I used to focus more on accumulating miles but in the past 4 years have shifted more toward accumulating hotel points, because three of the chains (Hilton, Marriott and Starwood) that typically have hotels where I want and at prices I can afford (when doing paid stays) have very limited restrictions on redemptions. I still collect CO miles mainly because that's my company's preferred airline for travel (and I fly once a month or so on business).

Collectively, my husband and I have a Hilton Amex (primary plus supp. card), SPG Amex (ditto), Marriott Premier Visa (just me), BA Visa (primary plus supp. card) and CO Presidential Plus Mcard (just me). Our current strategy is:

1) Use the BA Visa for most daily purchases and very large joint purchases so we can hit the $30,000 spend threshold this year and get a 2-for-1 redemption coupon and then use hubby's 200,000 BA miles.

2) Hilton Amex is the next priority (so we can keep Gold status with $20,000 spend). We also use it for all grocery and drugstore purchases because there are higher points per $ spent. I use this card for my clothing shopping habit because I'm the primary account holder.

3) The Marriott Visa is being used for restaurant meals because of the higher points per $ spent. But otherwise, this year it's a lower priority card. We do find that we can make good use every year of the 1-5 Cat free night's stay.

4) I have the CO Mcard mostly for the Pres Club Access and free bags and don't use it a lot. It's an expensive card but worth it for me because of my travel habits. And I have a nice little stack of flex miles for the year I come up short on achieving status. I do use it, however, for hotel stays that aren't associated with a particular chain like SPG, Hilton or Marriott because of the higher miles per $.

5) SPG Amex is also a low priority card. We got it a few years ago because the sign-up bonus was good and we used the points for a great stay in Egypt (where there are some great value rewards). I really only use it, though, for SPG stays and sometimes at the end of the year where I've hit spend thresholds on other cards.

Finally, I make liberal use of Marriott's internet retail shopping portal. I shop a lot through the internet and wherever possible, I try to link through the Marriott portal to an online retailer, including 2-10 points per $ spent (on top of the points spent for using whichever credit card I feel like using for the purchase).