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I’m often asked by readers which credit card they should be using to maximize points for a given hotel stay, or if there’s an overall best hotel credit card.
Typically recommending which credit card is best for a particular bonus category (like dining, grocery stores, gas stations, everyday spending, etc.) is easy. That’s not really the case when recommending which credit card to use at hotels, though.
The added wrinkle with making this recommendation for stays at chain hotels is that you don’t just have to consider which credit cards broadly offer the best bonus categories for travel, but you also have to consider whether the hotel brand you’re staying at has a co-branded credit card that offers bonus points for stays at that specific brand.
In this post, I want to look at the most rewarding credit cards for hotel spending in general (regardless of the brand you’re staying at), and then compare that to the bonuses offered by specific co-branded hotel credit cards.
The most rewarding cards for hotel spending
Broadly speaking, what are the most rewarding credit cards for hotel spending? For this section, I’m excluding co-branded hotel credit cards. That’s because I’m looking at the cards that offer the best bonuses on hotel spending in general, rather than the best bonuses for a particular brand of hotel.
So, which major rewards cards offer bonuses for hotel spending? Note that the rewards for spending are calculated based on my valuation of transferable points currencies, and I’m only including cards that are still open to new applicants.
1. Chase Sapphire Reserve®
Reward for hotel spending: 6.8% (4x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)
Card annual fee: $795
Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve, apply for the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
2. Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card
Reward for hotel spending: 6.5% (5x points, which I value at 1.3 cents each)
Card annual fee: $95
Learn more about the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey, apply for the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey.
3. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card
Reward for hotel spending: 5.1% (3x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)
Card annual fee: $95
Things to be aware of: This is a business card, and the 3x points is limited to the first $150,000 in combined purchases in bonus categories each account anniversary year
Learn more about the Ink Business Preferred, apply for the Ink Business Preferred.
4. American Express® Green Card
Reward for hotel spending: 5.1% (3x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)
Card annual fee: $150 (Rates & Fees)
Learn more about the Amex Green, apply for the Amex Green.
The information and associated card details on this page for the American Express Green Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
5. Citi Strata Premier® Card
Reward for hotel spending: 5.1% (3x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)
Card annual fee: $95
Learn more about the Citi Strata Premier, apply for the Citi StrataPremier.
6. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Reward for hotel spending: 3.4% (2x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)
Card annual fee: $95
Learn more about the Sapphire Preferred, apply for the Sapphire Preferred.
The most rewarding co-branded cards for hotel spending
As you can see above, there are cards that offer anywhere from 2-5x points per dollar spent on hotels, with a return that I value at anywhere from 3.4% to 6.8%.
Can you get a better or worse return when using a co-branded hotel credit card? To be comprehensive, let’s look at the co-branded credit cards issued by Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt, and Wyndham Rewards. First let me share how much I value a point in each of these currencies (and of course let me emphasize that everyone should use their own valuation of points):
- Choice Privileges — 0.6 cents each
- Hilton Honors — 0.5 cents each
- IHG One Rewards — 0.5 cents each
- Marriott Bonvoy — 0.7 cents each
- World of Hyatt — 1.5 cents each
- Wyndham Rewards — 0.7 cents each
To keep things fairly simple, let’s look at the co-branded credit card(s) from each of the hotel groups that offers the highest return on hotel spending (keep in mind the main reason to get hotel credit cards could be for the elite status and free night certificates that they offer).
Choice Privileges
The Choice Privileges Select Mastercard offers 10x points on Choice spending, which I value at a return of 6%. This is quite good — it’s not quite as good as the rewards offered on the Chase Sapphire Reserve, by my valuation, but is otherwise very competitive.
Hilton Honors
The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review) offers 14x points on Hilton spending, which I value at a return of 7%. This is excellent, and beats the return on spending offered by all transferable points cards.
The information and associated card details on this page for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
IHG One Rewards
The IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card (review) and IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card (review) offer 10x points on IHG hotel spending, which I value at a return of 5%. This isn’t quite as good as the return on spending offered by some transferable points cards, though others may feel differently based on their valuation of points.
Marriott Bonvoy
The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (review), Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (review), and Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (review), offer 6x points on Marriott hotel spending, which I value at a return of 4.2%. This isn’t as good as the return on spending offered by some transferable points cards.
That being said, some may wish to still use a Marriott co-branded credit card, since there aren’t many other ways to efficiently earn Bonvoy points. Furthermore, keep in mind that the Bonvoy Bevy Card offers 1,000 bonus points per eligible Marriott stay for cardmembers.
World of Hyatt
The World of Hyatt Credit Card (review) and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (review) offer 4x points on Hyatt hotel spending, which I value at a return of 6%. While not quite as good as the return on spending offered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve, some may still wish to use on of these cards, due to the additional rewards of spending.
Wyndham Rewards
The Wyndham Earner Business Card (review) offers 8x points on Wyndham hotel spending, which I value at a return of 5.6%. This is good, but not quite as good as the return offered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve.
Crunching the numbers on hotel spending
Everyone will value points differently, and those with different points valuations may also come up with different conclusions. As you can see, based on my valuation:
What’s surprising is that co-branded hotel credit cards largely don’t offer a better return for stays at their “own” hotels than some of these cards do.
Based on my valuation of hotel points, I’d argue that Hilton Honors is the only program where it generally makes sense to use a co-branded credit card rather than a transferable points card. I can also see merit to doing this with World of Hyatt, given the additional perks for spending, but it’s not some slam dunk.
The information and associated card details on this page for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card and American Express Green Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Other considerations with hotel spending
There are other potential considerations when deciding which card to use when staying at a hotel:
Bottom line
In many cases, you’re actually not best off using a co-branded hotel card for your hotel spending, counterintuitive as it might be. Hilton and Hyatt have especially good co-branded hotel credit cards, where it can be worth spending money on their cards at hotels. Otherwise, you’re generally best off using a transferable points card for your hotel spending, with the Chase Sapphire Reserve nowadays being the most lucrative card.
What’s your go-to credit card for hotel spending?
The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: American Express® Green Card (Rates & Fees).
