to many programs in small chunks. Last year, I pushed a few thousand into Marriott to redeem a 250,000 point award and a couple thousand into two airline programs to redeem basic award tickets.

The hotel cards are great if you actually stay at the chains. I have an HH Amex and an MR Visa - they aren't very good for general purchases, but they provide a nice boost for stays at the properties. I will add an SPG Amex as soon as a good sign-up bonus turns up. I will be using Starwoods a few times in '04, and I like the ability to move points out to airline miles at a good exchange rate if I need to.

But if I had to do it all over again from scratch, and I only wanted to carry a couple of cards, I'd do this:

- SPG Amex as my primary spending card
- Straight cashback card (e.g., Chase Cashbuilder or similar) as my backup MC/Visa
- Diner's Club for car rentals