Incredible Value from Hotel Credit Cards
WHY MY HUSBAND & I HAVE 5 HOTEL CREDIT CARDS
Why would we have so many hotel credit cards? Because each one comes with a free night certificate after we’ve had the card for one year. And the cost of the stay is usually 3 to 4 times the annual fee on the credit card.
- When you sign up for the card, you’ll get some type of sign up bonus – whether that’s hotel points or multiple free night certificates
- After 1 year, {many} hotel cards come with an annual free night certificate
- Annual fees on these cards start at $95, so they can provide a big value!
WHICH HOTEL CREDIT CARDS WE HAVE & WHY
HYATT
The World of Hyatt Credit Card
The World of Hyatt Credit Card
Up to 60,000 points
30,000 points after spending $3K in first 3 months from account opening. Plus, up to 30,000 more points by earning 2 points total per $1 spent in the first 6 months from account opening on purchases that normally earn 1 Bonus Point, on up to $15,000 spent
Why this is my 1st choice for hotel cards:
- Low annual fee ($95)
- After you’ve had the card one year, you’ll get an annual (yes, every year!!) free night certificate for a category 1 – 4 Hyatt hotel stay
- You’ll get 5 tier qualifying nights just by holding this card – which is helpful if you are chasing status
- You’ll get another category 1 – 4 free night after spending $15K on your card
A couple examples of where we’ve used our free night certificate for great value:
** Tommie in downtown Austin last spring, category 4. Without the free night certificate you could pay as much as $500/night!!
** Hyatt Place Keystone, Colorado – skiing is annoyingly expensive, but my son & husband love it. My husband will be using his free night certificate here this winter, instead of paying $300+ for the hotel
MARRIOTT
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Earn Up to 4 Free Night Awards
3 50K Free Night Awards after spending $3,000 within 3 months of account opening, and an additional 1 50K Free Night Award after spending $4,000 total within 4 months of account opening
Why we love this card:
- Low annual fee ($95)
- Annual Free night certificate, up to 35,000 points (awarded every year after 1st year)
- Where Marriott SHINES is they allow you to add up to 25K points “top off” to all of their free night certificates – meaning you could possibly use your 35K free night certificate at a hotel night up to 60K points if you have the top off points
A couple examples of where we’ve used our free night certificate for great value:
**Gaylord Rockies – We are HUGE fans of a mini staycation and Gaylord Rockies is our hotel of choice. It’s a short drive for us, so we use one of our Marriott certificates here nearly every summer. My son brings a friend. They float in the lazy river, play basketball, mini golf, roast s’mores at night.
Look at the insane value we get from our free night certificate…
^^^ This is for a summer night in July. Instead of paying $603, we can use our 35K annual free night certificate and “top it off” with 2K extra Marriott points.
**Sheraton Grand Salzburg – Last year we started part of our European winter vacation in Salzburg. We stayed 3 nights, using a free night certificate for one of them. This hotel is incredible – fantastic location!
^^ For a December night, you could use a free night certificate + 2K points top off, instead of paying 342 euro (about $370 US).
IHG
My husband has the IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card.
Pros/Cons of this card
- Of ALL the hotel credit cards, this is in last place for me, I find the free nights harder to use
- The annual fee is low ($99)
- But I have to work harder to find a use for this free night – but don’t worry, I do 😉
- The free night certificate (after 1 year) is for a room up to 40K points BUT you can top off this certificate with as much as you want to
- BUT, if you want to get good value, you can find it, as you can often buy IHG points heavily discounted when they have sales – this card jut requires more “work” in my opinion
An example of where we’ve used our free night certificate for good value:
**Holiday Inn Express & Suites Fraser – Winter Park Area
We used our certificate last year for this hotel and will use it again this summer. It makes for a fun, easy get away
^^ Our free night certificate covers the $284 nightly fee.
HILTON
Popular card choices are:
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card – this DOES come with an annual free night BUT has a $550 annual fee.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
130K Hilton Points
130,000 Hilton Honors points after spending $3,000 in purchases within your first 6 months of card membership
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card – This annual fee is more manageable ($150) BUT you have to spend $15K on the card to earn that free night certificate.
WHEN IT MAKES SENSE TO GET A HOTEL CREDIT CARD
For the Hyatt and Marriott free night certificates, we find TONS of great uses for them…
- Perfect for staycations
- Perfect for nights in the airport hotel
- Perfect for 1 night “re-positioning” – need a quick hotel a night before a flight or after another flight
Who this doesn’t make sense for:
- I would only get hotel cards after you’ve gotten the main flexible/transferable points earning cards – specifically Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card and Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card
- I would only get hotel cards if I was 2/24 or 3/24 with Chase
Do I recommend both spouses get them? Personally, yes. And getting them around the same time is ideal – so you could actually have a little weekend staycation using both of your certificates together (they will be 2 different reservations, but usually you can ask the hotel to stay in the same room).
All information about Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by Fancy Travel Pointers. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
