topic Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights in Credit Cards

Hotel cards with annual free nights

Anonymous — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 23:35:26 GMT

I know of Chase Hyatt, Marriott, and Priority Club. Are there any others?

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

ezdoesit — Mon, 23 Sep 2013 23:45:36 GMT

I thought the Ritz Carlton does also but I was mistaken.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

Walt_K — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 00:06:28 GMT

Club Carlson gives 40K points, which is good for a free night up to category 4, and just shy of enough for category 5.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

370Z — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 01:19:26 GMT

Chase Fairmont

Citi Hilton Surpass

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

Walt_K — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 01:50:58 GMT

@370Z wrote:
Chase Fairmont
Citi Hilton Surpass

Citi Hilton Reserve gives a free weekend night if you spend $10K. And I believe the Fairmont card has a spend requirement as well. Still nice perks, but not automatic on account renewal.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

CreditScholar — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 01:53:55 GMT

@370Z wrote:
Chase Fairmont
Citi Hilton Surpass

These require 10k in annual spend to get the free night, while the others don't require any. The Citi Hilton Reserve is a great value for the first 10k in spending. The Fairmont card is nice for those who frequent their properties, but I have a feeling it will cater to a much more limited audience.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:05:27 GMT

@ezdoesit wrote:
I thought the Ritz Carlton does also but I was mistaken.

I don't think so.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

Walt_K — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:06:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@ezdoesit wrote:
I thought the Ritz Carlton does also but I was mistaken.
I don't think so.

You don't think he was mistaken?

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

CreditScholar — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:14:20 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@ezdoesit wrote:
I thought the Ritz Carlton does also but I was mistaken.
I don't think so.
You don't think he was mistaken?

If the Ritz card offered a free night, I'd expect the AF to double or close. At that point, $750 would seem more reasonable.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:19:11 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@ezdoesit wrote:
I thought the Ritz Carlton does also but I was mistaken.
I don't think so.
You don't think he was mistaken?
If the Ritz card offered a free night, I'd expect the AF to double or close. At that point, $750 would seem more reasonable.

It could be offset by a spend requirement.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:19:51 GMT

@Walt_K wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@ezdoesit wrote:
I thought the Ritz Carlton does also but I was mistaken.
I don't think so.
You don't think he was mistaken?

You know what I mean...haha

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

minipoly1 — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:29:05 GMT

Any of those cards have unused night rollover to the next year?

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

CreditScholar — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:29:06 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@CreditScholar wrote:
@Walt_K wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@ezdoesit wrote:
I thought the Ritz Carlton does also but I was mistaken.
I don't think so.
You don't think he was mistaken?
If the Ritz card offered a free night, I'd expect the AF to double or close. At that point, $750 would seem more reasonable.
It could be offset by a spend requirement.

The spend requirement would have to be quite high. Conservatively valued at $350 and a value of ~1cpp, you'd need to spend an additional 35k on the card. Given they're already requiring 10k for gold status, I can't imagine spending 45k on non-Ritz/Marriott purchases to be a good value proposition at all.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

CreditScholar — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 02:29:44 GMT

@minipoly1 wrote:
Any of those cards have unused night rollover to the next year?

No they don't. They're issued as an e-certificate good for 12 months from issuance only. The Marriott annual free night is only good for 6 months.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

370Z — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 03:04:20 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@370Z wrote:
Chase Fairmont
Citi Hilton Surpass
These require 10k in annual spend to get the free night, while the others don't require any. The Citi Hilton Reserve is a great value for the first 10k in spending. The Fairmont card is nice for those who frequent their properties, but I have a feeling it will cater to a much more limited audience.

Good points. The OP didn't mention spending requirements, so I added them to the list.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

John02 — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 03:50:38 GMT

The American Express SPG is an option I like. The Starpoints appear to be worth more than your normal points. For example when looking at some of their options it beats hotwire/priceline. As an example I saw a hotel for 7,000 starpoints (normally equivalent to $70) that I believe was around $85 one weekend and over $150 another weekend on hotwire.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

Walt_K — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 04:07:16 GMT

@CreditScholar wrote:
@minipoly1 wrote:
Any of those cards have unused night rollover to the next year?
No they don't. They're issued as an e-certificate good for 12 months from issuance only. The Marriott annual free night is only good for 6 months.

Club Carlson's points would be good for following years, though subject to potential devaluation. Should have also mentioned above that with the Premier Visa the points are actually good for two free nights of whatever category they are redeemed in.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

CreditScholar — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 04:11:48 GMT

@John02 wrote:
The American Express SPG is an option I like. The Starpoints appear to be worth more than your normal points. For example when looking at some of their options it beats hotwire/priceline. As an example I saw a hotel for 7,000 starpoints (normally equivalent to $70) that I believe was around $85 one weekend and over $150 another weekend on hotwire.

7000 Starpoints are worth about $160 (given a value of 2.3 cpp). I definitely wouldn't spend 7k starpoints on that redemption, as there are better ones to be had.

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

John02 — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 04:37:13 GMT

The example I was giving was against hotwire rates, not against the "retail" price. For the hotel in question, I believe it was over $200 per night normally. I was just comparing it to hotwire since you can get really good rates there as well.

I'm definitely interested in hearing about better redemption options, though. What kind have you seen?

Re: Hotel cards with annual free nights

CreditScholar — Tue, 24 Sep 2013 04:54:45 GMT

@John02 wrote:
The example I was giving was against hotwire rates, not against the "retail" price. For the hotel in question, I believe it was over $200 per night normally. I was just comparing it to hotwire since you can get really good rates there as well.

I'm definitely interested in hearing about better redemption options, though. What kind have you seen?

I almost always avoid 3rd party sites when booking hotels, especially for chains where elite benefits are excluded to those booking via these mechanisms.

As a general rule, you can usually get 3-4 cpp from Starpoints on C&P depending on where you want to go. Generally speaking, the more international travelling you do the better the values are. This isn't true of just SPG, but for other hotel programs as well given how low the USD has sunk relative to some other currencies.

If I was sitting on 20k starpoints, I could transfer them to 25k US miles (37.5k during the annual 50% transfer bonus). Even on sale US miles are normally 1.88 cpm, so the value would be 2.35 cpp (or 3.52 cpp during the 50% bonus). Therefore I definitely wouldn't redeem for anything less than 2.5 cpp.