Which travel points program/credit cards do you use?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marriott and Hilton redemptions are really bad. Upscale resort hotels in good areas can be easily over 100,000 points PER night. Hilton at least waives the resort fee but Marriott does not. They both make the 5th night free but you are still talking 400k points for a 5 night stay. Puts the co-branded credit card bonuses into perspective - they aren’t as big as they sound.

The benefit of the cobranded card is the annual free night. They are really worth it if you like to stay at high end places.

The Hilton Aspire is $450 annual free but gives you 1 free night at nearly any hotel worldwide. Plus a $250 resort credit which can go toward either the room rate or incidentals, plus a $250 annual airline credit which should be used for airline incidental fees but I've also had success buying southwest gift cards, lower priced southwest flights, or united travel bank reloads. I profit every year with this card.

The Marriott card that is now $650 annual fee - you get $300 year in restaurant charges credited back, so really it is $350 a year and you get 1 free night certificate for hotels that are 85k points. I am using it at the St Regis Bal Harbour for spring break and the regular rate is $1300/night. You're effectively paying for a free night at a high end hotel in advance for $350.

All of that is true. But the actual points you earn, including the signup bonus, are practically worthless.

The beauty of these cards is that you don't necessarily need to put spend on them. Just the minimum to get the various credits. We put the rest on our chase sapphire.

Ok. 150k Hilton points is 3 nights in a random Hampton inn. That’s just not that valuable to me, when I can be earning bonuses on better cards, but if it works for you, great.

Instead I could be earning 90k chase points which is 2 round trips to Hawaii. Worth a lot more.

Why "instead"? YES AND

I’m below 5/24 so I’d never waste a slot on a non-Chase card, which Hilton is.

5/24 applies to all cards, not just Chase. I believe business cards don't count though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marriott and Hilton redemptions are really bad. Upscale resort hotels in good areas can be easily over 100,000 points PER night. Hilton at least waives the resort fee but Marriott does not. They both make the 5th night free but you are still talking 400k points for a 5 night stay. Puts the co-branded credit card bonuses into perspective - they aren’t as big as they sound.

The benefit of the cobranded card is the annual free night. They are really worth it if you like to stay at high end places.

The Hilton Aspire is $450 annual free but gives you 1 free night at nearly any hotel worldwide. Plus a $250 resort credit which can go toward either the room rate or incidentals, plus a $250 annual airline credit which should be used for airline incidental fees but I've also had success buying southwest gift cards, lower priced southwest flights, or united travel bank reloads. I profit every year with this card.

The Marriott card that is now $650 annual fee - you get $300 year in restaurant charges credited back, so really it is $350 a year and you get 1 free night certificate for hotels that are 85k points. I am using it at the St Regis Bal Harbour for spring break and the regular rate is $1300/night. You're effectively paying for a free night at a high end hotel in advance for $350.

All of that is true. But the actual points you earn, including the signup bonus, are practically worthless.

The beauty of these cards is that you don't necessarily need to put spend on them. Just the minimum to get the various credits. We put the rest on our chase sapphire.

Ok. 150k Hilton points is 3 nights in a random Hampton inn. That’s just not that valuable to me, when I can be earning bonuses on better cards, but if it works for you, great.

Instead I could be earning 90k chase points which is 2 round trips to Hawaii. Worth a lot more.

Why "instead"? YES AND

I’m below 5/24 so I’d never waste a slot on a non-Chase card, which Hilton is.

Amex business cards don't add to 5/24. And as stated in another post, used 150k Hilton points for 3 nights in London worth about $1k. Definitely ways to get a lot of value.

I’m glad it works for you. Every time I’ve tried to search up a Hilton brand I’d like to stay at, the points required are jaw dropping. The Hampton Inn in Orlando is 50,000 a night…or $180.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marriott and Hilton redemptions are really bad. Upscale resort hotels in good areas can be easily over 100,000 points PER night. Hilton at least waives the resort fee but Marriott does not. They both make the 5th night free but you are still talking 400k points for a 5 night stay. Puts the co-branded credit card bonuses into perspective - they aren’t as big as they sound.

