Miles & Points blogs and conferences often revolve around strategies for credit card churning to earn vast amounts of points and miles to fuel your travel without the need to travel.

BAcon provided a seminar on credit card affiliate marketing for the blogger as a revenue stream. The presentations were about as vague as bloggers are about their relationships with credit card affiliates.

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author’s alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.

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DISCLAIMER: Some links to credit cards and other products on this web site will earn an affiliate commission, and this web site has a financial relationship with several credit card-issuing banks. Opinions expressed here are the author’s alone, not those of the card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the card issuer.

 

Basically any travel blog site with a disclaimer like this on the bottom of their page is participating in the credit card affiliate marketing program with some intermediary corporation who is the conduit between the banks and the bloggers. Read More…

Club Carlson released their U.S. Bank issued Visa credit cards today. There are some high value hotel stay benefits of the three cards offered including bonus points for enrollment, bonus points for annual renewal, complimentary Gold elite and up to 50 free award nights annually as a cardmember.

Club Carlson Premier Rewards Visa Signature Card benefits

• 50,000 Gold Points after first purchase within 90 days.
• 35,000 Gold points after $2,500 in spend within 90 days.
• 40,000 Gold Points renewal bonus each year.
• 10 points per dollar at Carlson Rezidor hotels.
• 5 points per dollar for all other purchases.
• Redeem 2 or more award nights and your last night is free as a bonus award night. You only pay points for one award night on a 2-night award stay.
• Complimentary Gold Elite Status
• $75 annual fee

Club Carlson Business Rewards Visa Signature Card benefits

• All the same benefits shown above for a $60 annual fee.

Club Carlson Rewards Visa Signature Card benefits

• 50,000 Gold Points after first purchase within 90 days.
• 10,000 Gold points after $1,500 in spend within 90 days.
• 25,000 Gold Points renewal bonus each year.
• 6 points per dollar at Carlson Rezidor hotels.
• 3 points per dollar for all other purchases.
• Redeem 2 or more award nights and your last night is free as a bonus award night. You only pay points for one award night on a 2-night award stay.
• Complimentary Silver Elite Status
• $50 annual fee

Two data points to keep in mind when evaluating these card benefits:

• Club Carlson sells Gold Points at rate $7 per 1,000 points.
• 100,000 Gold points = 18,000 airline miles.

The free award night benefit is huge. I currently have access to over 400,000 Club Carlson points with the huge promotion bonuses of the past year.

As a Club Carlson Visa card member I can redeem 2 night award stays and receive 400,000 points worth of free nights if I set up all my redemption stays as redeem one night with points and get one night free.

Club Carlson Visa T&C

Bonus Award Night: When you redeem Gold Points for Award Nights of two or more consecutive nights at the same participating Carlson Rezidor hotel property, you will receive the last of the Award Nights of that stay free without deduction of any Gold Points from your Club Carlson account (“Bonus Award Night”). Your Account must be open and reservation must be in the Club Carlson member’s name and use the member number associated with your Account to be eligible for the Bonus Award Night.

The Bonus Award Night offer is available only on advance reservations for Award Nights paid in full with Gold Points and is not valid with standard paid reservations or Points + Cash redemption reservations.

Only one Bonus Award Night will be available for a stay of two or more consecutive nights at the same hotel (early checkout with one night stay not eligible), regardless of the total length of stay, the total number of reservations or the number of check-in/check-outs, is subject to availability and all other terms and conditions and cancellation policies regarding Award Nights apply. Does not apply to additional reservations booked as contiguous stays at the same hotel.

Only one room per reservation, per hotel for an Award Stay will be eligible to receive the Bonus Award Night offer.

Maximum fifty (50) Bonus Award Nights per calendar year per member with an open Account (“Annual Maximum”). If a reservation with a Bonus Award Night is subject to a cancellation penalty, the Bonus Award Night from that reservation will count against the Annual Maximum. A Bonus Award Night has no Gold Point or cash value and cancellations involving a Bonus Award Night will not result in the credit of any additional Gold Points in your Club Carlson account.

There are other card member benefits like car rental coverage and $1,000,000 travel accident coverage.

The free award night benefit is the offer that jumps out to me. This is potentially worth hundreds of thousands of points each year along with complimentary Gold elite status and associated benefits if you qualify for the higher earning cards.

Perhaps I will start pimping credit cards like other travel bloggers to really play this loyalty game to the extreme.

Club Carlson Visa cards will be available December 1, 2012. The webpage shows three credit card offers through U.S. Bank.

No other details yet.

I have no affiliate links with credit card providers on Loyalty Traveler, so this post is for informational purposes only to share enhancements with the Hyatt Visa card effective October 1, 2012.

Since I do not pay much attention to credit cards, my initial impression on glancing at blog posts was Hyatt Visa added the benefit of complimentary Hyatt Diamond for $40,000 in annual credit card spend, similar to HHonors Diamond after $40,000 annual spend for Hilton American Express Surpass card members.

Not even close.

Hyatt Gold Passport members receive elite nights and stays credit upon reaching $20,000 and $40,000 annual spend thresholds. Read More…

This week Hyatt Visa added a card member anniversary benefit of one free night at a category 1 to 4 hotel. A common complaint about the Hyatt Visa card since it launched in late 2010 was the lack of any incentive to retain the card after receiving the high value enrollment bonus offer for two free nights at any Hyatt worldwide. This new benefit remedies that complaint to a large degree.

Hyatt Gold Passport has hotels assigned to categories 1 through 6. Category 5 and 6 are relatively small number of hotels, but these are typically the best of the best and include many of the Hyatt resort hotels. The enrollment bonus of two free nights at any Hyatt is still the premier feature of the Hyatt card.

Benefits of Hyatt Visa

• Enrollment Bonus = 2 free nights at any Hyatt to be used within one year (all new cardmembers)
• Enrollment Bonus for current Hyatt Platinum elites = 2 free nights + 2 suite upgrade certificates for use on paid stays.
• Enrollment Bonus for current Hyatt Diamond elites = 2 suite upgrade free nights with the exception of Park Hyatt Beaver Creek, Park Hyatt Sydney, Hyatt Regency Kyoto and Hyatt Regency Paris Madeleine that do not participate in confirmed suite upgrades.
• Earning rate = 3 points per dollar at Hyatt,
• 1 point per dollar for other transactions.
• No foreign exchange fees.
• complimentary Platinum elite status while a Hyatt Card member.

Which Hotel Credit Card is Best?

Hyatt ranks as one of the best hotel credit cards for persons who do not charge tens of thousands of dollars to a credit card. Ben Schlappig, Lucky at One Mile at a Time recently ranked best hotel credit cards and placed Starwood Preferred Guest American Express as his top pick followed by Hilton HHonors Surpass. The Points Guy surveyed hotel credit cards last week and based his analysis on $30,000 in credit card spend.

