I have a road trip planned for the middle of July, it going to be about 10 days. I am going to be traveling with 1 or 2 friends. My travel companions are not as well off as me, and I don't want to stress their finances.
Last time we stayed at the comfort inn and there was 3 of us the trip was half as long, this time it might be me and only one other, I don't want to stick him with a 1,500 dollar hotel bill or stay somewhere super crappy.
Comfort while by no means the Ritz was good enough for 3 guys to crash and have free breakfast in the morning
Enough Rambling Back Story....
Comfort Inn is owned by Choice and Choice has a no AF mastercard by Wells Fargo the sub (1,000 spend) is worth 60k bonus point which is "upto" 7 nights stay
Hilton Honors No AF card by AMEX is free silver status 80,000 points for 1k spend... What would this actually get me at hilton figure room price is 200-300 night?
My goal here is to save my buddies from sticker shock while also getting us a nicer stay than motel 6. Comfort is my go to choice since I know the room comes with 3 beds 2 queen and a pull out and no one has to wake up the inside of an unintentional spoon or cuddle pile...
Both Comfort and Hilton have a number of properties where we are going. I am strictly team cashback and ignorant about my opinions here...
I have an existing relationship with AMEX and Choice but not WF or Hilton... any advice you guys can offer?
@wasCB14
Chase is off the table... I am 11/24
Looking at Hilton 80k points would not be even 1 night...
Checking Marriott now...
/edit
The Sub spend and AF make the Marriott cards by amex less than Ideal...
I think I the choice card is the best deal... I can't figure out what the point cost of the room is though so I need to maybe give them a call...
Thanks for your Help, and if anyone else has a good suggestion please share I am also currently investigating AirBnB.
@wasCB14 wrote:You might also consider IHG (Holiday Inn) cards from Chase. Chase and Amex both issue Marriott cards, which includes Ritz but also some less-expensive options.
Go to the Hilton.com website and do a search for a place you might potentially stay. That will give you an idea of point vs. cash pricing. Same for other hotel companies.
I probably wouldn't bother with Hyatt. Great hotels, but there aren't many of them and they're mostly in urban/touristy areas. You won't see a lot of them on the typical road trip.
I think I got it figured out.... Assuming I get the card which I am pretty sure I would... the hotel room is 17,600 points a night 176,000 points total... the card has a 60k sub and it looks like you can pre-purchase points and it meets the sub requirement... 116k points is 1,192 dollars meaning the ~3k hotel bill would drop to 1,192 dollars (400-600/person) or about 63% off. Not a bad deal.
@Traveler101 wrote:I can't really give the best advice for the travel card. But, is there a residence inn nearby where you are going. Awesome place. Generally 2 bedrooms and sleep sofa in living room. And reasonably priced as well.
There is but it is sold out for my travel dates, also ironically shares a parking lot with the Comfort Suites I was looking at! I think I am going to try the buying points idea I had above, even if I have to spend a 1,000 on expenses in 2 months between gas and grocies and day to day I can still get 3 nights free! and buying points is about 50% off buying the room outright anyway.