I recently received an MBA and am set to start work as a business consultant next week. There will be a lot of travel involved and I want to make sure I get the most benefits out of it.

Before last year I never had any FF programs because I only flew once every few years, and hate junk mail and assumed I would get a lot. In the last year, I had several prospective employers fly me out, on their dime, for job interviews, so I got a FF card for every airline I flew out of.

So far I have a Delta, AA, and Continental FF "free" membership.

For Credit Cards, I've always done really well, and have a grandfathered 2% Schwab FIA card and a 5% PenFed Gas card that I use for just about everything (other than 3% Chase Amazon because I make a lot of purchases on there).

My new employer is going to be paying for all my travel expenses. The employer directly pays for airfare, and I can just apply the miles to my FF cards directly with the airline.

I will be paying for hotel stays out of pocket and will be reimbursed. I don't know which hotels I will be staying at. Are there programs with hotels like the airlines, where I can earn the points if I pay for the hotel stay on my schwab 2% card? Or are the only hotel points systems based on using the actual credit cards branded to that hotel?

I've seen a lot give up to 5 points if you use the branded hotel CC, however I would rather have 2% cash now, then a chance to get 5 points at a later date, *if* they dont expire, get canceled, or hit blackout dates.

Any general recommendations for me otherwise? I've been skimming this site and various linked blogs but there is so much to digest it will take me months to read it all, and I'd like to start maximizing my points once I start working next week.

Sounds like you already know
most of what you need to know !

...but specific questions will get you an answer... ! @:-)

It all depends on where you are flying from and to where, what the corp travel policy is. Same deal with hotels.

IMHO best to pick one airline and one hotel as your primary and work on getting high status with them to get the most benefits.

Thanks for replies so far. As far as corp travel policy, I believe they pick the airlines depending on whatever algorithm they have and they probably use all the major ones at different times and I dont get much of a choice so i will be spread thin. I'll be taking probably around 30 to 40 round trip flights per year.

I do have a specific question:

Are there Hotel Points cards that work like Airfare FF Points cards where it doesnt matter how I pay for the hotel stay, I can just get points on my rewards cards anyway? Or do all Hotel Points Cards require that I make the purchase on a specific Hotel-Branded CC?

Good advice, one airline and one hotel. However, you should see what the preferred airline and hotel group is for your company. While cash back is nice at 2% of total spend, if you are able to do mainly Hyatt, the 3 points per $ at Hyatt properties, with Hyatt Chase, comes out better, assuming Hyatt valued at 1.6 cents per point. Using hotel points for awards can easily get a 2 to 4 cent per point value, so it depends on what you like. And how you will eventually use the miles and points. Also, keep in mind that Hilton, Marriott and SPG do have more properties, though Hyatt seems to be the better program, IMHO. Each have their own branded CC but only Hyatt and SPG points would be equal to or better than the 2% cash CC you have. Except for the sign up bonuses.

Work on getting status ASAP, as the benefits are worthwhile, better seating on the plane and more perks at the hotel.

And congratulations on landing a job in this economy.

The branded CC will usually give an additional bonus for using it at the hotels in their chain , like Hyatt Chase, 3 pts per dollar at Hyatts, 1 pt per dollar elsewhere. So, you get points every use, as a credit transaction, but you should check the CC T&C's for the one you choose, for the specifics.

Assuming you have student loans, I would go with one of the % cash back cards. Since the company pays the full expense, the cash back is like a 2-5% raise.

If you live in a hub city, you'll probably be flying one airline most of the time, so at 30-40 round trips/year you should have plenty of miles for a "free" vacation.

Even though majority of FT readers will not support me, with all honesty in your particular situation I would not worry too much about your travel rewards optimization and trying squeeze every possible benefit out of the system.

Being in a situation similar to yours in the past, I would tell you that getting most miles/points out of your activities is an interesting hobby but a pretty time-consuming one and you will most certainly be a very busy person very soon.

So get some rest and relaxation in your spare time (if you have too much of it consider whether you've chosen the right employer ) ). This is not to say you should not follow simple common sense - register for FF programs of all airlines/hotels you fly/stay and assign you FF # to your tickets/reservations once you purchase them. But if you're standing at a hotel's check-in counter thinking about what card to get out of you wallet to meet a spend or worrying about not getting your elite status renewed and considering a routing you would not otherwise fly, you went too far.

If you're one of those who cannot just have rest, spend your time going above and beyond in your job - your next big promotion will pay off much better than an extra 100,000 miles you could get.

So there are hotel FF-type programs? That I can use any credit card for, and just apply my stay to get points?

You guys are absolutely right, I don't want to maximize my rewards for a net gain of a few dollars a year, but I also don't want to leave money on the table if all it takes is 30 seconds to log into a website, enter my stay, and get free points. That's how easy it seems to be with Delta, AA, and Continental. In fact, when I checkin online, it asks for my FF number so it's not even really that much extra work at all.

I just have to find out if that exists for hotels and how to find out about it.