The benefit of the cobranded card is the annual free night. They are really worth it if you like to stay at high end places.

The Hilton Aspire is $450 annual free but gives you 1 free night at nearly any hotel worldwide. Plus a $250 resort credit which can go toward either the room rate or incidentals, plus a $250 annual airline credit which should be used for airline incidental fees but I've also had success buying southwest gift cards, lower priced southwest flights, or united travel bank reloads. I profit every year with this card.

The Marriott card that is now $650 annual fee - you get $300 year in restaurant charges credited back, so really it is $350 a year and you get 1 free night certificate for hotels that are 85k points. I am using it at the St Regis Bal Harbour for spring break and the regular rate is $1300/night. You're effectively paying for a free night at a high end hotel in advance for $350.

All of that is true. But the actual points you earn, including the signup bonus, are practically worthless.

The beauty of these cards is that you don't necessarily need to put spend on them. Just the minimum to get the various credits. We put the rest on our chase sapphire.

Ok. 150k Hilton points is 3 nights in a random Hampton inn. That’s just not that valuable to me, when I can be earning bonuses on better cards, but if it works for you, great.

Instead I could be earning 90k chase points which is 2 round trips to Hawaii. Worth a lot more.

Why "instead"? YES AND

I’m below 5/24 so I’d never waste a slot on a non-Chase card, which Hilton is.

5/24 applies to all cards, not just Chase. I believe business cards don't count though.

Chase is the only one who cares if you are below 5/24 though. And no, business cards don’t count. But to get Chase Business cards, you still have to be below 5/24.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marriott and Hilton redemptions are really bad. Upscale resort hotels in good areas can be easily over 100,000 points PER night. Hilton at least waives the resort fee but Marriott does not. They both make the 5th night free but you are still talking 400k points for a 5 night stay. Puts the co-branded credit card bonuses into perspective - they aren’t as big as they sound.

The benefit of the cobranded card is the annual free night. They are really worth it if you like to stay at high end places.

The Hilton Aspire is $450 annual free but gives you 1 free night at nearly any hotel worldwide. Plus a $250 resort credit which can go toward either the room rate or incidentals, plus a $250 annual airline credit which should be used for airline incidental fees but I've also had success buying southwest gift cards, lower priced southwest flights, or united travel bank reloads. I profit every year with this card.

The Marriott card that is now $650 annual fee - you get $300 year in restaurant charges credited back, so really it is $350 a year and you get 1 free night certificate for hotels that are 85k points. I am using it at the St Regis Bal Harbour for spring break and the regular rate is $1300/night. You're effectively paying for a free night at a high end hotel in advance for $350.

All of that is true. But the actual points you earn, including the signup bonus, are practically worthless.

The beauty of these cards is that you don't necessarily need to put spend on them. Just the minimum to get the various credits. We put the rest on our chase sapphire.

Ok. 150k Hilton points is 3 nights in a random Hampton inn. That’s just not that valuable to me, when I can be earning bonuses on better cards, but if it works for you, great.

Instead I could be earning 90k chase points which is 2 round trips to Hawaii. Worth a lot more.

Why "instead"? YES AND

I’m below 5/24 so I’d never waste a slot on a non-Chase card, which Hilton is.

5/24 applies to all cards, not just Chase. I believe business cards don't count though.

Chase is the only one who cares if you are below 5/24 though. And no, business cards don’t count. But to get Chase Business cards, you still have to be below 5/24.

Looks like we have a few churning heads here. No other bank has the same 5/24 rule, but many have similar rules- Bank of America's is called "3/12" or "7/12" depending on if you have a bank account there. US Bank doesn't have any specific standards, but is definitely sensitive to too many recent new personal cards, as is Capital One.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marriott and Hilton redemptions are really bad. Upscale resort hotels in good areas can be easily over 100,000 points PER night. Hilton at least waives the resort fee but Marriott does not. They both make the 5th night free but you are still talking 400k points for a 5 night stay. Puts the co-branded credit card bonuses into perspective - they aren’t as big as they sound.

The benefit of the cobranded card is the annual free night. They are really worth it if you like to stay at high end places.

