Hello everyone,
Thoughts or options on best credit cards you all have used in the past for points or rewards. I have the amazon prime card and looking to put a majority of my flight training on the card ( I have the cash in a savings account for my training, looking to get some rewards though).
P.s. I tried searching but didn’t find much.
Thanks for looking.
The obvious thing about rewards cards is that they have high APRs so don't ever use them if you can't pay them off soon. You have the cash, but if you ever see yourself not having it I'd cease using them.
If you travel a bit or have the ability to take the plane on weekends a hotel credit card might be a good value. I recommend Chase's offerings as there are good reasons to go with either the Marriott, IHG or Hyatt cards. From what I've seen AMEX's Hilton and SPG cards just aren't worth it. I've looked into the Radisson card too, but they can be a bit regional and their points just don't get you much as far as free rooms although it sounds great on paper. The BestWestern card isn't bad, but I think you get more for your annual member fee elsewhere. When it comes to hotel cards the annual fee is worth it as you get a cheap free night at most hotels they offer and I've used mine to put up family members when I couldn't use it so I saved them money.
100,000 Marriott Points are a lot and I'm not sure they'll keep them that high for long, but you need to spend 5k to get them all in the first 3 months which would be a bit rough if you didn't get that. They also accumulate at $2 per dollar spent on stuff not Marriott. The catch is your first free gift night is after one year and I believe they don't give you one the first year. Depending on the city you can get a night for as little as 7,500, although higher is more common.
Hyatt's are a great value with 40,000 points as their hotel redemption value doesn't seem to fluctuate at all. They give you a free night annually which used to be good anywhere (and may still be), you can get rooms for as little as 5,000 points although 8,000 is probably more typical, unless you want their higher end stuff. The catch is that while they're nice they really aren't all that common. Periodically with the card they'll offer to rebate 10% of the points you redeem which is nice.
IHGs 80,000 points are decent enough. You can get rooms as low as 10,000 points, but 15,000 to 25,000 is more common and in busier areas even higher (as with almost all cards). The free night has always worked great and you get platinum status which is the highest of the threes comparable status, although Marriotts and Hiltons do give you more when you earn the same status. That said based on your spending you'll likely earn the least amount of free nights here compared to the other two.
