Originally Posted by pgary

Credit card promos are the best deals going currently, with financial deals in second place. (See the latter on my Finance page on my website below.)

I like both the Starwood and the Prioirty Club hotel programs. The latter has a zillion Holiday Inns in Europe and around the world. It has a good 60,000 point credit card offer, good for at least two free nights. You can find this on my Credit Cards > Free Cards page.

Originally Posted by MJLouise

Originally Posted by thetravelabstract

Welcome to FT!

1. This is true as long as you are excluding all literal frequent flyers. If you fly often for business, sport or leisure purposes than you would earn more flying than through CC Bonus Offers. For those of us who do not than CC's provide the best mileage earning potential.


2. Too broad of a statement. Depends what you are looking for. On this forum you can find threads full of diehards who will swear by each hotel point program. That their program is the best for them. Why limit yourself to one program when you can gather as many points as possible across all programs. This will not only increase the likelihood of finding an available room but also diversifying against program changes/devaluations.

3. It does impact your credit score. Short-term and long-term. That does not mean it is permanent or damaging. Usually your score will take small dings for each CC app and the more activity the bigger the hit. You should always guard your credit score and make sure that you are not exposing yourself too much. There are high frequency methods and those who wait for the big offers.

There are tons of CC app strategies on these forums and frequent flyer blogs. I suggest you read all of them and combine them into the method that works best for your financial situation.