The Hilton Aspire is $450 annual free but gives you 1 free night at nearly any hotel worldwide. Plus a $250 resort credit which can go toward either the room rate or incidentals, plus a $250 annual airline credit which should be used for airline incidental fees but I've also had success buying southwest gift cards, lower priced southwest flights, or united travel bank reloads. I profit every year with this card.

The Marriott card that is now $650 annual fee - you get $300 year in restaurant charges credited back, so really it is $350 a year and you get 1 free night certificate for hotels that are 85k points. I am using it at the St Regis Bal Harbour for spring break and the regular rate is $1300/night. You're effectively paying for a free night at a high end hotel in advance for $350.

All of that is true. But the actual points you earn, including the signup bonus, are practically worthless.

The beauty of these cards is that you don't necessarily need to put spend on them. Just the minimum to get the various credits. We put the rest on our chase sapphire.

Ok. 150k Hilton points is 3 nights in a random Hampton inn. That’s just not that valuable to me, when I can be earning bonuses on better cards, but if it works for you, great.

The annual free night certificate that you can use at a Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, etc around the world makes it worth it. Also diamond status for free breakfast, lounge access and upgrades.

This is not a card to churn and burn. This is a keeper and then you get the chase cards for the sign up bonuses, etc.

[Anonymous]

Right now, with inflated airfares, the airline loyalty schemes give excellent value. I don’t know if it will stay that way but a credit card that accumulates points tgdd sad t can be used for air travel are s good idea. I usually expect to get up to 1.5 cents per point value from using United Mileage points but managed to get to Australia for 80,000 points in November and Japan for same amount in March. For both, flights worth 2.5-2.8 cents per point.

[Anonymous]

Is Chase better than Cap One Venture? Can someone explain why?

We have flown overseas as a family for free, paid for AirBnBs, hotels, even tours, all via the card. And we book directly with the airline/hotel/etc, you then get credits to your card using points

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Marriott and Hilton redemptions are really bad. Upscale resort hotels in good areas can be easily over 100,000 points PER night. Hilton at least waives the resort fee but Marriott does not. They both make the 5th night free but you are still talking 400k points for a 5 night stay. Puts the co-branded credit card bonuses into perspective - they aren’t as big as they sound.

The benefit of the cobranded card is the annual free night. They are really worth it if you like to stay at high end places.

The Hilton Aspire is $450 annual free but gives you 1 free night at nearly any hotel worldwide. Plus a $250 resort credit which can go toward either the room rate or incidentals, plus a $250 annual airline credit which should be used for airline incidental fees but I've also had success buying southwest gift cards, lower priced southwest flights, or united travel bank reloads. I profit every year with this card.

The Marriott card that is now $650 annual fee - you get $300 year in restaurant charges credited back, so really it is $350 a year and you get 1 free night certificate for hotels that are 85k points. I am using it at the St Regis Bal Harbour for spring break and the regular rate is $1300/night. You're effectively paying for a free night at a high end hotel in advance for $350.

All of that is true. But the actual points you earn, including the signup bonus, are practically worthless.

The beauty of these cards is that you don't necessarily need to put spend on them. Just the minimum to get the various credits. We put the rest on our chase sapphire.

Ok. 150k Hilton points is 3 nights in a random Hampton inn. That’s just not that valuable to me, when I can be earning bonuses on better cards, but if it works for you, great.

Instead I could be earning 90k chase points which is 2 round trips to Hawaii. Worth a lot more.

Why "instead"? YES AND

I’m below 5/24 so I’d never waste a slot on a non-Chase card, which Hilton is.

Amex business cards don't add to 5/24. And as stated in another post, used 150k Hilton points for 3 nights in London worth about $1k. Definitely ways to get a lot of value.

I’m glad it works for you. Every time I’ve tried to search up a Hilton brand I’d like to stay at, the points required are jaw dropping. The Hampton Inn in Orlando is 50,000 a night…or $180.

This. I get a “free” 25k night, which is a joke. Maybe a comfort inn off the highway.

[Anonymous]

Another Southwest CC holder here. Loving the companion pass. Love that it’s so easy to use and no 3rd party issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is Chase better than Cap One Venture? Can someone explain why?

