Hello -

Would you recommend any of the Hilton or Marriott CC's? I stay at hotels 6 or 7 times per year for business, but normally it's never the same chain.

Right now, I have the CSP and Arrival. Didn't know if I should add a Hilton or Marriott into the mix, or would I be better off with UR points and transferring them to Hilton or Marriott?

Anyone?

Transferring UR to Hilton or Marriott is a waste.

Most of the Hilton cards are bad in my opinion. The Marriott preferred card is excellent.

If you want Hilton points, either get the Virgin card or Amex MR and transfer them to Hilton.

Thanks! I will look at the Marriott card. Which Amex would you recommend for MR?

Anyone else?

To rack up Marriott pts, you only have 2 options:
1) transfer Chase UR pts to Marriott (don't do this, UR are much more valuable compared to Marriott pts)
2) the Chase Marriott card...I believe you can find a link for a 70k sign up bonus

Take some time to see what you can do with 70k Marriott pts. Add'ly Marriott typically runs promos where you can stay 2 times (paid stays) and get a free night at a category 4/5 Marriott. For your business trips it may be helpful to leverage that deal. You would also earn points for the paid stay which may help to add to your 70k Marriott pts balance (if you were to get the credit card). By combining your business trips/Marriott MegaBonus promos with signing up for the Chase Marriott credit card, you could easily wind up with 70k+ Marriott pts plus 2 free nights in a Cat 4/5 hotel. Plus, with the Marriott card, each year you keep the card (and pay the $85 annual fee), you get 1 free night in a Category 5 (it shouldn't be too hard to derive value from that...the room just needs to be >$85).

Even though transferring 30k Chase UR pts to 30k Marriott pts to redeem for a hotel night is a terrible idea, if you have 74k Marriott pts and need to have 80k Marriott pts for the redemption you'd like to have, then transferring 6k Chase UR pts to Marriott pts is not that bad a deal (this is one of the beauties of Chase's UR...the ability to "top off" your loyalty accounts in many different programs).

To rack up Hilton pts/free nights you have numerous options:
1) Amex no fee Hilton Honors card
2) Amex Surpass Hilton Honors card (may be possible to get the no fee version first, then upgrade to the Surpass later thus enabling you to get bonus pts on both with only 1 hard pull)
3) Citi no fee Hilton Honors card
4) Bank of America Virgin Atlantic card (these miles transfer to Hilton 1:2)
5) Bank of America/Bank of Hawaii Hawaiian Airlines card (transfer to Hilton 1:2)...though I'm not 100% sure both/either of these cards are still available
6) Citi Hilton Honors Reserve comes with 2 free weekend nights (plus Gold status)

#'s 1-5 all offer different Hilton Honors pts sign up bonus (as compared to #6 which offers free nights).

You would have to do some research as to the specific sign up bonus's for each card to see how many potential Hilton pts you could rack up. Then you'd need to see how many nights you could get with that many points in the destinations that you want to go to. And also don't forget that during your business stays you will be earning even more Hilton pts to add to your balance from credit card sign up offers.

And forgot to mention...

You could also transfer Chase UR pts to Virgin Atlantic miles (1:1) and then transfer these to Hilton (1:2) essentially transferring Chase UR to Hilton at 1:2. However, it's still doubtful this is a good deal and I'd only use it to "top off" my Hilton account.

But also keep in mind, for both the Virgin Atlantic and the Hawaiian Airlines transfer options (both are 1:2), you can only transfer in multiples of 5k i.e. 5k Virgin Atlantic miles to 10k Hilton pts.

Hotel cards are generally not valuable for spending on the cards, except for staying at that hotel. Their value comes from signup bonuses, renewal bonuses, and status. (See Hyatt, IHG, and Club Carlson.)

As Milesgator mentioned, the Marriott card gives a nice number of points to start, the Category 1-5 certificate on renewal, and enough nights to get Silver status. Silver's not worth much, though. Most importantly, Silver members do not get free breakfast or Internet. Still, the free night certificate is generally worth the renewal fee.

Hilton has two cards that award Gold status, which includes Internet and continental breakfast. Unfortunately, neither card seems to offer yearly renewal bonuses. The Reserve card gives two free weekend nights for signup at any property, which is a great signup bonus. Nevertheless, unless you're going to use Gold status benefits, I don't see a reason to renew.

If I had to choose one ... hmm ... if I had plans to use the Hilton certificates in a fabulous location, I'd get the Hilton Reserve. Otherwise, I'd get and keep the Marriott card, using it for Marriott stays. Hilton hotel nights tend to require more points than Marriott, so if I was looking to accrue in one place, it would be Marriott.

All that ramolnar said is good advice. I'll add this though.

The Citi Hilton Reserve card minimum spend requirement is 2.5k to get the 2 free night certs. If you spend 10k in year, you'll get another free night cert at your 1 year anniversary (but you will have to pay the fee again). Since you already have to spend 2.5k just to get the initial 2 free night certs, then really you only need to spend a minimum of 7.5k more to get the 1 year anniversary free night. Plus, at a minimum, for that 10k in total spend you'll get 30k Hilton pts (more if you use it to pay for any of your business nights in a Hilton).

Do you want to get one card or churn them over and over ?

What level Hilton hotels would you use the points at ?

I'd also look into IHG ( Holiday inn) as their card has the best renewal bonus

Wow, MilesGator! Thanks so much for this info! In-depth!

I wanted to get a card to compliment my CSP and Arrival. Not sure if it should be a hotel or airline card or something else. I was looking at Marriott and Hilton, also maybe an Amex card for MR. I eventually want an Ink card for 5x on Office Supplies, Cell Phone, and Cable.

I also have BOA Cash Rewards 3, 2, 1 and Discover IT.

They are not, for now.

Well, I receive compliments for my CSP all the time--it's beautiful. Sorry, could not resist.

OK, your question is like which is better an apple or an orange. Here is my take.

The best single hotel card is neither Marriott nor Hilton. It's US Bank Club Carlson. If you only want one hotel card and their locations work for you, I wouldn't look any further. You can find award locations around the world with this awesome website awardmapper.com. Not mine (I wish).

If you insist on Hilton vs Marriott, I would suggest Hilton simply because there are so many credit card products that will allow you to manufacture hundreds of thousands HHonors points when you're especially bored. Hilton is very good if you do not insist on staying at the most luxurious properties in the world (if you do, it's bad).

If you have an extra space in your wallet, though, I would grab Hilton and SPG or Hilton and IHG before Marriott. Just my opinion. The list below is my take on worthy hotel cards (very subjective!).

US Bank CC
Citi and Amex Hilton
Amex SPG
Chase IHG
Chase Fairmont
Chase Hyatt
Chase Marriott

Complement lol! Thanks for this info.