I see $30,000 on a credit card and think that might happen in five to eight years with my spend pattern. I could care less about SPG Gold elite after spending $30,000 in a year on the SPG American Express. I have been SPG Platinum for nearly a decade and rarely spend more than $3,000 a year at Starwood Hotels. Earning SPG Gold from hotel stays is something I can achieve for under $1,000 annually.

HHonors Surpass Diamond for $40,000 in credit card spend is an elite status I also held for many years with under $3,000 in spend per year at Hilton brand hotels. That is a more attainable route to HHonors elite for me.

5-Star Living on a 2-star Budget

For the low spender there is little benefit to the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card despite it being exuberantly touted across the blog world.  Sure the SPG AmEx card currently has a 30,000 points enrollment bonus. Read the fine print and the actual enrollment bonus is 10,000 points with an additional 20,000 points for charging $4,500 in the first three months.

The SPG AmEx does not confer instant elite status which is a standard benefit for most hotel credit cards. You have to spend $30,000 a year on the SPG AmEx to receive complimentary SPG Gold elite.

Complimentary Elite with Hotel Credit Cards

• Hilton HHonors No fee Visa or no fee American Express = Silver 15% bonus points (normally requires 4 stays or 10 nights).
• Hyatt Visa = Platinum 15% bonus points (normally requires 5 stays or 15 nights in a calendar year).
• IHG Priority Club = Gold 10% bonus points (normally requires 15 nights or earn 20,000 points or pay $50 in a calendar year).
• Marriott Visa (Signature or Premier) = Silver 20% bonus points (normally requires 10 nights in a calendar year).

Low Credit Card Value for Low Spenders

SPG American Express is a popular card for the versatility of Starpoints conversion into airline miles at the rate of 1 point = 1 mile for about two dozen airlines. I argue this is a minor benefit for a person charging less than $5,000 per year on a credit card. The points-to-miles exchange feature of SPG is a great program benefit, but there is no need to have the SPG AmEx for that benefit.

SPG has a minimum transfer requirement of 2,500 points for SPG members without Gold or Platinum elite status when exchanging points-to-miles. At the rate of 1 point earned per dollar charged to the SPG American Express (2 points/$1 for Starwood Hotel charges), the low spending consumer needs $2,500 in spend to make the minimum transfer of Starpoints to miles.

Earning 20,000 points for airline miles with a 25% bonus (20,000 Starpoints = 25,000 miles) may be a goal that takes years of credit card spending to reach. In contrast to credit card spend,  I estimate I earn  about 50,000 Starpoints per year with $2,000 in hotel stays and often I earn the equivalent of many more points through SPG free night promotions.

Even though the SPG AmEx has one of the best earning rates in terms of point value per dollar charged to the credit card, the card member charging less than $5,000 per year is not getting that much benefit compared to the value of points in other hotel credit cards after spending $5,000.

$5,000 = 5,000 Starpoints = about $125 to $200 in hotel value when used for a Category 2 hotel night (3,000 Fri/Sat or 4,000 points weekday.) Use 4,800 points for Cash & Points Category 5 hotel with $90 cash and the value might be $200+ in savings for a $300 a night Starwood Hotel.

$5,000 = 5,000 Starpoints = 5,000 frequent flier miles = $50 to $100 value.

 

Best Credit Cards for Low Spenders Offer Annual Free Night

Priority Club Visa = 1 free night every anniversary year good for any IHG hotel globally. 30,000 to 80,000 points enrollment bonus has been offered in past year. I received the 80,000 points offer several times.

Hyatt Visa = 1 free night every year for a category 1-4 hotel. Enrollment bonus is two free nights at any Hyatt.

Marriott Rewards Premier = one free night every year for a category 1 to category 5 hotel. Enrollment bonus is a certificate good for just category 1 to 4 hotels and 50,000 bonus points which are sufficient for any top-tier category 8 Marriott globally and almost any Ritz-Carlton Hotel. One drawback of the free night certificates compared to Hyatt and Priority Club is a six month expiration after certificate is issued.

The value of a free night is worth more than the annual fee for these three hotel credit cards. There is no requirement to be a big spender to get good value from the Priority Club Visa, Hyatt Visa or Marriott Premier Visa cards. The fact that the earn rate in hotel points for general spend categories with these three cards is less than the value of general spend points for the Hilton American Express Surpass or HHonors no fee cards and the SPG American Express card is not a significant factor for a person who spends less than $5,000 per year on a credit card.

Comparing credit cards based on $3,000 in hotel spend annually

• HHonors Surpass = $3,000 x 9 points = 27,000 HHonors points (one category 3 hotel night)
• SPG American Express = $3,000 x 2 points = 6,000 Starpoints (two category 2 weekend nights or two category 3 Cash & Points nights).
• Hyatt Visa = $3,000 x 3 points = 9,000 points (one category 2 night).
• Priority Club Visa = $3,000 x 5 points = 15,000 points (one Holiday Inn/Holiday Inn Express night or 3 PointBreaks nights)
• Marriott Premier Visa = $3,000 x 5 points = 15,000 points (one category 3 night).

There really is very little difference in the value of points based on $3,000 of hotel spend on the hotel chain’s cobranded credit card. It is hard to argue any of these point values are significantly better than another in terms of the value of the free night earned from credit card spend.

Comparing credit cards based on $5,000 annual spend in general categories

• HHonors Surpass or no-fee AmEx = $5,000 x 6 points (cable, wireless, internet, gas, groceries, drugstores = 30,000 HHonors points (one category 4 hotel night, about $150 to $200 value).
• SPG American Express = $5,000 x 1 points = 5,000 Starpoints (one category-5 Cash & Points nights, about $200 value).
• Hyatt Visa = $5,000 x 1 points = 5,000 points (one category 1 hotel night, about $100 to $150 value).
• Priority Club Visa = $5,000 x 2 points (gas, groceries, dining) = 10,000 points (2 PointBreaks nights or Points & Cash, about $100 to $200 value).
• Marriott Premier Visa = $5,000 x 2 points (airline, dining, rental car) = 10,000 points (one category 2 night or category 3 PointSavers, about $100 to $150 value).

Final Word: There are some great value credit cards for the low spender. Hyatt Visa ($75), Priority Club Visa ($49) and Marriott Premier Visa ($85) are three cards that provide a high value annual free night incentive that more than pays for the credit card annual fee. Big spenders may find great value in SPG and Hilton HHonors American Express, but these three Visa hotel co-branded credit cards will give you a hotel free night value every year for a small fee.

 

Loyalty Traveler analysis of Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card benefits.

