Help in deciding between a few cards
 

I am a 27 year old IT Consultant. I am married, with no children, and I live in Chicago, IL. I am moving over to a traveling role, which would involve me typically flying out Monday morning, and staying in a hotel through Thursday, leaving that evening back home. On these trips, I will typically be eating out, renting cars, and possibly exploring the location if it is a larger city. With this, I am looking at credit card offers that will best benefit me and these new traveling expenses.

My stats

• 80-85k in salary
• 750 credit score

My Current Cards

• Visa Platinum Rewards - 8K Limit - 13.99% variable interest
• Chase Slate - 2K Limit - 23% variable interest and no rewards

I will be booking my own hotels/cars/etc (flights are charged to the project, so I get nothing for them) through my companies Travel Page. I am looking for a card that will give me great benefits for booking all these things and will best benefit me with dinner purchases, as I will be eating out most nights while traveling. I am not that interested in a card with an Annual Fee, but would be open to it if it fits what I am looking for.

My company offers the following travel perks just for traveling, via corporate partnership

Marriot

• Immediate Silver Elite Level

Starwood - Corporate Preferred Guest

• Guaranteed 4 p.m. late check-out, subject to availability at resort properties and conference centers during peak periods.
• No blackout dates or availability restrictions on free night awards.
• Two Starpoints for every eligible U.S. dollar spent
• Instant Awards(SM), unique to each hotel, including breakfast in bed, massages and more.
• Weekday newspaper (USA Today, local newspaper, or designated preference newspaper).
• Ability to earn Starpoints on restaurant charges when not staying at the hotel but dining and paying ($10 USD minimum).
• Pre-blocked and pre-keyed room day of arrival.
• Upgrade to a Preferred Room, subject to availability on day of arrival Automatic upgrades to a Preferred Room at check-in, when available.
• Upgrade to Gold Status after 9 nights (instead of 25)
• Upgrade to Platinum Status after 18 nights (instead of 50)

Hilton

• Receive instant Silver, and fast track to HHonors® Gold VIP.
• If you stay four times within 90 days, we'll fast track you to Gold status

Here are the cards that I have researched and think

Amex Platinum

• Starwood preferred guest gold (which rolls over my company perks)
• Hilton honors gold
• Airport Lounges
• Global Entry Reimbursment
• National executive car rental status

Marriot Rewards Premier

• Good Signup Bonus.
• Pairing with Marriot Rewards will get me the most nights

Starwood Preferred

• Pairing with Starwood Rewards will get me the most nights

Chase Saphire

• Overall Strong card

I am open to other ideas as well, I just want to maximize my opportunity to get points for personal travel with my wife. If I need to get more dialed down before I ask for help, I can do that as well.

Thanks!

What type of points are you most interested in for future travel with your wife (Airline Miles, Hotel Points, etc)?

Since you are in Chicago, I assume you fly UA a lot. Is lounge access something that is important to you and/or your wife when traveling on your personal time?

Which airline and hotel chain will you be using the most? My first thought is Sapphire Preferred since United obviously has a large presence in Chicago, and it's arguably the best overall rewards card.

It doesn't really matter, but if I had a preference it would be miles, as I think I can gain points at a decent rate with the hotel membership as is.


I haven't started traveling for work yet, but UA will be a good option. My wife is a fan of SW as well, but in most cases, I won't have a choice on who I fly because it is rate based.

As it pertains to lounges, I have never been in one, so I don't know anything about it at all. I assume it would be nicer than sitting at the gate however.

I won't have a choice with airlines as much because it will be rate based and depending on where I am flying to, but guessing it will be United is a safe bet.

As for Hotel, Hilton,Marriot, and Starwood are all preferred chains, so whicheever has the most reasonable rate for the stay.

I agree on the Sapphire, it has a lot of nice options

I would get the CSP and SPG cards. Maybe throw in a AmEx Platinum or JPM Palladium card if you want lounge access and Global Entry refund.

So use the Starwood card for hotel and the Sapphire for general expenses?

Use the CSP for all dining and travel (except SPG spend). SPG for everything else.

