ctruzzi

Hello,
After gathering information about how credit card points work and of churning them I pressed the button and went through my first CC run 2 weeks ago. Of my applications I got 4/6 of my cards being CSP, AA Premium, AS Airline and US CC. The two I was denied for was a same day Citi application and the Carlson. However the issue has appeared that of the cards I have only $6,000 required spending over the next 3 months and will have roughly $10,000 in new expenses along with my $2000 monthly. I believe I have all of the airline cards that I can truly benefit from at this time other then some more Citi AA cards but will have to wait on that.

My post is now to help in understanding which hotel CC's are of benefit for travel to areas of Europe (Central) and Japan. The biggest issue is that while it is easy for me to tell what airlines I can benefit from, hotels are a different beast. Below are the CC's I have found and looked at from this forum and broad search and would love some feedback from others on if any of these cards would be more preferable for my future locations or if there is one I am missing.

Less important is domestic as I tend to stay with friends and family, however Vegas and Cali are locations I do go to (and now that MGM is using HHilton program that just makes since to get).


Choices
-US Bank Club Carlson: I got denied for this even though I applied the day after all other Credit Cards and haven't had a new CC in over 3 years. Should I wait until I get feed back on why I was denied and try and change that?

-Hilton HHonors Surpass - Worth getting? Already applied for 1 CC from Citi and made a mistake on second one for the same day so cannot do another Citi tell September.

-Chase Priority Club - I only have an SCP but got that 2 weeks ago, can I get another Chase so soon? Is this card actually have any benefit? It is currently giving 60,000 points.

-Marriott - The newest discussion is that the new 75k deal is really good.

-Starwood - Current deal is pretty paltry so waiting until there's a better one.

I don't know if there are any other good hotel CC deals going on.

Of these I don't have any hotel chain preference but I don't know which one is the best choice for Japan specifically and then central European countries.

Any and all assistance would be great, and if this needs to be in a different discussion board please move it there.

Edit: I would rather stay away from business CC's until my next large run so I can actually get a legal business #.

tsmith12

My two fav hotel cards from that list would be Club Carlson and Priority Club.

Club Carlson card would have helped in Europe, especially with your 2nd night free on reward stays. That should have been the first card you should have applied for and you can always call them to see why your app was rejected. US Bank is kinda funky and don't be surprised if you actually get the card in mail even after your denial. Usually they require additional info (address verification) so you still might get the card and it'll come handy in Europe.

Don't know your credit history, but you can definitely get a 2nd chase card even 2 weeks after applying for the first one. Plus, there's a link on this forum which gets you 80K points. (you can also email them and request for the additional 20K) If you're looking for point stays, this is another good card. Plus they have a lot of locations all over and you do get free platinum status with the card, which will (in most cases) get you free internet and possible upgrade in Europe. Look out for their 5K point breaks too and the $49 AF gets you a free one night stay at any location.

sdsearch

Where in Japan? In at least main cities, a great deal can be Choice Hotels which are redemption only (you can't earn US Choice points, there but you can redeem), and the redemption are often just 8k a night.

But the best way to earn Choice points is not necessarily through credit cards, but rather through their constant "stay 2 times" (at cheap suburban motels in the US) and "earn [something that amounts to] 8000 points" (enough for a free night at certain hotels overseas costing you way more than the two cheap motel nights in the US cost).

Also, where in Central Europe? City center or suburbs? For example, city center of Budapest I'd recommend Hilton HHonors (their 50k Visa is the most churnable hotel card out there), but if renting a car and staying in the suburbs, Priority Club for the Holiday Inn outside of the city.

The situation might be different in every city! None of these hotel programs are equally good in every city in every country, so it's very hard to generalize.

What good about the Priority Club card? It gives you Plat status, which come July 1 gives you free internet worldwide (any other possible in-hotel perks are very hotel specific, though!), and it also gives you a 10% rebate on all points redemptions, plus a free night cert (uncapped, with 1 year expiration) upon renewal with just a $49 annual fee. Plus it has 0% forex (though several other Chase cards also have that).

factory81

PC Club card is pretty weak if you ask me.

SPG all the way.....

restonva

I have the same question -- planning a rail trip through Japan in 2 years. Which program will give me the best chance at free nights. I know there are some loyalty programs for Japanese chains, an will probably be looking at 2 star business hotels near rail stations for the remainder of my stays.

kebosabi

Priority Club would be my choice for Japan as IHG's main partner there are the ANA branded hotels. Many major cities in Japan have ANA/IHG co-branded hotels (Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, ANA Hotel), all of them in great locations near rail stations so it would be a good choice.

hedge

Why not look into the Citi Hilton Reserve or ChaseHyatt? Both cards get you 2 free nights each at the respective hotels. This can be a huge value if you redeem at high end properties especially.

sdsearch

The Reserve only gives you free weekend nights. If your trip only takes you to cities with Hilton properties on Tue & Wed, that's useless.

And you can only get each of these cards once AFAIK. So why bother blowing them on high end properties if you don't need them?

(Meanwhile there's a different Citi Hilton card that only gives you points, but that you can get repeatedly, so that may actually get you many more nights, though not as many if you insist on "only high end properties".)

And does Hyatt and Hilton have good coverage in Japan??? I don't think so!

(Hyatt, in general, has the worst "footprint" of the major hotel programs with credit cards.)

restonva

Thanks Kebosabi. So you are saying you can use Priority Club points to book ANA hotels?
Can you also earn Priority Club points at these hotels? Thank you!