Ritz-Carlton Rewards launched its JP Morgan Chase Bank Visa credit card this week with a 50,000 points bonus after first-use by its founding members. This is sufficient for one free night at a Tier 3 Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

RitzCarltonRewardsCard.com

Benefits of Ritz-Carlton Credit Card include:

• 5 points per $1 for Ritz-Carlton brand hotel stays. Stays at other Marriott brand hotels do not earn the 5 points rate.
• 2 points per $1 for airlines, car rentals and dining.
• 1 points per $1 for other purchases.
• Confirmed upgrade to Club Level at Ritz-Carlton Hotels at time of booking three times per card membership account year for paid stays up to 7 nights.
• Automatic Ritz-Carlton Rewards Gold elite status for first year of card membership.
• Maintain Ritz-Carlton Gold elite with $10,000 in annual card spend.
• Priority Pass Select membership for complimentary airport lounge access.
• $200 annual airline incidentals credit provides reimbursement for items like checked baggage fees and in-flight meals charged to Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card.
• JP Morgan Premier Concierge service 24/7.
• No foreign transaction fees.
• $100 hotel credit on minimum 2-night stays for dining, spa and other activities. This credit is not valid for room rate.
• Insurance coverage for trip cancellation/delay, emergency medical coverage, 24 hour travel and emergency assistance services and lost baggage reimbursement. 

Annual cardmember fee $395 per year.

Interest Rate: 15.24% on June 13, 2011.

Chasing Whales with Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card  

A recently published Cornell Hospitality Report analyzed and categorized customer segments among hotel loyalty program members. One of their findings was the high-value customers they categorize as “whales”. This customer segment includes loyalty members who stay relatively infrequently, but have exceptionally high average spend during hotel stays for rooms, food and beverage, and other revenue. The Cornell report concludes loyalty programs should chase whales with benefits rather than room rate discounts. The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card appears to follow that advice. 

Bloomberg reports the JP Morgan Premier Concierge service offered as a Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card benefit is a feature previously only available to its wealthiest customers in the New York based bank. The affluent customer market is dominated by American Express whose members spend three to four times the spend of Visa and MasterCard members. 

Herve Humler, President and COO of Ritz-Carlton, said about 100,000 members are being offered the card. Chase Bank is targeting prime and super-prime customers with high credit ratings. Mr. Humler even has a YouTube 46-second promo spot with little informative substance for the new credit card. The video does provide a close-up look of the card. 

Ritz-Carlton Rewards Gold Elite with $10,000 in card spend

The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Gold elite factor is a competitive edge for Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card members. Mid-level gold elite at $10,000 compares to HHonors Surpass American Express card with a $20,000 spend level to maintain HHonors Gold. The advantage of HHonors AmEx Surpass is the ability to reach Diamond elite at $40,000 in annual spend, although there is considerable debate in the HHonors community on FlyerTalk as to whether HHonors Diamond elite has significantly more value than HHonors Gold elite these days. 

Ritz-Carlton Gold elite benefits include:

• 25% bonus points
• Complimentary room upgrade
• Complimentary internet
• Late checkout

$200 airline incidentals credit

The airline incidentals credit is a reimbursement program for charges incurred like baggage fees, change fees, in-flight meals, and even airport club membership. Non-ticket purchases classified as airline category by Visa can be submitted for reimbursement within four billing cycles of purchase date.

The terms state the $200 reimbursement is per calendar year. Is there a leverage opportunity here for a person with a July to June cardmember year to get $200 reimbursed by December 31 and another $200 in 2012 during first year of card? This would effectively make the card free for the first year of membership through the airline fees reimbursement feature by itself.

Confirmed Upgrade to Club Level

Confirmed upgrade to Club Level at time of booking for up to 7 nights per stay and up to three stays per card membership year is a high value benefit.

The Ritz-Carlton Club Lounge access rate is typically a $50 to $100 per night surcharge at most hotels. Club Lounge normally provides breakfast, mid-day snacks, afternoon tea, hors d’oeuvres, dessert and complimentary cocktails seven days a week. This can be a significant rebate value on the annual card membership fee even for card members who spend only a few nights a year at Ritz-Carlton Hotels.

$100 Hotel Stay credit on 2-night or longer stays

This credit is valid for dining, spa and hotel incidentals, and not room rate. The credit is not valid when staying on promotional or discount rates.  

Priority Pass Select membership

Priority Pass Select membership offers complimentary airport lounge access to over 600 airport lounges. Note that beginning October 1 there will no longer be access to United Red Carpet Club and Continental Presidents Club lounges. Here is a link to FAQ for Priority Pass Select with the UA/CO update and here is a FlyerTalk thread about Priority Pass Select.

Loyalty Traveler Conclusion

The Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card has a relatively low earn rate at 1 or 2 points per $1 for spend outside of Ritz-Carlton hotels. The lack of 5 points per $1 for all Marriott brand hotels, in my opinion, is a deficiency in earning rate for the card. HHonors Surpass American Express and SPG AmEx offer more points value for non-hotel purchases.

Gold elite status in the Ritz-Carlton Rewards program offers cardmembers added benefits for all Marriott brand hotel stays at the relatively low qualification level of $10,000 per year card spend. Spending $10,000 on the Ritz-Carlton Rewards credit card is a far easier route to Gold elite status than staying 50 nights at Marriott brand hotels in a calendar year.

The benefits offered with the card including the airline incidentals $200 rebate per calendar year and the complimentary confirmed Club Level room for up to three stays per card membership year essentially provides a full rebate for the $395 annual card fee for any Ritz-Carlton Rewards member spending 4 nights or more per year at Ritz-Carlton hotels.

Visa Signature cardmembers can register for instant Hilton HHonors Gold membership through August 31, 2011. After promotion registration just complete three stays at any Hilton brand hotel worldwide by August 31 and pay with a Visa Signature card to retain HHonors Gold elite through March 31, 2013.

Current HHonors Gold and Diamond members receive 5,000 points for Visa Signature card registration.

FlyerTalk members report this offer works with many airline and hotel credit cards besides HHonors Visa such as Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, British Airways, Hyatt Gold Passport, Marriott Rewards, Priority Club, and Canada Infinite Visa. Here is the HHonors Gold elite Visa Signature thread on Milepoint.com.

HHonors Gold elite includes complimentary high-speed internet, 25% bonus points and possibly hotel lounge benefits. Benefits vary by Hilton brand. Here is the link for HHonors Gold benefits.

HHonors Visa Signature promotion FAQ.

HHonors Visa Signature terms and conditions.

Here is a summary of elite level benefits as a hotel loyalty credit card member. Most hotel credit cards offer at least the minimum elite level status while a cardmember. Best Western, SPG and Wyndham do not offer automatic elite as a credit card member. Best Western, Hilton and Marriott offer a way to earn top elite status through credit card spend. 

