Hit the AMEX/Chase combo hard. Very hard.
Do it right, and you can easily get your hotel and airfare.
I've racked up 250k chase points, 300k delta miles, and enough Hilton points to house a small country...all in 1 year.
But...you say you don't want to churn. Why?
Don't be weak and give us this "I care about my credit score" line.
Credit scores recover...the pain of leaving miles on the table never really fades.
You will regret not going full-bore, especially when you are paying for travel you should have gotten for free...