Im new to this too and would seriously consider the Chase Sapphire Preferred because:

1. Transfer to hotels [for me hyatt is best hotel program]
2. Transfer to airlines [continental and BA]
3. Get from 1-3 points per dollar
4. From TPG, combine with Chase freedom card and you can get 20k bonus with 500 spend and can get up to 5 points per dollar
5. SPG is hard to get points and easy to spend in my opinion and get good hotels with hyattt at top notch hotels in paris and maldives.

Just my 2 cents