Originally Posted by
sdsearch
If you can make "good enough" use of each cert each year at a hotel where the paid rate including tax* would more than the annual fee, you've come out ahead.
I call these types of cards "net negative annual fee" hotel cards. (These exist for Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, and Hilton, though in Hilton it's only in the case of a high-end card for which getting value is more complicated.)
* You do not pay any taxes on most free night stays. In a few cases, you may pay resort fees which are not taxes, or small flat local taxes which are assessed independent of the hotel rate. (I don't know if these exceptions apply in the Marriott program or not.)
Of course, there are several kinds of people for which these cards don't work as well:
1. People who don't do personal stays in chain hotels (costing at least this much) every year.
2. People who only want to stay in hotels that are excluded by the points cap (35000 points in the Plus case, 25000 points in the non-Plus case). In many areas, these points caps exclude most or all "full-service" hotels, in some other areas they don't. In most areas, these points caps do exclude most "luxury" hotels, of course. (I would think people who mostly stay in big city centers or at resorts might fall into this category, while people who often enough stay in suburbs or smaller towns are less likely to have a problem with these points caps.)
3. People who only want to use one hotel program even when they can make money by staying for "free" at another hotel program.
4. People who don't do the math and just "instinctively" balk at annual fees.
Most of my travel is on business, and I am required to use a company credit card for that. But my company allows me to keep my rewards points. It would be much more useful to get 35K per year instead of the certificate for the Premier Plus. However, I understand the accounting reasons why it is better for Marriott to give the certificate. I am sure a significant number of card holders don't redeem the night before it expires. Because it expires, there is a limited outstanding obligation for the certificates as well. Unredeemed reward points can be considered a mid to long term obligation for a company.
So for me, there are a lot of 'ifs' associated with determining whether the card is worth the annual fee or not. If I already have plans to stay in a hotel that qualifies for the certificate, and if I can use a certificate for that date, then it may be worth it. Otherwise, I would use points for the stay.
I appreciate this post from sdsearch because it recognizes that different people have different needs instead of criticizing someone for not spending all rewards points on travel. For me, there needs to be a convenient use of the reward for it to be worth it. If I have to go out of my way to redeem it, then it is best for me to get a different rewards card.