IHG Rewards Select / Marriott Rewards Premier / Hyatt CC

[baller4life]

Yep. Free night at ANY of their hotels. Sweet deal!!! I'm definitely getting this card this year!!

[Anonymous]

Oh well, I don't mind paying $49 for a free all-inclusive night!

[ilovelisa]

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@Pistons0 wrote:

I am looking for a hotel based rewards credit card and I have done some research, including on this forum but the only thread I found was somewhat sidetracked and didn't answer some of the questions I still have. The three cards in debate are the ones in the title of the thread.

A little about me that will help you, help me, 20 years old student about to graduate college, income 20-25k, scores all around 715 (held down due to 50% utilization), just paid down a good chunk of my balances so when that reports I should be in the 740 range. Current lineup is amex BCE- 2k, QS 2.75k, QS1 1.8k, IT 500. AAoA 1.9 years.

Occasional traveler ( one 3-5 day trip a year in the summer usually) stayed at lower to mid class hotels last year on a couple of weekend trips (holiday inn suites, sheratons, candlewood), no preference to any one kind, didn't like the sheraton as much due to having to pay 15 a day for WI-FI. 

From what I have gathered the IHG offers a 70k sign up bonus, a free night at ANY of their locations, and platinum elite status without having to do anything. Having a hard time finding what this status gets you on this card? Can't seem to find how the points are redeemed in relation to the class of hotel (how many points for a holiday inn vs. Intercontinental?) $49 AF

Marriott Rewards Premier has 50k offer, one free night at a cat 1-4 then 1-5 after a year, good little perk with this card I found is that if you must cancel and you've booked a non cancellation room and you cant make it, they refund you up to 5k. How far will the 50k get me? Any additional perks I haven't found that I could take advantage of? $85 AF

Hyatt has 2 night offer, 1 night a year, Hyatt being a relitevely upper level hotel compared to a Holiday inn, sounds like a steal to be able to redeem a free night for as little as 5k points. However with no point intro offer, and me using mostly my BCE for everyday purchases, I believe it would take me forever to accumulate enough points to get even one extra night. $75 AF

Any insight or missing information one might have that could help me reach a conclusion as to which card to pull the trigger one would be great. Keep in mind I dont book hotels for more than 5 nights a year. I'm just looking to get the biggest bang for my buck when I do travel. To my understanding the underwiting is similar for all the cards and have seen several approvals with very similar profiles.

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Regarding the Marriott Card, 50K points is enough for 5 nights at most Fairfield Inns or Courtyards, or 1 night at a much nicer hotel. 

[noobody]

Have a look at US Bank's Club Carlson premier, 85k sign up bonus, 75AF, 40 K annual bonus.
BUT, they just took away last night free award bonus, which is major devaluation to me, still worth have a look.
Not like chase hotel card, it does carry FTF, if its matter to you.

[jsucool76]

categories for all the hotels are based on location.

Marriott includes silver status (via 15 elite night credits, and offers another elite night for every 3k spend) silver status will get you free WiFi, and that's about it. 20% bonus points. if you get to gold status the benefits skyrocket.

Hyatt card gives you platinum status, which though it's mid tier is still kind of meh. Hyatt is good because you can upgrade to a better room with points. Marriott kind of let's you do that but not as well.

ihg is meh. they don't have too many nice hotels around, just a few here and there. still a great deal on the card though.


as far as Marriott rooms, 50k points will not get you 5 nights unless you're staying in like... Flint Michigan.

most hotels you see will be category 5+
cat 1 - 7500 points (almost nonexistant)
cat 2 - 10000 (never seen one)
cat 3 - 15000 ^^
cat 4 - 20k you'll see these around, but they won't be in your big destinations like NYC or Disney. at least they won't be near the action
cat 5 - 25k fairly common
cat 6 - 30k
cat 7 - 35k
cat 8 - 40k
cat 9 - 45k



categories 5-9 will be the most common you see if you travel to touristy places. points are pretty easy to come by. 12 points per dollar as a silver, plus the 5 points per dollar from the card on Marriott spend.

[lg8302ch]

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@Pistons0 wrote:

The more I read up on the IHG, the more I think it'll be the best fit, anyone see an issue with pulling the trigger on the app now ? Or wait until my lower utilization reports later this month (mind you I only reduced it from 45% ish to 25%).

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I was at that stage in decision making a while back and then decided to look at the places I stay. I have quite a few nights at Moxy Hotels which belong to the Marriott group. Also I stay often at the long stay Marriott like Town Place Suites and Residence Inns. That is the reason I went for Marriott. But the IHG is definitely the next hotel card on my wishlist. I think the IHG will be a good fit for you. As for applying I would definitely wait until the lower utilization  is reported. If you can I would even bring it down to under 10%.

Good luck with your app and hope to see you again with a nice approval post

[lg8302ch]

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@jsucool76 wrote:
categories for all the hotels are based on location.

Marriott includes silver status (via 15 elite night credits, and offers another elite night for every 3k spend) silver status will get you free WiFi, and that's about it. 20% bonus points. if you get to gold status the benefits skyrocket.

