After reading this forum for the past year, it was January when I decided it was time to start accumulating some miles and points.
Since then I have gotten 2 swa rt tickets, 4 free nights at a hyatt (husband and I both were approved), and 300k AA miles (again both husband and I were approved). Hopefully sometime fall of 2012 we will use AA miles and hyatt free nights for London. In the mean time, I would like to apply both for my husband and myself for the CO card (I think tomorrow is the deadline?) I want the Sapphire card x2. I read (the points guy) that the best value to transfer Sapphire points would be to my Hyatt account, however, we are more Marriot people. I have read very good things about the SPG card. I am not sure which card to use daily for spending. Currently it is the Alaska Airlines card. I gotta say this is all kinda adictive! I appreciate all the valuable information on the forum. I have taken the advice to start a binder and keep receipts, started an account with award wallet, and read before I ask questions!

What card is the best for you for everyday spending ultimately depends on how you want to use your points/miles? The SPG card has the primary benefit of being able to use the points for a variety of uses, with transfers to American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, British Airways, Delta Airlines, etc. or simply using the points to book SPG hotel rooms. The flexibility of starpoints is a great feature because you don't have to decide immediately how you want to use the points.

I used to focus more on accumulating miles but in the past 4 years have shifted more toward accumulating hotel points, because three of the chains (Hilton, Marriott and Starwood) that typically have hotels where I want and at prices I can afford (when doing paid stays) have very limited restrictions on redemptions. I still collect CO miles mainly because that's my company's preferred airline for travel (and I fly once a month or so on business).

Collectively, my husband and I have a Hilton Amex (primary plus supp. card), SPG Amex (ditto), Marriott Premier Visa (just me), BA Visa (primary plus supp. card) and CO Presidential Plus Mcard (just me). Our current strategy is:

1) Use the BA Visa for most daily purchases and very large joint purchases so we can hit the $30,000 spend threshold this year and get a 2-for-1 redemption coupon and then use hubby's 200,000 BA miles.

2) Hilton Amex is the next priority (so we can keep Gold status with $20,000 spend). We also use it for all grocery and drugstore purchases because there are higher points per $ spent. I use this card for my clothing shopping habit because I'm the primary account holder.

3) The Marriott Visa is being used for restaurant meals because of the higher points per $ spent. But otherwise, this year it's a lower priority card. We do find that we can make good use every year of the 1-5 Cat free night's stay.

4) I have the CO Mcard mostly for the Pres Club Access and free bags and don't use it a lot. It's an expensive card but worth it for me because of my travel habits. And I have a nice little stack of flex miles for the year I come up short on achieving status. I do use it, however, for hotel stays that aren't associated with a particular chain like SPG, Hilton or Marriott because of the higher miles per $.

5) SPG Amex is also a low priority card. We got it a few years ago because the sign-up bonus was good and we used the points for a great stay in Egypt (where there are some great value rewards). I really only use it, though, for SPG stays and sometimes at the end of the year where I've hit spend thresholds on other cards.

Finally, I make liberal use of Marriott's internet retail shopping portal. I shop a lot through the internet and wherever possible, I try to link through the Marriott portal to an online retailer, including 2-10 points per $ spent (on top of the points spent for using whichever credit card I feel like using for the purchase).