drminn

I did an analysis of my 2014 redemptions, you can see the details here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...4-numbers.html

Notwithstanding the endless discussion about "value", the bottom line for me is that I'd rather put my spending on airline cards vs. hotel cards unless I am really flush with miles.

mnscout

OP, can I ask what your preferences are? Where do you travel, how often, yourself or with family, are you looking for luxury or a roof over your bed? All due respect, your question is impossible to answer with any degree of accuracy without some details.

I strongly suggest you start with this priceless app: www.awardmapper.com (not mine, I wish!). Check destinations you're interested in, and see what properties are there to begin with.

RyanNYNJ

Sorry I was assuming only award stays. Obviously if you have paid stays or cash and point stays then it is worth keeping. My point was unlike the other hotel cards there is no anniversary night or points that come with the SPG. But like with any card....If you can get the AF waived or get starpoints then why not keep it.

TOMFORD

I vote yes to IHG and Hyatt cards.

jacobsta811

IMO Any AMEX with an Annual Fee <$100 is worth renewing, but not for the stated benefits - the profit is in Small Business Saturday/Amex SYNC offers, which are worth potentially $3-400/yr as long as you add authorized user cards.

Gamecock

The DW and I are planning on getting this one next year when our youngest leaves for college.

We can put those to good use for weekend getaways.

Malnosliw

So I got the Club Carlson Preimer and Us Airways


Was thinking about either IHG or Marriott, but decide just wait for it, due to can not justify which one overall is better. So maybe later on they may have a better offer in the summer or fall

nall

Just as an aside, the RC card now comes with a $300 airline fee reimbursement and a 10% annual bonus.

jmw

I'm going to throw this alternative out there if you can spend (either real or imaginary):

Get the 100K bonus on Citi AA Exec cards (churnable) instead and redeem it for hotels. It does not include resort fees. CPM varies, but it's greater than 1.0. If you have a non-Exec AA card, you'll get 10% back on the miles spent on the hotel as well. Not the best for aspirational hotel nights, but a good way to burn the surplus AA miles that many of us have.

Two free nights at top tier hotels from hotel card signing bonuses will barely beat this, but it makes a lot of sense for those who don't need to stay at the best hotel in location X.

RyanNYNJ

+1. Forgot abt small business Saturday and amex offers. $300 in savings seems on the high end if you're only using normal everyday spend amexoffers e.g. gas, lowes, staples, etc... but you definitely recoup the annual fee. Yea I'll be keeping my SPG especially now that amex is not churnable and I don't have any amex cards that could replace it in my rotation.

Thanks for reminding me.

yukon50

Which of the hotel card bonus offers is best? Is there any way to cash out? Perhaps with gift cards?

I don't care for staying in fancy nice hotels.

sdsearch

If you use hotel cards to cash out for gift cards, the value is horrible, typically even worse than a cash-back card.

Think about it: Hotel points (and airline miles) are such a good value when used for hotel rooms and airline seats because they are giving away "excess capacity". There is no "excess capacity" in gift cards, the hotel program actually has to pay hard cash (at a poor value) for gifrt cards, which is why redeeming hotel points or airline miles for gift cards is also a poor value.

But I don't care for staying in fancy nice hotels either. However, I perefer staying in a decent hotel for points or a certificate, rather than paying $$$/night (or sleeping on the sidewalk?), in situations where just decent hotels are going for high "cash" rates.

So while some people tout hotel cards for high-end luxury hotels, ignore them. Pay attention to those people who use hotel cards just to save money on "simply decent" hotels.

Hotel cards can be used for good value also at "simply decent" hotels when the rooms are priced high in dollars but low in points. (And, in fact, the points from a card will go much further if you only use them for "simply decent" hotels, compared to if you use them for "fancy" hotels.)

For example, I used a Marriott cat 1-5 cert (which you get for paying the $85 annual fee starting year 2 of having the card) for a $200+/night Courtyard hotell on Maui when no hotels on Maui were less than $150/night. (I got more nights at the same Courtyard on points. I don't need some fancy resort on Maui, the Courtyard was actually closer to many non-beach activities, like Road to Hana, the Iao Needle, the volcano mountain, etc, than the fancy resorts were!). I used another such Marriott cert on a Fairfield Inn at BUF airport when I was flying in late (bound for Niagara Falls the next day) and didn't want to drive beyond the airport area that night but all the airport hotels were $150++.

jacobsta811

Keep in mind that most Amex cards *don't* charge more for authorized user cards. So it really is 2, 3, 4x savings depending on how many cards you get. I know I currently have 7 total amex cards, and I used them all in a bunch of promotions in just the last few months, to buy Visa/MC gift cards (Staples) or merchant gift cards (Lowes) or gas (BP).

waingro

Club Carlson signup bonus (~100k) gets you at least 4 nights because it's BOGO. I think that is worth more than 2 nights at Hyatt or Fairmont.

1 CC sign up got me 4 nights in Europe this fall. I couldn't be happier Well, I'll be even happier if I get approved for the business card too.

2tall4economy

Easy answer: hotel cards (and lately even airline cards) are only good for sign up bonuses. They are only worth holding if they offer an unlimited free night and you will actually use it at a higher cost than annual fee (which doesn't happen for me since I don't plan travel). Don't ever spend on them though.

For spend you're much better off with Chase UR or 2% cash back card. Possibly Amex MR as well, but Amex is pretty worthless overseas.