This is the offer I signed up for last year. I haven't redeemed yet and my account shows 2 nights being available to me with these T&C's.

That is a great point and another argument in favor of the PC card, as bonus is awarded with first use.

There is an entire thread in this forum devoted to the PC card and how to be sure and get the 80k point offer that OP may want to check out. Also, it might be helpful to OP that PC hotels often allow points and a bit of cash--say 15K plus $70 per night. This could be helpful given how many nights are needed.

A year ago I had a family wedding in NYC. A Priority Club hotel in Secaucus, NJ , just a few miles from Manhattan, was on Pointbreaks for 5000 points. There is no guarantee of this happening again, but it is an example of how PC allows you to stretch your points into many nights.

Choice credit card is nice to have because it has no annual fee and comes with a bonus of up to 24000 points for Canadians. The points are valuable if used for stays in Europe and add up fast during certain promotions.

Beware: MBNA customer service is the worst in the industry giving out false names and stating that they will resolve any problem and promish to return a phone call in 72hrs and don't. N"No one by that name works here". All bull s###. They continue to state that your enrollment miles are held up because of Choice even though you completed the spending requirements in Sept. Still have not gotten 16,000 points from a July application for my wife.

IC has the times square Candlewood for only 20,000 ..therefore 4 night with pc card sign up...

Sorry - I stand corrected and have deleted my original post.

One reason I was confused was that I when tried to use my bonus free nights at a few Category 5 or 6 hotels, Hyatt kept telling me the dates I wanted were unavailable (blocked) for using the free nights. And the blocked dates were by not even high demand dates. Although there are no "black out" dates, Hyatt warns that "Reservations for Free Night Award redemption are subject to availability." That does not mean if a standard room (as defined by the hotel) is available for sale, you can reserve a Free Night Award for that room. That's the catch here and I was not happy about it! :(

As it turned out, I ended up using the nights at a Category 4 hotel, which seemed to have plenty of available nights. Of course, YMMV.

For New York City in particular, and with a tolerance for midscale hotels, Priority Club is by far your winner.

The more upscale-centric programs like SPG, MR, and HH will all have very high points requirements for NYC.

You can of course do a quite-nice Intercontinental Hotel with your PC points, but for a few rooms times a few nights, stretching them out with a midscale brand might be a better option. My only advice would be to research the individual properties carefully: make sure you're selecting a hotel that gets decent reviews for cleanliness and quality. (NYC has some gritty hotels, even within brands you know and trust.) My general take is that I'd rather be in Manhattan than another borough, but that's just my personal preference.

Family Cards
 

No doubt! 9 cards is a lot; I'm sure it pays off in points, but wow, that requires major coordination to use them all to full effect.

I believe this very nice Fairmont credit card offer for two free nights after $1000 spending is still valid:

http://www.fairmont.com/promo/card/

Now, what I'm more uncertain about is whether the Fairmont property in NYC, the Plaza, honors such redemptions. You might check the Fairmont forum for more info about this.

PC should be your choice for NYC hotels. That Staybridge Inn and Suites is a steal at the current rate. The hotel is in Times Square and the service is splendid!

I can have 2 Citi Hilton Visa's at the same time ? I currently have one ( and have churned it a few times) so I can apply for another Citi Hilt Visa while keeping my current Citi Hilton Visa and get the bonus ?

Thanks

You can churn two at a time. (if you can do both minimum spends in time, that is). And you don't have to immediately cancel your previous one. If Citi is tight on your total credit limit, it helps if you still have the older card, ready to "transfer the CL and then cancel" on the phone. If you cancel beforehand, the CL from the cancelled card may not be avialble to you for a new card for up to 6 months!

Here is the thread which discusses all that:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...nors-visa.html

I think there's also a Staybridge Suites at around that Priority Club points price. If you're unfamiliar, Staybridge Suites is a suites hotel that nevetheless serves free breakfast (including some hot items), and has free internet. It's somewhat similar to a Residence Inn or Springhill Suites, roughly. (Unless you want to do your own breakfasts in the room or always go out for breakfast, though, skip Candlewood Suites, that chain serves no breakfast at all, except for minimal "pantry" items for you to take back to your room, at most.)