Cards offering high-level elite status based on card spend 

Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass 

• Silver VIP is complimentary with card membership. Gold VIP membership is complimentary for the first year as a cardmember.
• Gold VIP after the first year requires $20,000 in annual card spend. Gold VIP members receive complimentary internet. This level normally requires 16 stays, 36 nights or 60,000 base points ($6,000 hotel spend) in a calendar year. Gold VIP members receive 25% bonus points. Click the link for other on-property Gold VIP benefits.
• Diamond VIP $40,000 in annual card spend. Diamond VIP members receive complimentary internet. This level normally requires 28 stays, 60 nights or 100,000 base points ($10,000 hotel spend) in a calendar year. Diamond VIP members receive 50% bonus points. This is one of the best credit card features among hotel loyalty credit cards.

Hilton HHonors American Express No Fee card

• Silver VIP is complimentary with card membership.
• Gold VIP $20,000 in annual card spend.
• No Diamond VIP spend option. 

All Hilton HHonors credit cards offer Silver VIP elite status. This elite status normally requires 4 stays or 10 nights in a calendar year. Silver elites receive complimentary newspaper, two bottles of water per stay and complimentary health club access if hotel owned and operated. 

The primary benefit of Silver VIP is the ability to book discounted VIP awards which provide a 15% discount on 4-night stays, 20% discount on 5-night stays and 25% discount on points required for stays of six nights or more. American Express AXON 6 and AXON 7 awards for stays of 4 nights are even lower priced than HHonors VIP awards.

• 4-nights VIP category 5 = 119,000 points; AXON category 5 = 125,000 points.
• 4-nights: VIP Category 6 = 136,000 points; AXON category 6 = 125,000 points.
• 4-nights VIP Category 7 = 170,000 points; AXON category 7 = 145,000 points.

 

Marriott Rewards Premier Visa

15 nights elite credit (automatic Marriott Rewards Silver elite while a cardmember since Silver requires 10 nights in a calendar year)

1 elite night for every $3,000 in card spend. Gold elite requires 50 nights and Platinum elite requires 75 nights. The spend level appears to be $105,000 (Gold elite) or $180,000 (Diamond elite) to reach higher elite tiers with credit card spend.

The combination of Marriott Rewards elite rollover nights and credit card nights greatly reduces the requirement for Gold (50 nights) and Platinum elite (75 nights) and the need to spend these amounts for higher level elite status in 2011.

How Marriott Rewards elite rollover works in 2011: Assume you stay 20 nights in 2011 at Marriott brand hotels. You finish 2011 with 35 elite nights credit (15 credit card nights + 20 hotel stay nights).

Elite rollover allows you to rollover 25 nights from 2011. These are the 25 nights exceeding the 10 nights qualification requirement for 2011 Silver elite of your 35 nights earned in 2011.  You start 2012 with rollover nights elite credit. You start 2012 with 25 elite nights and then earn 15 more nights when you renew your Marriott credit card.

Gold elite status will only require 10 additional nights in 2012 after rollover nights and credit card elite nights. Platinum elite takes only 35 nights in 2012. And your 2012 earned elite status will carry over into 2013 through February 2014.

 

Best Western Rewards World MasterCard

Earn next higher elite tier after $6,000 in spend. Best Western has three elite tiers at Gold (10 nights), Platinum (15 nights) and Diamond (30 nights) in a calendar year. The Best Western card could be a good value for someone who would otherwise reach only Platinum elite. Best Western elite benefits.

 

Cards with complimentary Low Level Elite Status 

Hyatt Gold Passport Visa

Platinum elite – this elite level normally requires 5 stays or 15 nights in a calendar year. Gold Passport Platinum elite has the benefit of complimentary internet, 15% bonus points and Platinum Extra Awards for every third stay with offers of bonus points, lounge access, dining credits and room upgrades at different stay levels from Stay 3 through Stay 24.

 

Choice Privileges (Gold elite) – normally requires 10 nights in a calendar year. Primary benefit of Gold elite is extended booking window of 50 days rather than 30 days as a general member.  Gold elites receive 10% bonus points on hotel spend.

 

Marriott No Fee Visa (Silver elite) – normally requires 10 nights in a calendar year. The primary benefits of Marriott Rewards Silver elite is 20% bonus points and late check-out option.

 

IHG Priority Club Visa (Gold elite) – normally takes 15 nights or earn 20,000 points in a calendar year or buy Gold elite for $50. Gold elites earn 10% bonus points on hotel spend. Gold elite has minimal benefits.

Hilton HHonors Citi Visa No Fee card

• Silver VIP is complimentary with card membership. 

 

Cards that do not offer any complimentary elite status without reaching a spend threshold. 

Best Western Rewards World MasterCard

Best Western Rewards MasterCard does not offer entry-level complimentary elite status as a card benefit. You can earn the next higher elite tier after $6,000 in card spend in the calendar year. Best Western has three elite tiers at Gold (10 nights), Platinum (15 nights) and Diamond (30 nights) in a calendar year. The Best Western card could be a good value for someone who would otherwise have only Platinum elite. Best Western elite benefits.

Starwood Preferred Guest American Express

SPG American Express cardmembers do not receive complimentary elite status. Gold elite is attained after $30,000 in annual card spend. This elite level earns 1 bonus point per dollar in hotel spend. Gold elite after $30,000 in annual spend on card is an extremely high spend threshold in my opinion. Most members will likely earn Gold elite with 8 hotel stays or 20 nights. SPG Gold elite has the benefit of 4pm late checkout. SPG Gold elite benefits.

Wyndham Rewards Visa

Wyndham Rewards does not have elite tiers as a component of its hotel loyalty program.

Related post: Loyalty Traveler Analysis of Hotel Rewards Credit Cards (March 19, 2011)

This post summarizes hotel loyalty credit card benefits and current enrollment bonus offers for 8 major hotel programs of Best Western Rewards, Choice Privileges, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt Gold Passport, InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club, Marriott Rewards, Starwood Preferred Guest and Wyndham Reward.

Carlson Hotels goldpoints plus credit card was recently discontinued as the new Club Carlson program replaces the current goldpoints plus loyalty program at the end of March 2011 and Carlson Hotels does not currently offer a co-branded credit card. 

Hotel credit cards have two features that make them better than many other credit card choices:

• Complimentary elite status for better hotel benefits
• Bonus points on hotel stays

The first feature primarily benefits the infrequent guests who do not spend many nights in hotels, yet desire better hotel stays and earning loyalty points for hotel stays. There are probably better rebate cards and cash-back cards offering more overall annual savings if you do not frequent hotels more than 10 nights per year.

The second feature is a great benefit for frequent guests. Most hotel loyalty credit cards offer from 50% to 100% of the earn rate for hotel stays. A hotel loyalty credit card can make $100 in hotel stay spending the equivalent of having spent $150 to $200. A hotel credit card for a loyalty traveler can add many thousands of points to your account balance.

And high spenders can benefit from elite status upgrades with several of the hotel loyalty credit cards based on spend (Best Western Visa, HHonors AmEx Surpass, Marriott Signature Visa, and Starwood Preferred Guest AmEx), if your annual hotel stay pattern is not already at the top level of the elite chain.

