lilyV

I need advice on which credit cards to apply to help minimize the hotel costs for our trip to France and Italy next May.

I have somewhat mapped out what I would need but need more input. We're going for 16 days. Below is the somewhat planned scheduled with hotel points to use

4/30 9:30 am - Arrive at Heathrow. Hotel: out of pocket stay at Park Inn?
5/1 6:30 am - flight to Paris (Plan to use Carlson points at Radisson Blu, 2 nights with 1 free night)
5/2 : Paris
5/3 : Paris
5/4 : Flight to Nice: No hotel plan yet
5/5 : Nice: No hotel plan yet
5/6 : Train to Pisa then FLorence. B&B in Florence
5/7 : Florence B&B in Florence
5/8 : Train to Milan Hotel: ??
5/9 : Day trip to Lake Como Hotel: ??
5/10: Train to Venice - Planned to buy Choice Privileges points to stay at Comfort Diana
5/11 Venice - late night train to Rome
5/11 Rome - Hotel: ?? Radisson by the Termini?
5/12 Rome - Hotel : Intercontinental
5/13 Rome - Hotel : Intercontinental
5/14 - Fly home

Planned for credit cards application:
Myself: Club Carlson (cover nights in Paris)
IHG (cover 2 nights in Rome)

Hubby: I need help to plan for his. Ideally i would prefer both of us to apply for 4 credit cards total.

Sorry for the long post. Thanks in advance.

KennyBSAT

It has been asked and debated in this thread. The most common reasons to AOR are:
Apps done the same day MAY not show up as new accounts or credit pulls yet, increasing the chance of auto approval.
Multiple apps done the same day with the same bank MAY be merged into a single credit pull.
Manufactured spending can make signup requirements a simple matter of a stop at the drugstore for each $5000 needed.
If you apply for 6 or 8 cards in a year, AOR vs one at a time will likely make no difference. For 15-20 or more per year, AORs could yield better results. Many including me are unconvinced that it really matters. I jump when there is a good deal.

llbad

Thank you Kenny, I really appreciate it. Maybe the OP should be edited to include this information

ac921ol

All I can say, is take the train to paris from london, I did it for my honeymoon, it was easy, nice, and quick, about 2 hours on a train and from the train station in paris you can jump on the subway system and make it to whatever area you want.

http://www.eurostar.com/uk-en/eurost...s#.UqohYSfWt30


1) also not exactly the best first post.
2) do more work report back. i.e look at what areas have what types of hotels and what the point values are and then that will narrow down the idea of applying for Hotel Cards.

ktkw

Really... are there any benefits to wait 3-6 months. Currently i need 9.25k min spend to get all the bonuses. I am having a bit of a hard time

3k Amazon Payments
1k/month reg spend = 6k

Local CVSs dont sell vanilla reload network cards. No access to walmart.

krisk13

Today's AOR/score 780+ ~

Club Carlson - instant approval
Alaska Airlines - pending, approved after call
Barclays Arrival - pending, approved after call
Citi AA Bus - pending, 7-10 bus days
Amex Surpass - instant approval

Data point: definitely freeze IDA, ARS before club carlson.

krisk13

I wouldn't, If I was you. Do what you are comfortable with and be responsible, its your credit.

KennyBSAT

Yes, by all means wait until you have met your spending and at very least 3 months. 6 would be better with your extremely thin credit file. Welcome to FlyerTalk! This is not a sarcasm-free zone.

PainCorp

You're going to be very lucky to find availability if you're only starting right now for April.

FlightNurse

Because if EVERY noobie was spoon feed the answer then how would you learn? Reading those 137 pages will answer other questions you will have and you might, JUST learn something....

TOMFORD

Having been only denied one credit card in my life (Barclay US, #4), here are the results of my least successful AOR yet, as of yesterday afternoon.

Cards opened in 2013, app rounds were on the last day of May and Sept:
Barclays US Air #3 (#1 closed) - instant approval
CSP - instant approval
IHG - instant approval
Ink Bold Charge - pending, recon, approval
Amex PRG Biz - instant approval
Amex Blue - instant approval
Citi AA personal - instant approval
Citi Diamond Preferred - instant approval
Barclays US Air #4 - pending, denied

AMEX FR happened sometime in late Oct or early Nov.

AOR, in order of application
BoA's AS (50K, via forum link) - instant approval
Citi Hilton HHonors #3 (50K, via forum link) - pending, did not call
Ink Bold Classic (50K, via Chase website) - pending, called recon, denied for too many new lines/inquiries
Amex SPG (25K, via SPG account link) - instant approval
Club Carlson (85K, via CC website) - pending
UA MP Explorer (50K, via UA account link) - instant approval

I could feel the Chase recon agent looking at me weird through the phone when I said that I worked in credit risk management. Also, I applied for the UA MPE card maybe an hour or two after my Chase call, and was instantly approved for $2,000, with my other cards all being $10,000+. Is it safe to assume that this will be my last Chase card without having to relocate my other Chase credit in the future?

llbad

EDIT: nevermind youre not worth my time

PainCorp

FlightNurse actually knows their stuff, and your question is very basic, and is covered in almost every thread by a new member who asks the same thing.

If you don't want to dig through 137 pages, maybe a blog would be more your speed, and they love to spoon-feed answers, since they get paid commissions for your apps unlike those on FT who do their own research.

MDtR-Chicago

Ok, everyone has had his/her say on the topic of answers vs. research. Let's let it drop there.

MilesGator

That is interesting/news to me. My one experience with this was applying for the BofHaw and BofA Hawaiian Air cards on the same day. Both were approved, with the BofA HA card being a 5k CL and the full bonus (I think 35k at the time) while the BofHaw was only a 2.5k CL and a measly 10k bonus. This is my only personal data point, so just assumed this 5k CL for Visa Signature cards rule was in effect.

Possibly bank specific/YMMV situation. But thanks for the glimmer of hope