The real problem, of course, is that I wouldn't expect the credit card to keep up with points inflation. Certainly, Chase's own Marriott card hasn't. When I first got the Marriott card, the annual cat 5 was very useful for one night stays in Courtyard-type hotels even in major US cities. But those cat 5 hotels are all now cat 7 and 8, and the certificate remains cat 5.

There's still a decent selection of 40K IHG hotels, but will how many will still be <40K in 5 years?