Loyalty Traveler Analysis of Hotel Rewards Credit Cards

• Best Western Rewards MasterCard (Barclays Bank)
• Choice Privileges Visa (Barclays Bank)
• Hilton HHonors American Express and Surpass (American Express)
• Hilton HHonors Visa (Citibank)
• Hyatt Gold Passport (Chase Bank)
• InterContinental Hotels Group Priority Club (Chase Bank)
• Marriott Rewards (Chase Bank)
• Starwood Preferred Guest (American Express)
• Wyndham Rewards Visa (Barclays Bank)

 

Best Western Rewards World MasterCard (Barclays Bank)

Interest 13.99% or 24.99%

Best Western Rewards MasterCard link 

Enrollment Bonus:  (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 16,000 bonus points after first card use.
• Earn 1 point per dollar for balance transfers within first 30 days after account is opened, up to maximum 5,000 points. 

Elite Status:

• Spend more than $6,000 within a calendar year and receive one tier elite status upgrade four to six weeks after spend level reached. 

Earn Rate:

5 points per dollar for:

•  Best Western hotel stays, (credit card earn rate = 50% Best Western Rewards base points earn rate for hotel stays (10 points/$1). 

1 point per dollar for:

• All other purchases 

No Annual Fee = $0.

Loyalty traveler comments: There is really no compelling reason to have this card unless you frequent Best Western hotels. Loyalty Traveler likes to emphasize that Best Western has 4,000+ hotels worldwide and is larger than Hilton or Marriott in number of hotels outside the U.S. with nearly 2,000 hotels.

Best Western is second to none for its geographic coverage globally among these hotel loyalty credit card chains profiled here. This could be a good credit card if traveling extensively internationally and seeking cheaper hotels with Best Western than the major upscale chains like Marriott, Starwood and IHG.

Best Western frequently ties in a bonus points offer with hotel stay promotions paid with the Best Western MasterCard for the potential of an extra few thousand bonus points annually.

Several of the other hotel loyalty credit cards have better benefits, so I repeat that this card is really only a good choice if you frequently stay in Best Western hotels. 

  

Choice Privileges Visa Signature Card (Barclays Bank)

Interest = 13.24% or 16.24% with 0% APR for first 6 months.

Choice Privileges Visa Card link 

Enrollment Bonus:  (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

Update March 20 - See comments section for a higher enrollment bonus offer link.

• Earn 8,000 points after first purchase or balance transfer.
• Earn 8,000 points after first Choice hotels stay paid with Choice Privileges credit card

Elite Status: Choice Privileges Gold elite status while a cardmember (Normally requires 10 nights/year)

Benefits:

• Gold elite  is 50-days advance booking window for U.S./Canada hotels. Choice Privileges  general members may only book reward nights at U.S./Canada hotels up to 30 days in advance of stay. 

Earn Rate:

• 5 points per dollar on Choice Hotels stays, points purchases and Choice Hotels gift cards with Choice Privileges credit card. Credit card earn rate is 50% base points earn rate (10 points/$1) for hotel stays at most Choice brands and equal to 100% Choice Privileges base earn rate (5 points/$1) for Rodeway, EconoLodge, Suburban and Mainstay brands.
• 2 points per dollar on all other purchases. 

No Annual Fee = $0

Loyalty Traveler comments: NerdWallet.com places good value on the Choice Privileges card with its estimate of point value at $8 per 1,000 points. What Loyalty Traveler likes about this card is the 2 points per dollar on all purchases.  5 points per dollar for Choice Hotels stays matches the earn rate of the Best Western card and surpasses the earn rate for the Wyndham Rewards card (3 points/$1). This card has a better earn rate for all other purchases at 2 points per $1 compared to 1 point per dollar for both Best Western and Wyndham Rewards.

Loyalty Traveler ranks the Choice Privileges card as the best credit card of the three economy hotel class cards for Best Western, Choice and Wyndham, which all happen to be partnered with Barclays Bank. Priority Club Visa from Chase is an even better card with more benefits like an annual free night certificate and redemption rebates, although the average room rate with IHG brand hotels will likely be higher than these other three primarily economy rate hotel brands.

 

Hilton HHonors

Hilton HHonors has three different cobranded credit cards for residents of the U.S. The two Hilton HHonors American Express cards for U.S. residents have more benefits than the Visa card. Top elite HHonors Diamond membership for $40,000 in annual spend on the HHonors American Express Surpass card is probably the highest value benefit of any hotel loyalty program credit card.

Hilton HHonors American Express (no annual fee version)

Interest Rate: 15.24% introductory offer = 2.90% for first 6 months.

Hilton HHonors American Express link (30,000 bonus points)

Update: Hilton HHonors American Express link (62,500 points)

Enrollment Bonus: up to 30,000 bonus points. (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 20,000 points after first purchase.
• Up to 10,000 bonus points after four hotel stays. 2,500 points for each of first four Hilton stays paid with HHonors American Express during the first 18 months of card membership. Hilton stay must be at least $100 to earn these bonus points.

Elite Status:

• Silver VIP while HHonors American Express cardmember. Silver elite membership opens access to HHonors VIP rewards with a 15% discount on 4-night award stays, 20% discount on 5-night award stays and 25% discount on award stays of 6-nights or longer. 
• HHonors Gold VIP for $20,000 in annual card charges.
• AXON5/6 and AXON7 discount awards (Four Nights AXON 5/6  = 125,000 points; four nights AXON7 = 145,000 points). AXON rewards are lower cost than regular HHonors VIP discount for Category 6 = 136,000 or category 7 = 170,000 points. AXON awards are higher cost than HHonors VIP Category 5 = 119,000 points. 

Earn Rate:

        6 points per dollar for:

• Hilton brand hotel stays,  (credit card earn rate = 60% HHonors base points earn rate for hotel stays.)
• Grocery stores (excludes warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club)
• Drugstores
• Gas stations
• Wireless and home phone
• Internet
• Cable/satellite providers

        3 bonus points per dollar for other charges 

No Annual Fee = $0.

Loyalty Traveler comments:  

HHonors American Express is the best hotel card for paying telecommunications bills like cell phone, internet and cable/satellite bills. For many households these three items can amount to $3,000 to $4,000 in annual charges for 18,000 to 24,000 HHonors points.

The no fee American Express no-fee card has most of the benefits of the HHonors American Express Surpass card ($75 fee) with the exception of the ability to earn HHonors Diamond elite with $40,000 annual spend. The no-fee card is probably the better choice for the Hilton HHonors member who does not spend $40,000 to benefit from Diamond elite.

