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I find chase UR and Amex membership rewards combination to be the two best options for points. Both have a solid list of transfer partners and gives you flexibility when looking for awards (airlines as well as hotels). I have hotel cards but generally use them only for the hotel stays and everything else goes on either Chase or Amex.

For hotels, try to figure out your future travel needs and whether the chain has hotels in the areas you are likely to visit. Hyatt is great but they have a much smaller footprint compared to Marriott and Hilton in places I travel to, so didn’t work well for me, If you are planing to stick with Hilton, Amex does partner with Hilton (1:2 transfer rate).