sosamo

Good info. Club Carlson has nice hotel in europe but since I wasn't approved for the card I opted for park hyatt. Fairmont. And hilton for my europe Trip. I stayed at a Radisson in richmond. Canada it was nice. Not 5 stars. But will do if it was just a regular vac.

I lowered my chase hyatt CL to 5k. I don't think I will be msing with it. I already have a few cards with amex. Don't want to have amother pull applying for the surpass. My CL for my spg is 2k

I'll probably ms about 40-80k a year with the hilton Reserve at simon.

Once I get my ihg card. I would ms a little with it also for stays at the intercontinental hotels.

sosamo

Oh I also heard that you apply for a 2nd reserve to get another 2 free nights is a possibility. I might do that for me and SI in the future for our next vac

36902BRF

That is true but they do have some interesting gaps even there. There are near as I can tell three CC properties in all of Italy. One in Rome (with mixed reviews, mostly about location), one in Milan and one some distance from Venice (probably far enough away you wouldn't want to stay there if going to Venice).

thewhitezone

I've had my eye on the CC card for a little while. Will likely pull the trigger sometime this year (because, why not...) But most of the comments I read about it being a great card for Europe seem to always call out the same 2 or 3 properties... scandinavian countries seem to get a lot of mentions. What are some of the other prime Europe CC properties? Good location, and all the rest?

littlewinglet

North Europe is one of the most overpriced parts of the world, so having easy to MS hotel points that can be put to good use is invaluable. Just about every city has something good. London has tons of good CC properties, Dublin, Edinbugh, Amsterdam, Paris etc.. all have very good hotels. Unless you're a hotel snob you'd like them just fine.

ORD-TGU

Discussed earlier, and another option. Hold multiple cards that have free annual night benefits.

My SO and I have the IHG, HH Reserve, Hyatt and Club Carl Personal and Business.

Yes, that is 10 cards total, with 10 annual fees. But it is easy, no need to MS.

And I have been successful to get some really good retention offers that offset the annual cost.

I use these points/free nights for high end properties, expensive cities or peak travel time (ie, Sporting Events, XMAS & NYE) to maximize return.

Of course I mix in everyday spend.

I also do buy points when there are good sales. To some this is not worth, but for me it is, easy. I also participate in the structured offers, like stay X, get X.

I also hit MS pretty hard on my airline cards.

Just like a good investment portfolio, I diversify.

Goal is to get "free" travel, but I am also very pleased to get "highly discounted" travel.

bmrisko

Yup and the automatic Gold is a good benefit from having the card...

thewhitezone

that's the Valhalla, right? multiple cards, multiple free nights, string them together for a vacation we couldn't afford otherwise.

36902BRF

The "problem" with some hotel cards is they aren't a whole lot better (and some are worse) than just MSing on a 2% or 2.2% cashback card. Just because you get a hotel stay for half price (accounting for cost of MS) doesn't mean it is a good deal as compared to 2% cashback and booking the same hotel via Hotwire at a discount. Also there are a number of ways to to get discounted lodgings beyond just hotels. I do MS some hotel cards for hotel stays but you really need to run the numbers and compare to other options you have for lodging/discount lodging.

And of course the math can change a lot based on what your cost of MS is, what other options you have to MS and your volume.

DaveInLA

CC is good at 5x, but I've never stayed at a CC property because there aren't any of their hotels in places I want to go. My main chain is the IHG, but I don't use MS because their cc has poor cc rewards.

hamokmonky

Perception is everything. If Im booking on points instead of paying, Im far more likely to spend "extravagantly" to get top tier hotel redemptions, whereas if Im paying cash, theres no way Im going over $200 a night ever. It may be the same, but once you have money in hand, and you are spending cold hard cash on a hotel room, the perception is different. Theres also the idea, would you go out of your way to make $10 in cb vs going out of your way to get a vacation you wouldnt otherwise get? People tend to value the experience more than the small amounts of $, even if they are the same cost/benefit (there is an inherent awe factor of this fabulous vacation vs the extra $ every month that you can barely differentiate from day to day). Im not arguing it makes sense, just that its there.

36902BRF

Yes humans are remarkably good at making poor economic decisions (not pointing the finger at you as I too can fall prey to the thought process you outline). That said just because one makes that decision doesn't necessarily make it right in a strictly logical sense. Still in reality this is a hobby as much as a business to most folks and if they are happy with what they get from it, that is all that matters.

PaulMSN

I used to do the Priceline/Hotwire thing, but I'm much happier with the certainty and simplicity of using hotel points. The bottom line isn't everything.

rtraveler

What's the purpose of holding onto the HH Reserve/Hyatt? Especially if you don't MS on it. My understanding is that they don't give you a free annual night.

IHG gives a free annual night and CC gives 40k points/yr so it can be redeemed for free night.

ucfzf10

Hyatt gives a free night every year you pay AF too. Hilton Reserve gives you a free night after $10K spend.