Card for my hotel spend

[SkyCommander]

I'm going to have about $1,500 in hotel costs the next 2 months with Marriott and Starwood properties and I'm tempted to get another card for the easy signup bonus. I don't really want another hard inquiry but being halfway to covering the spend for the SPG card is tempting. I was going to use my ED card for the 20% bonus on the spend. Suggestions/comments or know any alternative routes? Trying to maximize points for what I'll be spending. I see the term retention offer thrown around a lot here but I'm halfway through the year to my next AF.

[K-in-Boston]

While not guaranteed, most of us that are existing Amex cardholders have not been getting HPs for SPG.  Since it would work out to be more than 30,000 SPG points with your spend, it would certainly be far more valuable than 1800 membership rewards points (with bonus).  For actual earning, the SPG beats the Marriott cards hands down since the SPG gives you much better return on SPG stays (actually too lazy to look it up, but I think the Marriott earnings on SPG are also higher than Marriott's own card) and is essentially a 3 Marriott points for all purchases card since they can be freely transferred now.