Hyatt card gives you platinum status, which though it's mid tier is still kind of meh. Hyatt is good because you can upgrade to a better room with points. Marriott kind of let's you do that but not as well.

ihg is meh. they don't have too many nice hotels around, just a few here and there. still a great deal on the card though.


as far as Marriott rooms, 50k points will not get you 5 nights unless you're staying in like... Flint Michigan.

most hotels you see will be category 5+
cat 1 - 7500 points (almost nonexistant)
cat 2 - 10000 (never seen one)
cat 3 - 15000 ^^
cat 4 - 20k you'll see these around, but they won't be in your big destinations like NYC or Disney. at least they won't be near the action
cat 5 - 25k fairly common
cat 6 - 30k
cat 7 - 35k
cat 8 - 40k
cat 9 - 45k



categories 5-9 will be the most common you see if you travel to touristy places. points are pretty easy to come by. 12 points per dollar as a silver, plus the 5 points per dollar from the card on Marriott spend.

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I used my 70K points from the sign up bonus  for a vacation in FL. Used a category 2 Courtyard by Marriott which required 10K points per night in FLL. If you stay 4 nights with points  the 5th night is free. So what I did is used 80K points for 10 nights and the price per night would have been 159$ plus taxes. Basically if I had to pay it would have been 1’590$ plus taxes and like this it was only  80K points. IMO a great redemption value at least or me and the Courtyard is more than decent enough for me. The free night certificate though I use at a category 4 or 5 and both times got excellent value for money on that as well. During an exibition in Düsseldorf the hotel rates were sky rocketing and the room would have been 490$ so that was my first free certificate used. Then just recently stayed at a Marriott Vacation Club which had 2 bedroom villas and they accepted the free certificate with 5K points additional. The rate there would have been 450$ per night. But the best bonus for me from the Marriott card is that I can reach Gold status only because of the bonus nights from the card other wise I would have Silver only which is completely useless. Free WiFi you also get with a normal rewards card and no status.

[NRB525]

OP, are you signed up already for all the hotel chain frequent stay cards? You earn points from the actual stay, and that also frees up your schedule: Instead of trying to find a destination where there is a Hyatt, or specific IHG, you go where you want and see what hotels are in the area.

It sounds like the IHG or Marriott are probably the cards you want to start out with. Hyatt looks like a good card to have ( I have one, for the free night ) but the locations are more limited than Marriott, for example. Club Carlson is a good points earning card, but note that it does have the 3% FTF, IHG, Marriott and Hyatt do not have FTF.

The other consideration is, most of the "hotel points" that you earn on these cards are devalued. In many cases, an infrequent traveller such as yourself may be better served by a Venture or other "2% Travel points everywhere" card, then redem those general points to pay for the room(s) after the fact. The hotel loyalty card will provide some potential upgrades for your stays, will gather another level of points for that specific hotel chain besides the spend, and then you will see which chain gets most of your business.

Having said all that, since each of the Hotel cards seems to offer some annual points or night bonus, it makes it much less of a stressful choice, since each card comes with some sort of prepaid nights/points benefit, so i wouldn't spend too much time worrying about the specific card.

[jsucool76]

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@lg8302ch wrote:

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@jsucool76 wrote:
categories for all the hotels are based on location.

Marriott includes silver status (via 15 elite night credits, and offers another elite night for every 3k spend) silver status will get you free WiFi, and that's about it. 20% bonus points. if you get to gold status the benefits skyrocket.

Hyatt card gives you platinum status, which though it's mid tier is still kind of meh. Hyatt is good because you can upgrade to a better room with points. Marriott kind of let's you do that but not as well.

ihg is meh. they don't have too many nice hotels around, just a few here and there. still a great deal on the card though.


as far as Marriott rooms, 50k points will not get you 5 nights unless you're staying in like... Flint Michigan.

most hotels you see will be category 5+
cat 1 - 7500 points (almost nonexistant)
cat 2 - 10000 (never seen one)
cat 3 - 15000 ^^
cat 4 - 20k you'll see these around, but they won't be in your big destinations like NYC or Disney. at least they won't be near the action
cat 5 - 25k fairly common
cat 6 - 30k
cat 7 - 35k
cat 8 - 40k
cat 9 - 45k



categories 5-9 will be the most common you see if you travel to touristy places. points are pretty easy to come by. 12 points per dollar as a silver, plus the 5 points per dollar from the card on Marriott spend.

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I used my 70K points from the sign up bonus  for a vacation in FL. Used a category 2 Courtyard by Marriott which required 10K points per night in FLL. If you stay 4 nights with points  the 5th night is free. So what I did is used 80K points for 10 nights and the price per night would have been 159$ plus taxes. Basically if I had to pay it would have been 1’590$ plus taxes and like this it was only  80K points. IMO a great redemption value at least or me and the Courtyard is more than decent enough for me. The free night certificate though I use at a category 4 or 5 and both times got excellent value for money on that as well. During an exibition in Düsseldorf the hotel rates were sky rocketing and the room would have been 490$ so that was my first free certificate used. Then just recently stayed at a Marriott Vacation Club which had 2 bedroom villas and they accepted the free certificate with 5K points additional. The rate there would have been 450$ per night. But the best bonus for me from the Marriott card is that I can reach Gold status only because of the bonus nights from the card other wise I would have Silver only which is completely useless. Free WiFi you also get with a normal rewards card and no status.

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I didn't know there was any category 2's in FLL, but I live in boca so I'm not often staying in the miami or ft lauderdale area. 

[Pistons0]

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@noobody wrote:
Have a look at US Bank's Club Carlson premier, 85k sign up bonus, 75AF, 40 K annual bonus.
BUT, they just took away last night free award bonus, which is major devaluation to me, still worth have a look.
Not like chase hotel card, it does carry FTF, if its matter to you.

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If they didn't take away that bonus it would be a nice little card to have for hotel stays as long as you stay in the U.S. .... I do like to travel north of the border (Toronto & Montreal are both only about a 4 hours drive) so the FTF is a let down