Hotel stays earn rate is only 6 points/$1 with the no-fee AmEx rather than 9 points earned with the Surpass AmEx. HHonors Surpass has a $75 annual fee. Giving HHonors points an estimated value of about $5 per 1,000 points means the $75 fee is equivalent to about 15,000 HHonors points. You will need to spend $5,000 or more in Hilton Hotel stays to make up that points value of $75 per year. 

Advice: Go with the no fee American Express rather than Surpass if your spend pattern is less than $5,000 in Hilton brand hotel stays per year and you do not plan to use credit card spend as your route for complimentary elite status. The no-fee HHonors American Express has all the other benefits of the HHonors Surpass card. Surpass gives first year complimentary Gold and Priority Pass airline lounge benefits. 

 

Hilton HHonors American Express Surpass

Interest Rate: 15.24% introductory offer = 2.90% for first 6 months.

Hilton HHonors American Express link 

Enrollment Bonus: up to 60,000 bonus points. (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 40,000 points after first purchase.
• Up to 20,000 bonus points after eight hotel stays. 2,500 points for each of first eight Hilton stays paid with HHonors American Express Surpass card during the first 18 months of card membership. Hilton stay must be at least $100 to earn these bonus points. 

Elite Status:

• Complimentary HHonors Gold VIP for first year of card membership.
• Silver VIP in subsequent years while HHonors Surpass American Express cardmember.
• HHonors Gold VIP for $20,000 in annual card charges.
• HHonors Diamond VIP for $40,000 in annual card charges.  

Cardmember benefits:

• AXON5/6 and AXON7 discount awards (Four Nights AXON 5/6  = 125,000 points; four nights AXON7 = 145,000 points. AXON rewards are lower cost than regular HHonors VIP discount for Category 6 = 136,000 or category 7 = 170,000 points. AXON awards are higher cost than HHonors VIP Category 5 = 119,000 points.
• Silver elite membership opens access to HHonors VIP rewards with a 15% to 25% discount on award extended stays of four nights or longer.
• Priority Pass $99 membership for airport lounge access – this membership level still requires $27 entry fee per airport lounge visit. 

Earn Rate:

        9 points per dollar for

• Hilton brand hotel stays (Credit card earn rate = 90% HHonors base points earn rate for hotel stays.)               

       6 points per dollar for:

• Grocery stores (excludes warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club)
• Drugstores
• Gas stations
• Wireless and home phone providers
• Internet providers
• Cable/satellite providers

        3 bonus points per dollar for other charges  

Annual Fee = $75 

Loyalty Traveler comments:  

Hilton HHonors is one of the best choices in the credit card game with its array of cardmember benefits. The HHonors American Express cards allow you to earn high value bonus points for groceries, cable, internet, cell phone bills and gas with 6 points/$1. That is 60% of base points earned for hotel stays. Every $100 spent on the card for groceries, telecommunications bills and gas is like spending the equivalent of $60 at a Hilton brand hotel.

Assume you can redeem points for about 1 penny a point and your credit card purchases will have a 6% return. Savvy HHonors members can find redemption values for hotel stays in the $10 per 1,000 points range. This means that you can probably find a category 7 hotel that is 50,000 points per night and with your American Express card redeem 145,000 points for a hotel stay that would cost $1,500 after tax for four nights.

HHonors members who are frequent guests with high spend over $5,000 per year at Hilton brand hotels should sign-up for the American Express Surpass rather than the no-fee AmEx to earn 9 points per dollar at Hilton brand.

HHonors American Express Surpass card is also the better card for a high spend person who will benefit from elite status without extensive Hilton stays. HHonors Gold elite normally requires 16 stays or 36 nights and Diamond elite requires 28 stays or 60 nights in a calendar year and spend levels of $20,000 to $40,000+ will earn the Surpass card member complimentary elite. 

HHonors Diamond elite is a high value benefit if you spend 10 or more nights in full-service hotels. You will likely receive about $30 to $100 per night in value-added benefits like free breakfast, VIP lounge access at hotels, and complimentary room upgrades sometimes even to suites as a Diamond elite member. 

Loyalty Traveler’s number one piece of advice for frequent guests is to attain top elite loyalty status with a hotel loyalty program to enhance the value of your hotel stays. 

The 4-night AXON award is a good value hotel stay award and high spenders will likely earn enough points through credit card spend for one or two of these awards annually. 

Priority Pass is typically a $99 membership and is the low level membership requiring a $27 payment for each airline lounge visit.  This is a likely a limited value benefit for most cardmembers.

The only drawback to the HHonors American Express as your primary hotel loyalty credit card is for someone who wants miles. Starwood American Express is a much better program than Hilton HHonors for points-to-miles exchange rates as a versatile mileage earning card.  

Hilton HHonors Signature Visa (Citibank)

Interest Rate: 14.24% for Visa Signature or 16.24% for Visa Gold

Hilton HHonors Visa link 

Enrollment Bonus: up to 30,000 bonus points. (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 30,000 points after spending $600 within four months of account opening.  

Elite Status: Silver VIP while Citi Hilton HHonors Signature Visa cardmember. Silver elite membership opens access to HHonors VIP rewards with a 15% to 25% discount on award extended stays of four nights or longer. 

Earn Rate:

        6 points per dollar for:

•  Hilton brand hotel stays, (credit card earn rate = 60% HHonors base points earn rate for hotel stays.)

        3 points per dollar for: 

• Grocery stores (excludes warehouse clubs like Costco and Sam’s Club)
• Drugstores
• Gas stations 

        2 bonus points per dollar for other charges

No Annual Fee = $0 

Loyalty Traveler comments:

HHonors American Express no-fee card has better benefits. HHonors Visa is a good backup for places where American Express is not accepted.

The HHonors American Express Surpass card offers the highest value return for the big spender who wants free hotel stays with Hilton Worldwide.

 

Hyatt Gold Passport Visa (Chase)

Interest 15.24%

http://www9.chasecreditcards.com/hyatt/search 

Enrollment Bonus:  (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• receive two Hyatt Gold Passport^® Free Night Awards after your first use of the card. 
• (Platinum members receive complimentary upgrade. Diamond member receive complimentary confirmed suite upgrade)  

Elite Status: Platinum status as long as cardmember. 

Earn Rate:

        3 points per dollar for:

•  Hyatt brand hotel stays, (credit card earn rate = 60% Hyatt Gold Passport base points earn rate for hotel stays.)

        1 points per dollar for: 

• All other purchases 

Benefits: No foreign transaction fees for international travel. 

Annual Fee = $75

Loyalty Traveler comments:

Hyatt Gold Passport Visa has the best enrollment bonus offer with its two free nights for use at any Hyatt worldwide. This is a $600 to $1,000 value if you plan for a high value hotel stay.

Hyatt Gold Passport elites who sign up for the Hyatt credit card earn additional bonuses to the two free nights. Diamond members receive a confirmed suite upgrade for use with the two free nights from the credit card offer. Current Platinum elite members at the time of credit card enrollment receive two confirmed suite upgrade certificates for use with paid stays.

