HOTEL CARD ..

[Anonymous]

Itspossible yes I’ll b applying for Marriott as well just not sure if boundless or brilliant

[wasCB14]

I have the older Hyatt card ($75 AF). I like Hyatt for nicer vacations with family.

The limited footprint may mean a light traveler doesn't use the renewal certificate every year, but one mid-category redemption can be worth a few annual fees.

So even after getting a nice bonus it might be worth keeping at the new card's slightly higher AF.

[Anonymous]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Itspossible yes I’ll b applying for Marriott as well just not sure if boundless or brilliant

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Great choice to go with the Marriott. For the reasons I mentioned before, the Brilliant can be a very good deal if you will spend more than $300 at Marriott during the year. Also, the 50,000 point free night certificate is really good. That along with the $300 statement credit and $100 Ritz Carlton/St. Regis resort credit pretty much wipes out the $450 annual fee. 

But, the regular/non-luxury version has worked for me so far if you are drawn that way. 

[Anonymous]

Actually I keep looking at the cards n **bleep** the hilton aspire might b a better choice , can’t beat that diamond status

[SouthJamaica]

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@Anonymous wrote:

Hello , I stay in hotels often don't really have a favorite but i stay in marriots , hyatt often hilton sometimes .. what is the best hotel card out there , I have none , my credit cards are AMEX Gold card , amazon visa , cap one venture one , wells fargo platinum & propel , barclays apple card ...

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1. I don't find the Marriott program to be so great.

2. The Hyatt points are the most valuable per point, but they're not especially easy to accumulate, and there aren't as many Hyatts as there are Hiltons. But it pays for itself with the annual anniversary free night stay.

3. In my experience the Hilton points are slightly more valuable than the Marriott points, the Hilton points are the fastest points to accumulate, and every Hilton stay seems to be accompanied by a full breakfast. So as between the three, I lean towards Hilton. I liked the $95 a year Ascend, but just recently decided to take a fling with an upgrade to the Aspire card. In doing so I may have overshot the mark, because I'm not a real frequent traveler, but time will tell. It was hard to resist the 150k point upgrade  bonus (worth $600 to me).

But if you want to be free of any affiliation, probably the best bets are Citi Thankyou points and Chase Ultimate Rewards points.

[iced]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Actually I keep looking at the cards n **bleep** the hilton aspire might b a better choice , can’t beat that diamond status

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Unless you book a lot of rooms at peak peak times (and need the reservations guarantee), Diamond is basically Gold with some extra bonus points. When I first earned Diamond many moons ago, I thought I'd suddenly get suite upgrades and white glove concierge treatment. I did get a gift upon attaining Diamond (a deck of cards), but those other delusions got squashed real quick. My upgrades as Diamond were about as frequent as my upgrades as Gold, and often it turned out two-thirds of the hotel was Gold or Diamond, as evidenced by more people being in the louge for breakfast than the restaurant at many locations. All this was before Diamond also became a card handout, so I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's even worse now.

In all fairness, it's not really any different as a Marriott Platinum (now Titanium) - other than the extra points, it's really same old same old. If your'e staying 75+ nights a year, those points really add up, but if you stay at a Marriott/Hilton 2-3 weeks a year, you're not going to see much of a difference between Gold/Diamond or Platinum/Titanium.

Keep this in mind if you're considering dropping the extra AF for the card thinking that a higher-tier status is going to be a game changer on your stays. It won't be.

[wasCB14]

Generally, status needs to be scarce for perks to have real value. And when a huge share of the interested population can get status easily, it may become the new base.

The economic reality may be that a hotel offering "free breakfast" for Diamond elites is really just passing the cost of "free" breakfast for many or most guests on through higher room rates.

[Anonymous]

@iced i am gonna apply but for the ascend right now , I spend a lot on gas so I might add those points up quick , I didn’t see the aspire having points for gas is that only for ascend ?