Originally Posted by
DeltaSilverBoy
Hi everybody,
I'm looking for a card that I can use towards my vacation in the Spring. I know that I will be going to east Asia (perhaps Hong Kong) for some much needed R&R. I'm wondering what hotel card is best. I have recently seen cards that had as much as 50K points attached to them, but even these only have enough points for one night at a level 4 hotel.
I think I remember seeing a hotel card that was two free nights at ANY hotel in their chain, and some of the hotels (like those overseas) were $800-$1000 a night.
Basically I am looking for the card that will allow me at least one night at one of these top top tier hotels, anywhere in the world. I would even consider booking a vacation specifically around whatever is the most expensive hotel I can find.
Thanks,
Simon
Any suggestions?
Yes. Don't assume you even need points everywhere. If you can find a decent business hotel for US$80/night, why use up tons of overpriced points per night?
I found JJ Hotel to be fine in Hong Kong, and it's often available starting at about US$80ish per night. It's not very famous, but that's why it's a good deal. Back when I went there a few years ago it was only available on an Asia-specific booking site, but now TripAdvisor has several sites you can book it on:
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...Hong_Kong.html
Use points
only where the hotels are expensive on dollars, if you don't have many points to start with.
I stayed at JJ Hotel for about a week, and I had no problems, once I found it. It's only big drawback is that it's a little hard to find (it's several floors in the middle of a high-rise in the middle of a block, without great signage, and most locals don't know about it, so you have to have the address and directions if someone is driving you there or if you're walking there for the first time. So for a one-night stay, it might not be as practical, but for a multi-night stay, after your first arrival and wandering out around the hotel, you'll know how to find your way back, and it's a great location once you know where you are.
... On the more general point, I agree, if you don't know which country you're going to, it can be folly to choose the hotel program first, because hotel presence varies a lot between countries. One country might have plenty of hotel program A but none of hotel program B, and the next country over it might vice versa!
And, yes, as you noticed, the signup bonuses only tend to cover one or two nights at expensive-on-points hotels. About the only program where you can get two or three nights at expensive-hotel-programs is Hilton HHonors, because you can get signup bonuses for both their Amex (form Amex itself) and their Visa (from Citi). (Tho Citi may at first put the bonus miles in the wrong account, and then you may have to make several calls to fix that!) But once it's done, you'll have the bonuses from both cards in one hotel program.
But again, I wouldn't suggest blowing that someplace where a decent hotel is cheap on cash. I'm sure you'll have a need for more hotels on some future trips, but many of these hotel program cards you may only be able ti sign up for once. So don't get a bunch of bunses and the blow them all away on places where you could have gotten cheap hotels on cash, and end up with ilttle to show for your credit card apps.