iflyjetz

To the OP, I do not MS for airline miles because I can get free/heavily discounted airfare so no need to MS. I took my daughter to China in F last year and the only thing I paid for was the TSA/immigration fees so my MS is geared toward hotels.

Here's a couple of websites that have placed values on hotel points; YMMV:
http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea....ts-by-airline/
http://thepointsguy.com/2014/06/what...ly-valuations/


You need to ask yourself which hotels you'd like to stay at, budget or upscale. Based on the cards you've signed up for, it looks like upscale is the answer. For that reason, it's not worth discussing the Club Carlson, Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, or Wyndham Rewards cards.

Next question is whether or not you have status with any hotel chain. If no, I'd suggest gaining status. If you aren't traveling enough nights/yr for status, your best bet in my opinion is getting a Citi Hilton Reserve Card and generate $40K in annual spend on it for Diamond status. I wouldn't go for the Hilton Amex Surpass card for MS because AmEx is claimed to have a lifetime ban on MSers that they've caught - whether or not that's true doesn't matter to me; I'm not willing to play roulette with being able to get AmEx credit cards.
Hilton Diamond status is a perk that can't be easily quantifiable in dollar terms, but plenty of people value their top tier status as worth several hundred dollars a year, depending on how much one travels.

You MUST get a IHG Chase MC, and not even for MSing. One free night/yr at ANY IHG property every year for the $49 annual fee. I've used my free nights for the Palazzo on a weekend ($280) and the Intercontinental Westminster in London ($600; hotel is no longer an IHG property). I hardly ever use the card and rarely stay at IHG properties, but the unrestricted annual free hotel night is awesome for only $49.

As far as other credit cards with free nights/annual fees, my personal opinion is that:
Hilton Citi Reserve: $95. Worth it IF you generate enough spend for Diamond status.
Hyatt: worth it. $75 for a Cat 1-4 is a good deal.
Marriott: Not worth it. $85 for Cat 1-5 is not very good because Marriott has devalued their program too much.
Ritz Carlton: $395. Only worth it if you use the annual travel credits.
Fairmont: $95. Worth it if you generate $12k/yr spend for the free night.
SPG AmEx: $65. Worth it if you have at least $3K/yr spend on the card. NEVER use this card outside of the US, as it has foreign transaction fees. Not even to pay your hotel bill at an international SPG property.

I MS a bit on my SPG AmEx and Chase Hyatt cards because I like those chains a lot. My goal with the Hyatt card is to have $40k/yr in charges so I get an additional 5stay/10night credit toward Diamond status with Hyatt. Once I've gotten my $40K in annual spend on the Chase card, my spending shifts over to the SPG card since those are the points that I burn most often in trying to get to lifetime Plat status.

I had the Chase Marriott card until recently and did some MS on it last year to reach lifetime Plat with Marriott. Now that I have lifetime status with Marriott, I don't need to generate Marriott points so I got rid of the card.

If I were the OP, I'd first MS with the Citi Hilton Reserve and then move to the Chase Fairmont card. Once hitting annual spend on those, I'd shift over to either the Chase Hyatt or SPG AmEx card, depending on which chain I'd prefer to stay at. That should be enough hotel card options for the OP.

I use the card for all of my regular spend right now and need to do a bit of MS to get to $40K/yr spend. I try to make sure my MS doesn't draw any attention to Chase.

Anyone who's a Club Carlson member should have known exactly what he meant. There aren't a lot of different brands in Club Carlson and Radisson is the most recognizable.