Originally Posted by
swag
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?
I'd make that 1-2 years. Many of the properties I'd consider using the cert are barely bookable, as in they're already at 40k or just below. My AF is due next month and I'll be getting 1 more unrestricted cert since it will post this month. I'll probably keep it one more year and then see what the lay of the land looks like. Also gives me a year to burn off my IHG points.