Settling Hotel Bill With Branded Credit Card from Different Hotel Chain
 

Is it bad form to pay at one hotel chain with a branded credit card for a different hotel chain? For example, if I have a Hilton credit card and stay at a Marriott property, is it rude to use the Hilton credit card at Marriott.

Searched prior threads but did not see a discussion. Thoughts appreciated .....

I doubt that anyone will care or even notice.

doesnt matter, but obviously no credit card bonus

The hotel doesn't care as long as they get their money. A sharp desk clerk would see you as a potential customer he could poach from a competitor.

"Show me the money!"

I doubt anything else matters or anyone cares.

Was staying at a Hilton this year and only had my Marriott Visa with me.
I handed it over and made a joke about "hope my card doesn't crash the system" and the desk agent had a quizzical look on his face.

I mentioned it was a Marriott card and he said he didn't even notice and made a comment "all cards are welcome" with a smile on his face.

Nope. I once stayed long term at Hampton Inn (only game in town for the project and well over 11 months every M-Th over a 16 month period) and used my SPG Amex every week.

Assume this is for minimum spend or trying to reach a specific spend threshold though? Otherwise it doesn't tend to make sense (SPG being an exception due to the outsized value of SPG points).

I hope you negotiated a nice rate and points/amenities bonus for such frequent stays.

They get your money, why would they care? If anything, the staff might (if they're really bought into their employers) be mildly pleased that they're getting the sale rather than the competition with whom you appear to be invested.

Once the Montreal Marriot noticed that I was using a Hilton Amex. The desk agent noted that they treated elites better. I decided to smile rather than get into a discussion about the relative merits of both programs.

Yes it is for minimum spend. Good to see consensus on FT. Oddly this is the first instance this situation has come up for me. Thanks for everyone's comments!

Several years ago the Hilton credit card (in the UK) used to actually give bonus points when spending with it at any hotel. They had obviously just been lazy and set it for x2 points at any merchant with the hotel merchant category code.

Bad form?

Even if it were, who cares? OP is the customer.

For a while, the only hotel card I carried was the SPG Amex. I used it at all hotels since it was the best general-spend card I had.

Eventually, Marriott and Hilton came out with credit cards that were actually worthwhile to carry and use at those brands. And Hyatt came out with a card that more than pays for itself with the annual free night. So now I have a walletful of them, but whenever I'm staying award from one of those brands, I still use SPG Amex.

Pretty sure the only time they'll care is if you try to settle your bill with a herd of alpacas.