I would get for a starter and a main dish:

Chase Sapphire Preferred (to get an access to very valuable and flexible Ultimate Rewards, which you can transfer to airlines, hotels, etc)
AmEx SPG (again, because their point can be transferred to most airlines with 1:1.25 ratio)
Barclays Arrival Plus (great travel card with versatile opportunities)

Since you live in Chicago and United has a hub there, Chase Sapphire Preferred and United Mileage Plus Credit Card I would take both. I've been told that you can go and apply in branches to get better offers. I probably would skip Hilton as the redemption rates are not good.

I'm not usually a Starwood guy but in your case, that looks to be the clear choice. Iirc Marriott silver means a free bottle of water/soda in your room. Not worth it in my opinion. What do you think each chain will represent as far as % of your stays? There are more Hilton and Marriott than there are Starwood properties but if going to major cities, it usually isn't an issue.

I'm not sure which card you meant but the Chase Sapphire is the no annual fee version of the card while the card that everyone else mentioned has an annual fee. The "free" card only has double points on dining and no dividend. However, with all the starpoints that you'll be earning it may not matter much unless you are committed to taking your rewards flights on UA.

If UA is preferred, you'll want an Ultimate Rewards earning card for sure. Keep in mind that the "free" cards can't transfer miles out to Chase's partners so you'd have to store them until you obtained a premium card.

I would sign up for the Amex SPG card now - I'm not sure if there's anyway to get them to extend the 30K offer to you which expired at the end of June, but maybe someone else can comment on that.

I would plan to get the Marriott card as well, but I would wait until the bonus is 70K. You may want to look into the travel packages for a longer-term redemption idea which include a week at a hotel plus miles essentially transferred out to an airline 1-to-1 (United gets a slightly better redemption).

For Hilton stays, I think you can earn miles on your stays instead of HHonors points so you could change that in your HHonors account after setting one up.

As far as airlines, it is going to depend on routes. Living in Chicago, I've flown AA/oneworld credited to AA about 5x as many miles as United - I think I even have more flown Delta miles than United. I usually go by price for the dates I need, and I'm willing to pay a little more for non-stops and more convenient times.

For car rentals, would you prefer to have a card which makes you not have to file any damage claims against your own insurance? If so, I believe the United card (cards?) is one of the only currently available cards with primary coverage in the US. (I'm also assuming you DO have a car and car insurance - if not, you may need to purchase additional coverage.)

After you get those two cards, it depends on your goals for how you (and probably your wife) want to redeem your miles/points in addition to any travel benefits. You travel to see family in the PNW each year? Consider the Alaska card to get an annual companion voucher (last year there was a 50K offer I'm waiting on). Fly to other midwest locations? The BA card (was a 100K that I'm planning on getting if it comes back) could be great - 9000 Avios round trip on American Saaver flights under 650 miles. Would rather redeem on a first-class luxury trip to an exotic locale you never thought you'd be able to take? Look up what your options are to make it happen!

Are you planning to apply for a mortgage anytime in the next 1-2 years? That may make you want to stick with minimal new cards - with 2 hotel options which both have some way to transfer to airlines (Marriott only efficiently through the package option), you'll have a decent number of options, and you'll have access to Amex Offers yet also have a Visa which is helpful as sometimes Amex isn't accepted.

So it looks like the consensus is the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, with possibly the Starwood Card. I will take a look at these, but am still open to other options.

Thanks so much!

Do you not have to use a corporate credit card for travel expenses? When I traveled for work we had to use the Corporate Amex or we'd get a stern email from finance.

Assuming you don't, I'd get a SPG or Hilton Amex and always stay in those hotels just to maximize miles.

Also as a clarification, I don't think the Amex Plat gives you HH Gold status. I think that was a limited term promotion and is no longer available. If I'm wrong, I'd be happy to know so I can call up and get that added to my account. I'm a lowly silver right now.

Chase Saphire Preferred
 

to start, with the bonus and most of your charges... esp if you are considering United, Southwest and hotels.... you earn in one account and then when you want to use the points they can be transferred immediately to claim rewards. It's very versatile... we use that as our go-to card and then supplement with cash reward amex