When I was a kid, my dad ingrained the doctrine “Learn from and listen to everyone, follow no one” in me. I have found this to be the best advice one can ever get. This probably also holds true for credit cards.
A plethora of credit cards swarm the market with so diverse benefits that it is difficult to compare them. It is even more difficult to recommend cards to someone without knowing the exact economic condition and travel plans. For example, if a newbie asks anywhere on Flyertalk or Milepoint …

If you had taken advantage of earlier promotions and had bought all 48K points, your out of pocket cost would have been ~$1350 compared to $2k if you had bought the rooms with cash. Now that Starwood award stays count towards elite status, there is no reason to pay them out of your pocket.

Most of you would probably remember Sheraton Madison’s Facebook promotion: 3000 SPG points just by ‘liking’ them on Facebook. As with most of the social media promotions, the points did not post. However, they were extremely fast in responding when I contacted them on Facebook. And the points appeared in my account in 3 days.
In case, you too had ‘liked’ them within their contest period, it may be worth checking if you have received the points. If not, just put in a note on their Facebook Wall. 3000 SPG points …

US Airways has brought back the promo this year. You can get up to 75% bonus on hotel points to Dividend miles (DM) transfer. Everybody gets at least 25% bonus miles. On top of that you get

An extra 25% if you’re a Dividend Miles Preferred member
And another 25% if you have a US Airways credit or debit card

The offer is only valid until May 31. So hurry if you want to transfer. Almost all major hotel chains are DM partners. However, transferring Starwood points would be the most lucrative.
20K Starwood …

Details of the analysis Travel (10 cents per $) Airfare (10 cents per $) Highest payout : Travelocity American Express Best Cash-back Rewards Credit card : Chase Freedom (5% for three months in a year), Discover More (5% for 3 months in a year ), American Express True Earnings Card From Costco , Chase BP Visa (2% throughout the year) Best Airline Credit Card : The best payout is by the co-branded card of the airline you are traveling on, Fidelity Aeroplan American Express (2 miles per $) Best Hotel Affinity Card : Starwood American Express (1 point per $=2.1 cents per $) Best Other Rewards Card : American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card ( 3 points per $=6 cents $) , Travelocity American Express (5 points per $=10 cents per $) Hotel (10 cents per $) Highest payout : Travelocity American Express Best Cash-back Rewards Credit card : Chase Freedom (5% for three months in a year), Discover More (5% for 3 months in a year ), American Express True Earnings Card From Costco , Chase BP Visa (2% throughout the year) Best Airline Credit Card : Fidelity Aeroplan American Express (2 miles per $) Best Hotel Affinity Card : Best Rewards is by the hotel co-branded card for the hotel you are staying in. Best Other Rewards Card : Travelocity American Express (5 points per $=10 cents per $), Blue Sky Preferred (2 points per $=2.66 cents per $) Car Rental (10 cents per $) Highest payout : Travelocity American Express Best Cash-back Rewards Credit card : Chase Freedom (5% for three months in a year), Discover More (5% for 3 months in a year ), American Express True Earnings Card From Costco , Chase BP Visa (2% throughout the year) Best Airline Credit Card : Fidelity Aeroplan American Express (2 miles per $) Best Hotel Affinity Card : Starwood American Express (1 point per $=2.1 cents per $) Best Other Rewards Card : Travelocity American Express (5 points per $=10 cents per $), Blue Sky Preferred (2 points per $=2.66 cents per $) Everyday Purchases Grocery and Drugstore (5 cents per $) Highest payout : American Express Blue Cash Best Cash-back Rewards Credit card : American Express Blue Cash (5% after your total yearly spending exceeds 6500$), Chase Freedom (5% for three months in a year), Discover More (5% for 3 months in a year) Best Airline Credit Card : Asiana American Express (3 miles per $ at select stores ); United Mileage Plus Select visa (2 miles per $), Fidelity Aeroplan American Express (2 miles per $) Best Hotel Affinity Card : Hilton HHonors American Express (3 cents per $) Best Other Rewards Card : American Express Premier Rewards Gold Card ( 2 points per $=4 cents $) , Travelocity American Express (2 points per $=4 cents per $) Gas (5 cents per $) Highest payout : American Express Blue Cash Best Cash-back Rewards Credit card: American Express Blue Cash (5% after your total yearly spending exceeds 6500$), Chase Freedom (5% for three months in a year), Discover More (5% for 3 months in a year), Chase BP Visa if buying from BP (5%).

Part I: The cent value of miles/points

Let us consider a hypothetical situation. Consider the case that you had every cashback/miles/points Credit Card possible. How would you maximize the value of rewards on your spending? This is a complicated question and requires detailed analysis of various credit cards along with the valuation of various miles/points that these cards award. I realize every person might assign different values to miles and points. Nonetheless, to get a reasonably accurate analysis, it is imperative to assign some value (Cent Value – CV) to all …

One of my readers asked me a question via email about using Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) points for Air travel. As I have discussed in two different articles before, SPG is one of the most versatile programs out there will a myriad of ways to redeem their points. Using SPG points for air travel itself has two options.
1. Transfer SPG points to an Airline:
SPG allows you to transfer its points to several airlines. Most of these airlines allow a 1:1 ration when transferring points. Though there are a few (like …

Starwood Preferred Guest or SPG for short is the Loyalty Program offered by the Starwood group of hotels. It is consistently voted as the Best Loyalty program in the market by business travelers.
It is also my personal favorite. Here are 10 reasons why:

Starwood hotels have a very extensive network of hotels all over the world. More importantly, they have hotels in a broad spectrum of price points. Their hotels include well known names like – Sheraton, Westin, W (no connection to a well known ex-president) and the hip aloft.
Very aggressive …