Bohemiana

We have racked up significant airline miles and now we want to redirect our efforts to some nice sign-ups to use for hotel nights. FYI--If we aren't traveling with a reward, we are traveling cheap (we don't spend for upgrades).

We have SPG and we love it. We always use cash & points at the lowest level hotels to spread out our points. This is the card we use when we aren't trying to meet a min purchase requirement.

We have Capital One Venture and used that 50K sign up for 3 nights at the Belagio in Vegas. Now its mostly in the drawer.

We have Chase Sapphire and we used that 50K sign up for 2 domestic air tickets, which we probably shouldn't have done. Now mostly in the drawer unless I'm buying a Groupon, Lowe's etc with big extra points/dollar.

I was considering Marriott but the best sign up for 50k only nets 2 nights and we are not Marriott people so it might be hard to build up for future free stays.

I was also considering Hilton but again, 50k bonus and the same problem as Marriott.

Am I just too drunk on sign-up bonuses and being shortsighted in finding cards that are easy to accumulate points for continued rewards? Is cash-back the way to go and designate that money to getting cheap rooms on Priceline/Travelocity?

Additional info--we pay off every month so interest rate and credit limit don't matter. Our 2 airline cards are CitiAAdvantage.

jn in ca

Is there a question in there? I'm reading what appears to be your cc history, but i'm not sure where you're going with this.

If you're asking if you can get better deals with Priceline/Hotwire than with a hotel rewards program, that depends. If you are very good (I am) with Priceline/Hotwire, then yes, you can get unbeatable deals, but there are still times when hotel deals (like the q4 Hilton free night deal) are unbeatable. Plus, the two aren't mutually exclusive: i.e.- you can use an SPG Amex to pay for a room on Priceline and accumulate cc points.

Are you not asking about the best way to book a hotel room, are you asking for the biggest sign up bonus, irregardless of program?

If you are just looking for big bonuses, I think you are being too harsh on the Marriott offer: yeah, the 70000 is gone, but the current one is 50000 + free night + $75 credit. Plus, the way the Marriott program works, if you book 5 reward nights, you only pay for 4. By coincidence, I was out to dinner with a neighbor this week who is a big Marriott frequent traveler, and I asked him to value the CC sign up offer. After talking about the points for stays at different brands, we agreed it's worth north of $500.

Bohemiana

Yes, I guess my post was long-winded but you actually answered my "question." Everybody on the board is always talking about value per dollar spent. That was what I was aiming to get answered in regard to points for hotel nights. I told my card history so people could see what we already have and tell us if we're missing some benefits with our current cards (like year-end bonuses, etc.) or maybe that we already have best there is on the market right now.

Does Marriott always allow the 5th night free on all properties? Or just special offers like SPG?

birdseye

If you are booking a Marriott on award points, you will always get the fifth night free. SPG does the same thing.

For hotel cards, the best ones are SPG, Marriott, Hyatt, Priority Club, and Hilton. In terms of sign up bonuses, SPG and Marriott will get you about 3 nights, if you can get the Priority Club 80,000 point offer that is worth about 3 nights, Hyatt gives you 2 nights free for sign up bonus, and Hilton Amex or Visa generally only gives you one free night for signing up. How much those nights are worth in terms of dollars depends on where you redeem them, the two Hyatt nights could be worth the most since they are good at any Hyatt property, and their Hyatt locations in Paris and Tokyo (and other places) are very expensive.

The Choice Hotels Visa I don't know much about, but I believe the hotel points earned expire 2 years after you earn them even if you have other Choice Hotel account activity. I haven't paid much attention to Wyndham or Club Carlson either....