Best Card for Hotel Stays

[M_Smart007]

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@Anonymous wrote:
@M_Smart007, OP said he was switching away from Hilton. Otherwise, Surpass or Aspire would definitely be a no-brainer.

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sorry, very tired and read over that part

I re-read and see what you pointed out, my goof

Thanks

[redpat]

If you want MR points checkout Rocketmiles if you don’t care about hotel status.  You can get 15x - 22x MR points per dollar.

[iced]

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@Anonymous wrote:
I will be switching over to personal card use for business expenses with my employer. I travel around 30 weeks a year and typically stay in Marriott properties (just switched from Hilton). I have my flights and meals covered with my AMEX gold, however hotel spend is not rewarded well with that card.

I’ve looked at the 2 AMEX Marriott cards (personal & business), but am not sure that’s the best route either. I don’t think I can make the AF on the personal work outside of the SUB. I also don’t know that I want to put all my eggs in one basket with Marriott either. Any suggestions on a good card to pair with my Gold for these hotel stays?

Thanks!

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Honestly, with that level of stay that's being paid by OPM, I wouldn't bother with trying to optimize with a hotel card. Go for a travel card, either UR (CSR) or MR (Amex Platinum) instead. Here's why:

1. 30 weeks = 100+ nights, probably closer to 150. You're already Titanium and probably Ambassador. None of the status benefits from cards are going to help you, and you're already pulling in 6 figures worth of Marriott points every year. Do you really need more Marriott points when you could be funneling that spend into something like airline miles instead?

2. Marriott points aren't worth a whole lot individually, so while you could be getting an additional 6 points/dollar, it's just more free nights you're already accruing at a decent clip (see above). You're probably not accruing miles as quickly, especially since most airlines are on dollaroint system instead of a mileoint system now.

3. Unless you really want the free night certs or more Marriott points, and as a Titanium myself I know you're probably already up to your eyeballs in points/certs via Megabonus and what-not, there's just nothing the co-branded cards will give you that you don't already have. The elite night credits are meaningless at your frequency, as is status, so that leaves nothing you can't get on a non co-branded card.

Going with something like CSR still has a travel credit you can cash in on, so it's AF would effectively be $150. American Express Gold/Platinum is a little trickier to use the credit, but if you also fly a lot for work (not clear from the above), those AFs are also mitigated somewhat. The CSR in particular seems like the best fit since you're talking 5 figures in hotel spend annually, at 3x UR per dollar, means around 100k UR per year. That's in the ballpark for free international business-class tickets each year. Add dining spend on your travels to the card, coupled with your Marriott points from nights, and you're in a good position to have your hotel stays bankroll your personal trips beyond just free nights.

[iced]

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@wasCB14 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the input Zoom. I didn’t take into account the $300 Marriott Credit. That one may make the most sense. I am over 5/24, so Chase is out. Would be great if AMEX had a better MR earning card for hotels.

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FWIW, Platinum gives 5x for prepaid hotels booked via the Amex Travel website.

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It also usually negates the ability to earn anything from the stay itself from Marriott. No dollars, no points except for incidentals, and in some cases, no night credits. The Amex Travel portal works great for casual hotel stays or off-brand, but if you're a Marriott loyalist the prepaid nights at 5x will absolutely work against you. I'd rather book them at 3x on CSR and still get full credit for points/night credits/etc than 5x with no night credits.

[Anonymous]

The CSR would be ideal, however that one is at least 18 months away for me due to new accounts and likely my credit file.

@Iced, you make a good point. I don’t need the status from a card and was mainly just looking at how to maximize points, either within the MR system or with a hotel branded card. I just switched from Hilton to Marriott back in June, did a status challenge and currently have Plat. I will hit Titanium by year end though.

I do fly those same weeks for work, so I plan to use the Gold for airfare, DW and I currently put heavy spend on it a love the 4x points on restaurant and groceries. I’m not sure that it makes much sense to get the Platinum for just airfare as it will only gain me another $600 +/- in MR points which would essentially just cover the AF on the Plat.

