Here is my question: If you were planning from scratch, what credit card/ff program/hotel program combo would you sign up for and use to maximize FLEXIBILITY of rewards. I am basically trying to figure out what credit card program--affinity or AMEX will be the best combo with a frequent flyer program. I know that some programs allow you to transfer miles, etc. Some don't. From you experience, what would you suggest?

A better thread title and proofing your post before you hit <enter>.

If you are interested in actually redeeming frequent flyer miles for rewards, then absolutely stay away from Continental/Chase, cause their redemption availability is horrible to say the least.

You'll need to earn double the miles just to have enough to use them.

Thanks Jim for the tip!

I would say get the Starwood AMEX since their points are so versatile - they can be converted to airline miles, or used for hotel rooms. Most of the hotel programs provide for conversion into miles with at least some airlines, but the Starwood card seems to provide greater rewards per dollar spent (1 Starpoint) than do, for example, the Hilton or Marriott credit cards.

(Some might argue Diners Club is similarly versatile, but others point out that Diners is not accepted as widely as AMEX; however, if you can afford both, you might want to add Diners as a second card. It also has the advantage of two billing cycles to pay, plus primary CDW coverage on most car rentals.)

Once you have a Starwood AMEX, you are a part of the Starwood Preferred Guest program (or you don't get the Starwood points), so you tend to give a preference to that program for hotel stays, in order to earn more Starwood points.

Are you related to upgrademe?

Not that I know of. I would believe that upgrademe and FCTSTY are related, though.

I'd definitely go with hotel credit cards instead of airline credit cards. I used ot have a CO Visa, Marriott Visa and Hilton Optima. Gave up the CO Visa when I realized how useless CO points were when you actually wanted to redeem them for something besides a round trip to Cleveland. Hilton and, in particular, Marriott, have been far easier to deal with when it came to getting free stays in Europe.

The Hilton and MArriott cards also give extra points when you use them as their properties. CO, at least, didn't give extra miles for charging CO airfare on the card.

I have to agree with Athena as I sit here at the Maui Marriott with two rooms for free. I have a Marriott Visa and Starwood AMX. I only redeem when the room cost is upwards of $300 per night. I have saved a boatload of money in cities like: DC, NYC, Paris, London, etc. Unless you exchange miles for some carefully thought out airline awards, I don't think you will do as well as cashing in on the highend hotels.

[This message has been edited by paradocs (edited Jan 02, 2004).]

I'll second the CO availability comment, and the thread topic hint, too.

While hotel program cards are great, you need to decide whether you are ever actually going to spend that much time in hotels in the first place (as opposed to staying with friends, relatives, or business associates).

If not, then Diners Club or plain Amex Rewards looks better than a hotel-related card.

Great comments--thanks to all. This conversation is definitely helping me get a handle on things.

Yeah, the Starwood Amex is definately the best way to go. Most importantly, they do not have the capacity controls of the other programs. You can also funnel the points to almost any airline (except UA) at a reasonable rate.

I would probably not bother with Diners. I honestly cannot see anything that it can get you that Starwood cannot, other than UA. I have probably never seen an establishment that accepts Diners and not Amex, Diners has a $95 fee and charges you $1 for every 1,000 miles converted. And if you want to go Diners-->SPG, you lose in the conversion. I had Diners once and took advantage of the bonus sign-up points and used the restaurant program to recover the annual fee, but at this point, I do not think it is worth it.

You will also need a Visa/MC to back up the Amex, of course, depending on the amount of charges that you will accumulate that are non-Amex, that will determine if you should use a no-fee one to back up the Amex or a fee card. I have less than $500 per month that are non-Amex, so for me, it is not worth paying a fee for this card. That leaves a Hilton Visa, Amtrak Visa, or a number of Airline cards that give 1/$2. I am not familiar with the Marriott card so I cannot comment but I would stay away from the Priority Club Visa, the earning rate is too poor.

Starwood Amex and a Citibank AA mastercard.

I still don't understand why anyone would use a Marriott Visa for non-Marriott spending. If you need a Visa/MC, I think you get a lot more bang for the CC buck going with Hilton - either with a Hilton Visa or an airline affinity card that transfers 2:1.

Edited to add this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum69/HTML/001694.html

There's a discussion towards the end of it regarding Hilton vs. Marriott.

[This message has been edited by singlemalt (edited Jan 02, 2004).]

I'm with you. The mainstay of my credit card portfolio is the Starwood AMEX. For sheer mileage earning power and use across numerous airline programs as well as at Starwood properties, this is the card.

For situations where AMEX is not accepted, I have a UA Mileage Plus VISA. I originally applied for this card solely for the 15K bonus miles and intended to dump the card this summer when the next annual fee ($60) was due. However, I got married in October and both the reception hall and the photographer did not take AMEX so I decided to hang onto this card for one more year. The miles from the charges more than made up for the annual fee. I will dump it this coming summer and return to the Hilton VISA card which has no annual fee.

I also recently received a no annual fee Citibank Mypoints Platinum Mastercard. The 3000 bonus points are nice (still waiting for them to post), but I don't anticipate any charges on this card other than our rental car in Ireland in May. Mastercard, unlike VISA and AMEX, offers rental car coverage in Ireland which will save us a few hundred dollars as we won't have to purchase CDW and Theft insurance.