These cards are reaching their anniversary and I was wondering which ones should I keep and which ones should I close:

1) Chase Marriott
2) Chase IHG
3) Club Carlson
4) Citi AAdvantage

I think since IHG only has $49 fee, it is worth keeping considering it gives a free night every year. Club Carlson gives 40,000 points every anniversary and also the 3rd night is free. It also gives 5 points for every dollar spent, anywhere. All these benefits come with a $75 annual fee. Keep it?

Closing Citi and Marriott is a no-brainer, right?

Marriott yes as you can always open a Ritz card and get another sign up bonus.

Marriott gives you a free cat 5 night plus 15 elite nights... I think it's worth it just for the cat 5 night which comes in handy for the sudden airport or outside major city hotel. You can get the ritz Carlton bonus even if you have a Marriott card although there's a $395 fee to go with it.

It is VERY easy to get retention offers with the Citi AA card. I've had the card for over 5 years without ever paying an annual fee.:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/citi-...all-cards.html
The Marriott is worth keeping if you will use the free night it gives.

Keep the IHG open. This one is a no brainer (unless you plan to churn it)

You can keep the Club Carlson open if you MS on it, value the Gold status (useless IMO) or think that 40k points are a good buy for $75. If not, you can downgrade to the no annual fee card and still have the last night free benefit available.

The Citi Aadvantage might be worth keeping for the 10% mile rebate if you max it out every year. Also if you travel AA/US enough to use the baggage/priority boarding benefits. If not, then downgrade it to the Bronze card which is no annual fee and will preserve your credit history.

The Marriott card is a difficult decision. Personally I do not value the Cat 5 cert at $75 due to devaluations over the last few years but you should evaluate this with your own travel plans. It has no other useful benefits that justify the fee. If you are not sure then close it and reapply for it 24 months after your first bonus.

PS: don't forget to fish for a retention offer on all the cards regardless of what you end up doing.

and be sure to ask to transfer your credit limit to a card you plan on keeping open (same bank of course). chase is quick to close the card without transferring first.

Well, a few weeks ago I called Chase to transfer some credit limit from my Marriott card to the IHG card (I wanted to take advantage of a balance transfer offer). The Marriott card had a $12k limit. As usual, they transferred my call to a specialist. Since I was carrying a balance at that time in one of the cards, and also I often do MS (so there's usually a balance shown on the cards), they got suspicious and reduced my credit limit to $5k

I promised myself never to call them again for credit limit transfer. It may risk closing all my chase accounts.

I don't believe these items (my bolding) are correct...

Unless something has changed...
1. You get the 2nd night free on award stays (not the third); and
2. There's no 5X points for everything

Or did you get some different Club Carlson card than me?

OP didn't say 5X points, they said 5 points. And that's exactly what the landing page says:

http://www.clubcarlsonvisa.com/credi...cid=PS_1883301