Hotel Chain, Most Locations Across US, Med-Low Prices, Best Credit Card??

[Creditaddict]

Wyndham Hotel Group I am thinking is largest group of hotels/motels and at the most affordable... They have a Credit Card and it's backed by Barclay.

Am I forgetting any really big Hotel Groups that have locations in basically every city across the country that may have a better rewards program and also have a credit card.

I'm thinking Wyndham has both reward program and Credit Card but it does not look like if you stay with them 20 times a month for 12 months that it's going to give you anything more than free rooms which is great but if you stepped up a teir in a hotel group if you started staying with them that much and had rewards and credit card would you find yourself getting so much compt or upgrading that you could basically stay higher end for same price point?

[seattletravels]

Starwood has Westin, Sheraton, Aloft, etc. but I think their card is Amex.

[Anonymous]

Starwood group is middle-higher end hotels and includes Sheraton, Four Points, W, Westin, Aloft, Element, Luxury Collection, Le Meridien, and St. Regis.

The Amex Starwood card has a $65 AF (first year free) but is consistently reviewed as one of the best travel cards on the market, not just for hotels. This is b/c:

1. You get 1 Starpoint per dollar spent and at least 4 Starpoints per dollar spent at their hotels. Depending on what you redeem for, a Starpoint is worth 2.3 cents on average and up to 9.something cents (highest I've personally seen) if you redeem for hotel stays.

2. You can redeem 20000 Starpoints for 25000 frequent flier miles to over 30 airlines, even better than Membership Rewards ratio of 1:1.

3. You can transfer as few as 1500 Starpoints to frequent flier programs to maintain activity with them.

4. You can book a flight using Starpoints with a reasonably favorable rate and get frequent flier miles for it.

5. No black out dates ever on hotel stays or flights.

6. You get credit for 2 stays and 5 nights towards Gold Status with Starwood.

7. Alternatively $30000 annual spend on your card gets you Gold Status.

8. Free stays you redeemed with points count towards Gold Status eligibility.

7. Its an Amex card so you get all the usual benefits - purchase protection, extended warranty, travel accident insurance, car rental insurance, etc.

8. Currently the signup bonus is 10000 Starpoints after first purchase. There is another offer through SPG.com for 10000 Starpoints after first purchase and 15000 bonus points after $5000 spend in first 6 months.

Hopefully this helps! Took a lot of digging to convince me this was my travel card of choice! 

[Creditaddict]

Thanks for the Starwood info, but that's going to be to high end and not available in a lot of places I would be I believe.

[seattletravels]

Sheraton and Aloft are mid-priced.  They also have Four Points which is I would say is low priced.

[andre181]

Priority Club Rewards Sig Visa From Chase. For InterContinental, Crowne Plaza, Hotel Indigo, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites, and Candlewood Suites.

Holiday Inns are pretty much everywhere.

http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?partner_dir_name=priority_club_ic&page=cont

[Anonymous]

Can't mention the good without mentioning the bad...

1. Starwood properties are usually in big cities/resort cities. You won't find one driving through rural Georgia, or rural Montana for that matter.

2. There is a 2.7% foreign transaction fee. If you travel internationally its not a good card. Even if you use the card at their international hotels they charge you the 2.7%

3. If you're not comfortable paying for expensive hotels, even with the Starpoint discounts Starwood stays are more expensive than a stay at Holiday Inn for example. In that case a general 2% cash back card on travel expenses e.g. Sapphire Preferred or Costco Amex is better.

Most of the co-branded hotel cards I've looked at are not worth it. Sure you get points for purchases but a point is worth very little (0.5 cents for the Holiday Inn card for example).

[CreditScholar]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Can't mention the good without mentioning the bad...

1. Starwood properties are usually in big cities/resort cities. You won't find one driving through rural Georgia, or rural Montana for that matter.

2. There is a 2.7% foreign transaction fee. If you travel internationally its not a good card. Even if you use the card at their international hotels they charge you the 2.7%

3. If you're not comfortable paying for expensive hotels, even with the Starpoint discounts Starwood stays are more expensive than a stay at Holiday Inn for example. In that case a general 2% cash back card on travel expenses e.g. Sapphire Preferred or Costco Amex is better.

Most of the co-branded hotel cards I've looked at are not worth it. Sure you get points for purchases but a point is worth very little (0.5 cents for the Holiday Inn card for example).

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This is exactly why starwood isn't my 1st choice hotel chain. 90% of my time is spent out of the country that that forex fee is a killer. I really like starwood, but it's just not feasible to rack up starpoints if the majority of your CC spend comes from foreign sources. As someone who never ventures outside mid-large cities, Hyatt works for me and starwood has been relegated to my backup chain. Wyndham is an ok choice, as is intercontinental. If you want to look for something a bit higher Hilton and Marriott are the next ones up the ladder. They have locations everywhere and both have their lower-end sub-brands in terms of price (courtyard by Marriott, Garden inn Hilton, etc.)

[visorboy1974]

Hilton HHonors.  They have both a Visa and AmEx.  

Probably 500+ hotels in the chain.  

Priority Club chain dwarfs that though...they're linked to over 4000 hotels...and not just in cities.