I will likely just use my Arrival + for the time being for hotels, I found today that through Barclays Rewards Boost I can get an additional 2 points per dollar (4 points total) when booking through Marriott with the Arrival +. I’m not the biggest fan of the Arrival point system as it’s effectively just a CB card, however I got a great SUB with it.

Thanks for all the suggestions and replies!

[redpat]

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@iced wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
I will be switching over to personal card use for business expenses with my employer. I travel around 30 weeks a year and typically stay in Marriott properties (just switched from Hilton). I have my flights and meals covered with my AMEX gold, however hotel spend is not rewarded well with that card.

I’ve looked at the 2 AMEX Marriott cards (personal & business), but am not sure that’s the best route either. I don’t think I can make the AF on the personal work outside of the SUB. I also don’t know that I want to put all my eggs in one basket with Marriott either. Any suggestions on a good card to pair with my Gold for these hotel stays?

Thanks!

---

Honestly, with that level of stay that's being paid by OPM, I wouldn't bother with trying to optimize with a hotel card. Go for a travel card, either UR (CSR) or MR (Amex Platinum) instead. Here's why:

1. 30 weeks = 100+ nights, probably closer to 150. You're already Titanium and probably Ambassador. None of the status benefits from cards are going to help you, and you're already pulling in 6 figures worth of Marriott points every year. Do you really need more Marriott points when you could be funneling that spend into something like airline miles instead?

2. Marriott points aren't worth a whole lot individually, so while you could be getting an additional 6 points/dollar, it's just more free nights you're already accruing at a decent clip (see above). You're probably not accruing miles as quickly, especially since most airlines are on dollaroint system instead of a mileoint system now.

3. Unless you really want the free night certs or more Marriott points, and as a Titanium myself I know you're probably already up to your eyeballs in points/certs via Megabonus and what-not, there's just nothing the co-branded cards will give you that you don't already have. The elite night credits are meaningless at your frequency, as is status, so that leaves nothing you can't get on a non co-branded card.

Going with something like CSR still has a travel credit you can cash in on, so it's AF would effectively be $150. American Express Gold/Platinum is a little trickier to use the credit, but if you also fly a lot for work (not clear from the above), those AFs are also mitigated somewhat. The CSR in particular seems like the best fit since you're talking 5 figures in hotel spend annually, at 3x UR per dollar, means around 100k UR per year. That's in the ballpark for free international business-class tickets each year. Add dining spend on your travels to the card, coupled with your Marriott points from nights, and you're in a good position to have your hotel stays bankroll your personal trips beyond just free nights.

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If OP used RM he could get 300k - 400k MR points

[iced]

In addition to what I’ve already stated, there’s one other note regarding programs like AmexTravel and RM: they’re travel portals and we’re talking about business travel.

For personal travel and some smaller business travel, these can work fine provided the traveler is ok with only getting points (already covered). However, a lot of corporate travel usually requires bookings via their portal (Concur, etc) for auditing purposes. While there’s still some flexibility in how to pay for that stay, options like these are non starters in those instances.

There’s also the issue of picking boutique/luxury hotels in these portals for the best earning rates, which start to draw suspicion from travel departments. A corporate traveler can frequent a Marriott or Hilton no problem, but stays at RCs, Fairmounts, or little bed and breakfasts trip flags. I know a few corporate travelers who like AirBnB, but it gets annoying for them because it flags all their travel and requires exceptions and approvals.

[Anonymous]

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@redpat wrote:

If you want MR points checkout Rocketmiles if you don’t care about hotel status.  You can get 15x - 22x MR points per dollar.

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 I checked out RocketMiles this morning.  It appears that the properties I stay at would net about 6 MR /$ through the site.  I did find some that were in the 18 MR/$, but I would be purposely paying more and staying at a different property that I am not used to.  I will definitly look at RM prior to booking to just see if they have a higher value at that time. 

[redpat]

it’s $3-$5 more. I just had a double tree stay for 4K MR points for $206 it was $5 than Hilton site.

I’ll take 4K mr vs Hilton points for my 1 night business stay for $5 more any day.