The earn rate of the credit card for Hyatt stays at 3 points/$1 is a good value at 60% of the regular hotel stay base rate of 5 points/$1.

The weak part of the Hyatt credit card is the 1 point/$1 on other purchases. In real travel the Gold Passport member can reasonably expect to get about 2 cents per point redemption value. That makes the Hyatt credit card basically a 2% return on non-hotel purchases which is not comparatively good to other credit card options.

The Chase Hyatt card website advertises a card feature as award nights with no resort or internet fees. While this is a true statement, these benefits are available to any Gold Passport Platinum elite member. Hyatt Gold Passport does not charge resort fees on award nights at Hyatt Resorts and all platinum and diamond members receive complimentary internet at Hyatt brands globally. 

The two free nights is a nice sign-up feature, but I think the Priority Club Visa has better annual benefits with the annual free night.  

Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card is a hugely popular credit card for its points-to-miles exchange with a 25% bonus on points transfers in blocks of 20,000 points into 25,000 miles. Hyatt Gold Passport has the same 25% bonus when transferring 50,000 points into 25,000 miles. The earning rate of 1 point per US$1 for everyday purchases with both the Hyatt Visa card and the SPG American Express places the balance heavily in favor of SPG American Express for persons interested in maximizing credit card spending for airline miles.

My Take: The Hyatt Visa enrollment bonus offer is a great value. Renewal may not be such a great value since there are no annual benefits except Platinum elite which only takes 5 hotels stays in a calendar year. If you are not staying in Hyatt’s that frequently anyway, then there is probably a better credit card option for you elsewhere.

 

InterContinental Hotels Group IHG Priority Club Rewards Visa Signature Card (Chase)

Interest 13.24% or 17.24%

http://www.mychasecreditcards.com/ihg/pcrhomepage160k 

Enrollment Bonus:  (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 60,000 bonus points after first card use.
• $20 credit on credit card statement with first purchase after account opening. 

Elite Status: Gold elite status as long as cardmember. 

Benefits:

• One Free Night certificate annually as long as a cardmember. Valid for any IHG brand hotel worldwide excluding all-inclusive resorts.
• 10% rebate on all Priority Club points redemptions, up to 100,000 points per calendar year.
• No foreign transaction fees
• 10,000 points Annual  bonus when card purchases exceed $15,000 in card spend, (maximum one bonus per card membership year).  

Earn Rate:

        5 points per dollar for:

•  IHG brand hotel stays, (credit card earn rate at 5 points/$1 = 50% Priority Club base points earn rate for hotel stays at most IHG brands (10 points/$1) and 100% of base points earned at Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites (5 points/$1).

        2 points per dollar for: 

• Gas, groceries and dining

        1 point per dollar for:

• All other purchases 

10,000 points Annual  bonus when card purchases exceed $15,000 in card spend, (maximum one bonus per card membership year).  

Annual Fee = $49, waived for first year 

Loyalty Traveler comments: The best benefit of the Priority Club Visa is the annual free night e-certificate. An InterContinental Hotel night will usually be a $200+ rate or even $400+ per night in some locations.  

10% rebate on reward nights is a unique benefit. Points rebate value can mean 10,000 to 20,000 points savings annually for even a moderately active Priority Club member and possibly be worth hundreds of dollars in additional hotel stays.

Priority Club Visa and Marriott Rewards Visa are the only cards offering higher points earn rates for dining spend. Combine these credit cards with dining programs and you can double dip for even more points. This can be a high earn factor for the restaurant aficionado. 

 

Marriott Rewards Visa Credit Card (Chase)

Interest 14.24%

Marriott Visa link 

Enrollment Bonus:  (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 22,500 bonus points after first card use.
• Two free night e-certificates will be deposited in Marriott Rewards account 6 to 8 weeks after card membership enrollment. Free Night e-certificate is valid for a category 1 to category 4 hotel. Certificate expires 6 months from date issued. 

Elite Status:

• 10 nights credit every year ensures Silver elite status as long as cardmember.
• Earn an additional elite status night for every $3,000 in card spend 

Benefits:

• 15,000 points rebate when redeeming points for a 7-night stay in a category 7 (210,000 points) or category 8 hotel (240,000 points).
• $25,000 in annual spend receives a one-time per year bonus of $100 Marriott Bonus Bucks coupon. Bonus Bucks coupon is valid six months and may be used for credit on a two-night hotel stay at JW Marriott, Marriott, Renaissance or Autograph Collection hotel. Coupon is not valid at other Marriott brands.

Earn Rate: (Marriott is weak on earn side) 

        3 points per dollar for:

•  Marriott brand hotel stays, (credit card earn rate = 30% Marriott Rewards base points earn rate for hotel stays at most Marriott brands (10 points/$1) and 60% of base points earned at Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites brands (5 points/$1).

        1 point per dollar for:

• All other purchases 

Annual Fee = $30, waived for first year of card membership.

 

Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Credit Card (Chase)

Interest 14.24%

Marriott Visa link 

Enrollment Bonus:  (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 30,000 bonus points after first card use.
• Free night stay e-certificate will be deposited in Marriott Rewards account 6 to 8 weeks after card membership enrollment. Free Night e-certificate is valid for a category 1 to category 4 hotel. Certificate expires 6 months from date issued. (Card renewal comes with category 1-5 hotel free night certificate as an annual benefit.) 

Elite Status:

• 15 nights credit every year ensures Silver elite status as long as cardmember.
• Earn an additional elite status night for every $3,000 in card spend

 Benefits:

• Free night stay e-certificate every year on card account anniversary valid for category 1 to 5 hotels.
• 15,000 points rebate when redeeming points for a 7-night stay in a category 7 (210,000 points) or category 8 hotel (240,000 points).  
• No foreign exchange fee (new benefit effective March 31, 2011)

Earn Rate: (Marriott is weak on earn side) 

        5 points per dollar for:

•  Marriott brand hotel stays, (credit card earn rate = 50% Marriott Rewards base points earn rate for hotel stays at most Marriott brands (10 points/$1) and 100% of base points earned at Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites brands (5 points/$1). 

        2 points per dollar for:

• Airline
• Dining
• Rental car 

        1 point per dollar for:

• All other purchases

Annual Fee = $65, waived for first year of card membership.

Loyalty Traveler comments:

Free Night Certificate

Marriott free night certificate is a good value enrollment benefit. The limitation is category 4 hotels means the value will likely be $125 to $200 for your free night. The renewal certificate allows use at Category 5 hotels which opens up the potential for higher class properties including some JW Marriott hotels. Priority Club Visa is the only other card offering an annual free night and the Priority Club free night can be used at any category hotel for a high value reward night.

Miles

Marriott Rewards has the best points-to-miles exchange rate of any hotel loyalty program when transferring over 100,000 points.

