Ok, lets see where we are
 

Thanks for all the comments. In trying to whittle this down a bit I need to toss out the programs that offer free airline points, I don't need them, got about 1.4 million Delta miles.

Secondly, I need a VISA card for those vendors who don't accept my Delta AMEX, that eliminates a few others. I don't travel much for business nor do I have to purchase airline tickets so we can eliminate the ones who's primary benefit is high rewards for charging hotel/airlines on them.

I also have a Capital 1 Platinum Business Venture card which gives me 2 points for each dollar spend. These allow me to pay for travel expenses that I book and incur on my own as long as I charge them to this card. For anything over $600 the swap is 100 reward points for each dollar spend (75000 points for $750 hotel).

Looks like the Marriott card may be an option but I haven't figured out yet which deal is better, racking up a couple 100,000 points on it for just hotel comps or the Venture card that I can use on various expenses. Can someone help me on this one?

As one responder pointed out for the amount of spend I have I think I need several cards. One like the Venture for misc travel expenses AND perhaps a Starwood or Marriott for free hotel/resort stays.

Any further thoughts now this is getting filtered down a bit?

Marriott card makes no sense compared to Starwood. same points earned but marriotts cost three times as many points to redeem at.

If you did something like 4 first class tickets to Europe or Asia and 14 nights in a high end starwood resort that would cost you in the range of 640,000 points. So you can blow a lot of points on one trip. Of course the retail value of that is about $50,000 so its not a bad return.

This is assuming the business has cash laying around to do so. Not every business can do so. Plus how much time do you want to spend calling each vendor and negotiating a cash discount, then making sure that happens for each purchase? Using a CC for purchases gives you the month float on purchases, you get the points/miles, and helps streamline the accounting for billing and payments.

The retail value is not relevant, the monetary value is equal to how much the OP would spend (in cash) on such a vacation.

That conversion is so expensive that is should only be used for emergencies!

If it were me, I would do the following (if not Centurion):

1. Get a Hiltons Hhonors Surpass card. $40,000 in spend will grant you Diamond status, which will set you up for nice upgrades in Europe and Asia. The AXON special awards will allow you to have those nice vacations at the nicest Hilton properties, which may have equal or more coverage than Starwoods properties. Just get $40,000 and use for Hilton stays. This will take care of your hotels.

2. Get a American Airlines Visa or the Starwoods card for miles transfers for American. With your spending, it would be easy for you to get 2 million miles in 5 years, which will grant you lifetime elite status with American, giving you lifetime international lounge access through Oneworld. Then you can drop the card.

3. Get the American Express Platinum. This will give you travel rewards and lounge access for Delta/American/US Airways domestically. So then you'll be covered. It also has other perks, such as no international interchange fees.

4. Chase Freedom Visa for cash back in the various rotating categories. Also pick up the Priority Club Visa for the IHG hotel group. Spending $60,000 will get you Platinum status.

With the points you rack up on Hilton, SPG, and American Express Platinum, you'll be set for hotels and vacation properties. The status for the various programs will make sure you are happy where-ever you go.

I've spent millions per year on cards (business - I wish it was personal!) and have some insight. One thing not mentioned much in the advice above is diversification. With $1MIL to spend, you don't necessarily want to spend *just* on the single card that yields the best value - you'll want to mix it up a bit.

As your "go to" card, you have it right with SPG. The points are generally worth t he most to people, and with the 1.25 to 1 point/mile conversion ratio (sometimes greater when concurrent with promos), you'll inherently have access to airline miles from many carriers when you want them.

If you'd like to obtain *status* - which greatly enhances the value of your points/miles - there are two cards to consider:

1) The Amex Delta Reserve card. If you spend $60K *on the nose* (don't go much past, as the return diminishes greatly), you'll get 90K Skymiles *and* 30K EQM/MQM miles towards status. You'll also get a BOGO companion certificate (good for first class, too) *and* SkyClub lounge access/membership. There is a $500 annual fee, but these later two perks alone are covered by it. Even better, it's almost a given that there will be a promo sometime during the year where you can register and earn extra miles on top of the 90K RDMs... sometimes it is even a double-miles promotion (like last fall) where you could have kicked it up to 150K SkyMiles for that $60K spend. That's 2.5 miles per dollar spent. Impossible to beat with other cards. Here's where it gets really pretty.... get a second card of the other flavor (there are two: business/consumer) and do it again. Spend another $60K. Now you'll get twice the miles, but more importantly, another 30K EQM/MQM status miles. This will bring you very close (and past, in the first year) the Platinum Medallion level... Delta's *second highest elite status*. If you can spend your $60K 8 2 = $120K quickly, do it all early in the year and you'll need to do it only every *other* year, if you'd like, as status earned in one year carries through all of the current year plus the next. You can alternate years and still maintain the status. You'll hear many people complain incorrectly that SkyMiles are "worthless", but they're usually lumping international and/or non-status redemption with everything else. If you have status and redeem domestically, you can readily use 25K miles to get *first class* seats, even just days before departure, with no booking, bag, change, or cancellation fees! You can't beat it anywhere. As you seem to travel on a discretionary basis and just a few times a year, this could be a great match for you. Maybe you'd step it up to ten or so 25K redemptions per year (250K miles) that would mostly be first class and give you tons of flexibility for change, no fees, early boarding, the works. I do this readily and it's the next best thing to having a private jet... seriously.

2) The Chase Marriott Premier Signature Card. Others will knock the value of Marriott points versus SPG points per se. They're correct to do so. However, they are ignoring the status aspect. Similar to the Delta Reserve card, the Marriott Signature card allows you to earn upper elite status via spending alone. You get 15 elite qualifying nights (EQNs) annually just for holding the card, and you get another night for every $3K you spend. As with Delta, status earned one year is good that year and all the way through the next. Therefore, you could spend $180K on the Marriott card early every *other* year, earn 60 EQNs plus the 15 bonus EQNs, and maintain Platinum (top level) status. Of course, if you stay a few paid nights and/or do some promos, you might not need to get the full 60 this way, so maybe you'd need to only spend $120K to earn 40 EQNs, for example. Having Platinum will really enhance your hotel stays beyond what you'd get with lower-level status for other programs. Even if Marriott isn't your favorite brand, it's worth doing if you can utilize a dozen or more nights a year.

But you can use AA miles for hotels all over creation. The redemption rate isn't the greatest and you do have to pick up some taxes, but with 1,000,000 miles per year who cares. They have a pretty good selection of available hotels around the world.

Silver status on AA? Their lowest elite level is GOLD and comes with a few benefits.

I like the concept of racking up lifetime Plat in ~2 years! If you're looking for both an AMEX and a VISA, why not sign up for the Citi AA Visa business card and SPG Amex business card? Attribute most of your spending to SPG Amex because of the 20k SPG - 25k AA transfer bonus that you can take advantage of plus any potential bonuses that come up (i.e. last year there was something like a 35% transfer bonus iirc...could be very lucrative for you!).

I second this motion.

STARWOODS

nordstrom visa with travel program.

What are you smoking? I can accept that internationally VISA is accepted more, but superior customer service? AMEX wins hands down.

Couldn't agree more.

Really? That crappy call center where they can only read from scripts in Bangalore?

AMEX CS is seriously over-rated. They are awful