I'm a noob to the miles/points hoarding, and this website has been invaluable.

My wife and I like to travel, we are young, and want to take advantage of a few good vacations before we have some kids.

We have a couple of trips in the works for this year, she and I will be going to Seattle for 6 nights in June and to New England with another couple for 8 nights in September.

I think I have a good handle on the airline promo's and cards, etc.
I will have:
100K - AA (spend $5k, 4 mo)
30K - Delta (spend $.5k)
40K - Us Airways (no spend)
30k - UR (Freedom bonus, no spend)

My wife will have:
30K - Delta (spend $.5k)
50K - UR (spend 3k, 3 mo)

So we have some good options there once we meet our spend.

Most of these app's have happened in the last month. She has a 760+ credit score, mine is 715 after my last churn.

So for airfare and some hotel, we should be set with those points, but I see that there's some good options for hotels out there and would like to utilize our good credit situations to get free rooms in the places we'll stay.

My question is...what Hotel programs should we target?
We each have applied for and been approved a Chase card in the last month, so that puts us out on getting another Chase card for 6 mo, correct? So the Hyatt, Marriot, and Priority club offers aren't available, right?

So, should she try for Hilton Honors points? The Citi 40k card, plus the two Haiwaiin Airlines 35k cards for 180K Hilton Honors points? I'm saying her because her score is higher and I think I need to cool it for at least 90 days to let my score rebound.

Any other hotel options?

I understand that the points/miles are most valuable for international travel, however, we just did 2 weeks in Italy so for the next year or so we'd like to stay domestic.

Sorry for the long post, but I just wanted to show you guys that I did my homework.

Don't forget SPG Amex. By far one of my favorite cards. PM if you want a referral.

No.

Can you explain?

So would we get better return going with Hyatt, Marriot, or Priority rewards?

Not sure how much more I can explain the word "No".

I'll try - "No, you don't have to wait 6 months".

Your add-on question is a whole separate kettle of fish and requires more discussion. Try looking in each of the sub-sections on FT for those programs and have a read first.

I believe 30 days (90 to be conservative) is fine for getting approval of another Chase card. This thread has plenty of info on it.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/credi...er-thread.html

The HHonors AMEX (both the no fee 40K platinum and 60K Surpass w/fee) is superior to the Citi Visa but you can do both one AMEX and the Visa.

So, potentially...we could get 100K Hhonors + the 35kx2 Haiwaiin deal for, 240k hh points per person?

You may need to call reconsideration for any Chase apps, but that is not uncommon. Make sure you have an idea of why you want that specific card (bonus is not a good reason). Maybe talk about some particular benefit you think would be really good for you.

Also, again consider SPG Amex. You can't get as many points (though you could apply for business and personal to get more, and since there are two of you it could work well) but the versatility of SPG points is unmatched, transferring with good rates to most airlines (AA, US, and Delta most notably) I find it good to use SPG points as a way to "top off" my mileage accounts when I'm low. Plus, SPG offers a great product and their "cash+points" option offers great value when it is available.

Not knowledgeable with the Hawaiian deal. No doubt you could get 100K each HH points with the HH Surpass and Citi HH Visa.

Or substitute the VS AMEX (50k converts to 100k hhonors) for the BOA HA Visa for 270k hh per person.

I applied for and received two Chase cards within a couple months of each other (a United and then a Continental card). One thing I've read elsewhere is that Chase generally limits most people (with excellent credit) to combined $60K credit limits on its cards before requiring more documentation. If you are already at that with a few Chase cards, you may want to call and request a credit limit reduction before applying for another Chase card. . .

It has been widely recommended here on FT that you NEVER ask to have a credit limit reduced with Chase, as you might lose that credit altogether (at least in the short term). Instead, you can use that available credit as a bargaining chip by calling the reconsideration line and asking to move some the available credit to the new card. I have even had Chase move credit from existing cards to a new card all on their own when they were unable to reach me to discuss beforehand.

What is VS AmEx?

Virgin Atlantic

You will have to do your own research but here are some ideas. I had a Chase United and added 4 more Chase in 10 months without the slightest hint of trouble. Given that you can transfer Sapphire to Hyatt there is a possibility right there, not that I would burn those in that way. Better used for airfare in my case. The Hyatt gives two free nights anywhere on signup. Must be used in 12 months which requires care; I and my wife each got it so 4 free nights, but we had a trip to Paris already booked with an apartment and so could not use the nights there which would have been pretty cool. Now we are looking at the deadline wondering where to use and not lose those nights, looks like it will be Chicago Park Hyatt but clearly could have been planned better. I suggest waiting and getting the Hyatt within 12 months of a trip to someplace $$. We did convert Sapphire to Hyatt for a week stay at Andaz NYC and that was so nice. SPG miles-and-points can be good, the Million Mile, TPG, and Award Guru blogs each have a different take and can be a useful read.

Note that my experience is based on staying at luxury hotels, I do stay downmarket but usually pay cash for that. Your style may be different. Priority club might be better for the more ordinary stays. PS I am in Saettle, pm me with questions if you want. You might consider Priceline for the hotels, the downtown hotels are pretty nice and there are too many of them and the pricelining can be good.