Starwood American Express has a better credit card earn rate for miles in most programs. 

Marriott Rewards elite strategy

Marriott Rewards elite status has high qualification levels compared to other hotel programs and only hotel nights are counted. Either Marriott Rewards Visa card provides the 10 nights for Silver elite qualification.

The 15 elite nights credit with the Premier Visa is a valuable benefit for Marriott members seeking to reach 50 nights for Gold elite or 75 nights for Platinum elite in combination with the current year’s elite rollover program.  A cardmember who does not reach 50 nights in 2011 for Gold elite will be able to rollover all nights above 10 nights needed for Silver elite in 2011 for the start of 2012.

How Marriott Rewards elite rollover works in 2011: Assume you stay 20 nights in 2011 at Marriott brand hotels. You finish 2011 with 35 elite nights credit (15 credit card nights + 20 hotel stay nights).

Elite rollover allows you to rollover 25 nights from 2011. These are the 25 nights exceeding the 10 nights qualification requirement for 2011 Silver elite of your 35 nights earned in 2011.  You start 2012 with rollover nights elite credit. You start 2012 with 25 elite nights and then earn 15 more nights when you renew your Marriott credit card.

 Gold elite status will only require 10 additional nights in 2012 after rollover nights and credit card elite nights. Platinum elite takes only 35 nights in 2012. And your 2012 earned elite status will carry over into 2013 through February 2014.

Important Note for Marriott Rewards: Rollover nights was introduced in 2009 and extended for 2010 and 2011. Rollover nights is not a guarantee for the 2012 membership year as the benefit might not be continued.

Every $3,000 in credit card spend earns a free night. $40,000 in credit card spend earns 13 elite night credits with Marriott compared to HHonors Diamond elite with the Hilton Surpass American Express. Big spenders may prefer the Hilton American Express for top elite status at $40,000 annual spend.

2011 is a great year to try the credit card/rollover strategy outlined above to earn high elite status with Marriott Rewards for far fewer than 75 hotel nights in a calendar year.

 

Starwood Preferred Guest  American Express Personal and Business Credit Cards

SPG American Express link

Both cards have same benefits and terms.

Interest 15.24%, although 2.90% for first six months of membership. 

Enrollment Bonus:  Up to 25,000 bonus points. (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 10,000 bonus points after first card use.
• 15,000 bonus points after spending $15,000 in first six months of card membership. 

Elite Status:

• 5 nights and 2 stays elite credit every year as long as cardmember.
• You can also earn SPG Gold status by spending $30,000 or more on your Card in a calendar year.

Earn Rate: (Comparatively high earn rate for a hotel loyalty card) 

        2 points per dollar for:

• Starwood Hotels brand hotel stays; credit card earn rate = 100% Starwood Preferred Guest base points earn rate for hotel stays at Starwood brands (2 points/$1). 

        1 point per dollar for:

• All other purchases

 Other benefits: 3rd night free at participating Sheraton Hotels.

Loyalty Traveler note: Sheraton 3rd night free is not clearly a unique card benefit since anyone can book third night free rates at several Starwood Hotels brands using these extended stay discount rates for Hotels and Resorts.

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/promotions/promo_landing.html?category=GENDRE_H

http://www.starwoodhotels.com/promotions/promo_landing.html?category=GENDRE_R 

Annual Fee = $65, waived for first year of card membership.

Loyalty traveler comments: SPG is the program if you really want options to convert your hotel points to a variety of airline miles. Marriott Rewards and Goldpoints plus have better points-to-miles exchange rates for high transfers, but the SPG credit card favors the person who earns more points from credit card spending than hotel stays.

United, Continental and Singapore Airlines offer a poor exchange rate with SPG. You might prefer the Hyatt or Marriott card for these airline programs. Hyatt has the same or a better exchange rate for many airline partners but the earning rate is better for general purchases using the SPG program card compared to the Hyatt card. 

Starwood added an elite credit benefit in 2010 with 5 nights and 2 stays. This reduces the qualification for SPG Gold to just 8 stays or 20 nights per year. $30,000 in card spend also earns Gold elite. Platinum elite normally requires 25 stays or 50 nights. Platinum elite requires 23 stays or 45 nights for SPG AmEx cardmembers.

SPG members with both a personal and business SPG AmEx receive 4 stays and 10 nights annual elite credit. This benefit applies to a maximum of two cards per member.

The earn rate for the SPG card is good for cardmembers desiring miles across a variety of programs where 20,000 points = 25,000 miles. An airline credit card is likely to offer better earn rates for a specific airline. The advantage of SPG is more than 20 airline partners with 1:1 exchange rates and the flexibility to transfer points-to-miles with a variety of airlines you may need for a trip.

 

Wyndham Rewards Visa Signature and Platinum Credit Card (Barclays)

Interest 13.24% or 16.24% or 19.24%; 0% introductory 6 months.

Wyndham Rewards credit card link 

Enrollment Bonus:  (This offer available on March 18, 2011)

• 12,000 bonus points after first card use (no fee card) 

Elite Status:

• Wyndham Rewards does not have elite status levels. 

Earn Rate:

(Wyndham is comparatively weak on earn side for hotel stays but good value for all other purchases) 

        3 points per dollar for:

•  Wyndham brand hotel stays, (credit card earn rate = 30% Wyndham Rewards base points earn rate for hotel stays at most Wyndham brands (10 points/$1) and 60% of base points earned at Hawthorn Suites brand (5 points/$1).

        2 points per dollar for:

• All other purchases 

No Annual Card Fee = $0.

Loyalty traveler comments:  Wyndham Rewards Visa credit card is actually a high value card for people interested in airline miles. All purchases earn 2 points per dollar and Wyndham hotel brands earn 5 points per dollar. Wyndham Rewards has a fixed points-to-miles exchange rate at 2.5 points = 1 mile. Most of the hotel loyalty cards shown here only give 1 point per dollar for most purchases.  

Wyndham Rewards is essentially giving 0.8 miles/dollar. SPG gives 1.25 miles per dollar for 1:1 airline partners points-to-miles transfers at the 20,000 points level and 1 mile per dollar at lower transfer levels.  Wyndham Rewards Visa is a good back-up card for miles with 17 airline partners. $4,000 in credit card spend earns 4,000 miles through SPG American Express or 3,200 miles for Wyndham Rewards Visa cardmembers.

If hotel stays are your primary interest and not miles, then consider the array of benefits offered by other cards, particularly the high annual value of Priority Club Visa or Marriot Rewards free night and reward nights rebates or Hilton HHonors American Express award night discounts and elite status.

Loyalty Traveler concluding note:  

This post has a lot of data. This is my initial post on credit card comparisons. I will follow up in coming days to provide more analysis in terms of ranking cards based on a variety of factors.

Reader input about any errors or omissions will be appreciated.