Hyatt Visa Sig / SPG

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So in about a year or so when most of my inquiries are going to be gone, or no longer considered on my report, I am going to attempt to add a travel rewards card to my arsenal. I am highly interested in the Hyatt Card, mainly because I only stay at their hotels, and the card is pretty snazzy looking, with the chip in it and everything. Also because they give you two reward nights after your first purchase. 

The other contendor is the Starwood Preferred Guest card through Amex, that if approved, I will be able to have backdated to February of this year. 

My question is, is are there any users that have these cards? If so, what do you like about them? Also, for those of you that do respond, what were you approved with? i.e. Score, income, blah blah blah. And what did they start you out with for a limit. I know the Hyatt is at least $5k. Thanks in advance

[CreditScholar]

Both cards have similar requirements: FICOs in the 700s, a decent income and no baddies in the past several (5+) years. However before you debate between which card you should get, you should probably think about what your goals are regarding hotel redemptions.

Hyatt offers better redemption rates at the high-end hotels. A category 6 hotel (their highest) will run you 22k points. SPG's category 7 (their highest) will run you 30-35k points. Given that both cards only earn one point per dollar of general spend, there is quite a difference here. If you're primarily looking to go to Paris, Maldives or Bora Bora, SPG wouldn't be best choice. On the other hand at these places, Hyatt's redemption value can be 2-4.5 cpp which is quite good.

However if you're looking for low-mid level hotels, SPG's value really shines. Categories 2, 3, and 4 are 4k, 7k and 10k points respectively. Compare that to the Hyatt which is 8k, 12k, 15k. In these hotels, Hyatt would cost 4-5k more points per night. SPG has some real gems in categories 2-4, both inside and especially outside the US.

SPG points are also transferrable on a 1.25:1 basis to several airlines, although the transfer times run about a week (compared to MR and UR which are generally instant). This might make planning last-minute trips difficult if you're relying on transferring miles from SPG to get a reward ticket.

I think your best bet is to figure out what your kind of hotels you'd like to stay at, then choose a card based on that.

[Jake0215]

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@CreditScholar wrote:

Both cards have similar requirements: FICOs in the 700s, a decent income and no baddies in the past several (5+) years. However before you debate between which card you should get, you should probably think about what your goals are regarding hotel redemptions.

Hyatt offers better redemption rates at the high-end hotels. A category 6 hotel (their highest) will run you 22k points. SPG's category 7 (their highest) will run you 30-35k points. Given that both cards only earn one point per dollar of general spend, there is quite a difference here. If you're primarily looking to go to Paris, Maldives or Bora Bora, SPG wouldn't be best choice. On the other hand at these places, Hyatt's redemption value can be 2-4.5 cpp which is quite good.

However if you're looking for low-mid level hotels, SPG's value really shines. Categories 2, 3, and 4 are 4k, 7k and 10k points respectively. Compare that to the Hyatt which is 8k, 12k, 15k. In these hotels, Hyatt would cost 4-5k more points per night. SPG has some real gems in categories 2-4, both inside and especially outside the US.

SPG points are also transferrable on a 1.25:1 basis to several airlines, although the transfer times run about a week (compared to MR and UR which are generally instant). This might make planning last-minute trips difficult if you're relying on transferring miles from SPG to get a reward ticket.

I think your best bet is to figure out what your kind of hotels you'd like to stay at, then choose a card based on that.

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Awesome post.