As far as 100,000 points versus a promotion, it sounds counter-intuitive but I'm better off with the points. I am on income-based repayment on the student loans so for every $1 gain of salary I earn, after state, federal, FICA,phase-out of certain tax deductions, and higher student loan repayment, I only keep about 20 cents on every additional $1 of gross salary. Add that to extra stress of the promotion and more work, and Ill take the points

Yes, most (all I am familiar with) hotel programs are similar to airline frequent flyer programs in that you sign up for the rewards program and receive a number that you then enter into your reservation (or provide to the hotel front desk personnel if someone else makes your hotel reservations and will not enter your rewards number) to get hotel points for the stay. These hotel points are based on the amount of the stay, regardless of what credit card is used for payment. You are lucky that you can use your personal credit card for the hotel and get reimbursed; a lot of us are stuck using a corporate travel card for hotels.

Another option, if you prefer to accumulate airline miles rather than hotel points is to enter an airline FF # instead of a hotel loyalty program number when you stay at a hotel (with Hilton HHonors, you can get both airline miles and hotel points for the same stay, but with most other programs, you have to choose miles or points for a stay, but can change this for each stay.

You can find out more about the programs by going to each chain's website and/or checking out the very informative sticky threads on the individual hotel threads on this forum.

Hope this helps!

I completely disagree with your assessment. Other than the time it takes to apply for a hotel affinity credit card, how long does it take to pull out a Hilton Amex card out of your wallet when your checking into Hilton, a Marriott Visa when your checking into a Marriott, etc...etc. Some hotel credit cards give elite status with the card (Hilton Surpass Amex). That means even more additional points per stay, let alone the sign up bonuses. Almost all Hotel credit cards grant sign up bonuses with your first purchase on the card. That means any purchase, it doesn't have to be hotel stay related.

Keeping track of hotel points and airline miles is easily accomplished online with AwardWallet. It does not take a lot of time to manage these programs and you would be foolish to leave points or miles on the table.

I'll also debate the value of rebate vs mileage/point credit cards. Take a $50,000 spend on a 2% rebate card will net $1,000. The same spend on a Hilton Surpass Amex will net a minimum of 150,000 points, probably much more if you charge gas, groceries and drugstore purchases, throw in a few stays in a Hilton hotel and the point total would probably be closer to 300,000 pts.
300,000 Hilton points will get you a bit more than a weeks stay at the Hilton Bora Bora, $1000 won't get you 2 days.
Another point is that rebate cards in themselves will not get you elite status in any program, however some hotel cards do give status. Remember along with the perks of elite status ( breakfast, room upgrades, free internet) come accelerated point earning!

Cheers!

Yoo! Congrats on your job offer. I work in consulting myself, but based in SEA. Most of my colleagues in the US offices have the SPG Amex card.

Although flights are paid for by their respective offices, a small portion of them choose to pay out of pocket first via their CCs (and accrue points for miles) and get reimbursed later. I do this too.

As for choosing a ff program, as others suggested, I'd stick with one carrier for each program.

That's right - then add a little bit of time to actually find the best sign-up offer for the card you need, a little bit of time to keep track of due dates and payments on these credit cards, a little bit of time for investigating of what to do if you're not approved (reconsideration calls, letters etc.). Add to that offsetting factor of annual fees (unless you're willing to spend time cancelling it, choosing a new one, applying for it, getting through the hoops of possible rejection - than you're such deep in the game that regular monitoring of you credit report becomes a must).

And a little bit later when the OP decides to buy a house - oops - mortgage companies will not give him the best rate. Now he will have a pay extra $100s a month just for pleasure of knowing he's getting points valued at let's say 4 cents per $1 spend instead of following his original suggestion of just getting 2% cashback everywhere he uses a credit card.

My message was not that this miles game is all useless and senseless, but that this hobby makes sense if you work 8-5 and earn 5 digits and have a house and a car (and don't plan to get more of these), but that is not OP's case. And his spare time will have a very definite value for him

I have credit cards with the major hotel chains and I really think your over-estimating the time involved in securing and maintaing cards in various hotel programs. The statements you make about investigating, approval, denials are true for rebate cards as well as hotel affinity cards. Payments are easy to keep track of now and even easier to make. Afterall, how long does it take to login to an account and click make a payment. You have to make a decision on whether the annual fee offsets the additional points and perks you receive with the card. One thing you fail to mention are the yearly caps on the amount of rebate you can earn, many are $1500 per year.

I absolutely disagree with your mortgage assessment! Yes, after you apply and receive a credit card you will see a decline in your credit scores for a short period of time only to see a rebound with increased credit score due to lower utilization because of the increased total credit lines.

We are not talking about churning here.

Cheers!

I think it's up to the OP to decide how much time to put into this. IMHO he can start small and work up. Opening 4-6 credit cards over a year's time, and keeping them open or closing them judiciously, won't negatively impact his credit score. As others have said, it should even help it within a year or two of starting it.