We have flown overseas as a family for free, paid for AirBnBs, hotels, even tours, all via the card. And we book directly with the airline/hotel/etc, you then get credits to your card using points

CapOne Venture is essentially a cash back card. It doesn't really have any value more than say the Citi Double Cash card, which gives straight 2% cash back. That's not to disparage it- that's a solid return for everyday spending, and for the average person, who doesn't want to mess around with multiple options, figuring out award program sweet spots, etc, it's a very good approach.

If you get deep into the Chase ultimate rewards "ecosystem" you have a lot more ways to utliize points because of all their transfer partners. You also have a lot more ways to get credit card signup bonuses and spending bonuses. So you can do things like get a few card bonuses and transfer to say Air France and United for business class tickets to Europe- we did that last summer. But it takes a significant amount of work and learning to get to that point, so it's definitely not for everyone. You also have to be comfortable with signing up for a good number of cards to utilize the signup bonuses- again something not everyone is comfortable with doing, or thinks is worth the hassle/work, which is totally understandable.

There's a reason people often call this a hobby.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have both Amex membership rewards and Chase. Amex has historically been my go-to, but I'm branching out to Chase.

Posters have correctly advised that most of the points come from sign-up bonuses (not flying). I used to fly regularly for work in business class long haul, and in my busiest year I've accumulated maybe 120,000 airlines miles. While the same could have been had with a couple of credit cards.

The idea is to strategically acquire one card after another to collect reward bonuses.

In the last 9 months I've exhausted the rewards for Amex Platinum, and IHG Premier rewards. Currently spending down Chase Business Cash, and plan to apply for another Chase and IHG in a month or so. Read up on how often you should be doing this, I've made a couple of inexperienced mistakes.

This year's travel so far:

- going to Amsterdam with 2 kids for spring break (Air France saver awards, 34K round trip per person)

- going to Turkey with 2 kids in July (Air France saver awards, about 92K roundtrip for 3 )

- going to St. Augustine, FL in November for 5 days with the entire family (DH and I plus 3 kids)

- currently spending and saving points for a trip to London for all five of us next spring break. This will come from IHG rewards and from either Chase or Amex spend.

It's more powerful if both spouses play this game.

This is impressive. Where can I learn how to play the game? Anything I can read? We have sapphire and freedom, which I got many years ago. We have not cancelled them or gotten new cards. Are we supposed cancel the existing cards and apply for new ones to get the large sign in bonus miles?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have both Amex membership rewards and Chase. Amex has historically been my go-to, but I'm branching out to Chase.

Posters have correctly advised that most of the points come from sign-up bonuses (not flying). I used to fly regularly for work in business class long haul, and in my busiest year I've accumulated maybe 120,000 airlines miles. While the same could have been had with a couple of credit cards.

The idea is to strategically acquire one card after another to collect reward bonuses.

In the last 9 months I've exhausted the rewards for Amex Platinum, and IHG Premier rewards. Currently spending down Chase Business Cash, and plan to apply for another Chase and IHG in a month or so. Read up on how often you should be doing this, I've made a couple of inexperienced mistakes.

This year's travel so far:

- going to Amsterdam with 2 kids for spring break (Air France saver awards, 34K round trip per person)

- going to Turkey with 2 kids in July (Air France saver awards, about 92K roundtrip for 3 )

- going to St. Augustine, FL in November for 5 days with the entire family (DH and I plus 3 kids)

- currently spending and saving points for a trip to London for all five of us next spring break. This will come from IHG rewards and from either Chase or Amex spend.

It's more powerful if both spouses play this game.

This is impressive. Where can I learn how to play the game? Anything I can read? We have sapphire and freedom, which I got many years ago. We have not cancelled them or gotten new cards. Are we supposed cancel the existing cards and apply for new ones to get the large sign in bonus miles?

https://frequentmiler.com/start-here/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Posters have correctly advised that most of the points come from sign-up bonuses (not flying). I used to fly regularly for work in business class long haul, and in my busiest year I've accumulated maybe 120,000 airlines miles. While the same could have been had with a couple of credit cards.

Guess it's been a while since you've flown! If you hold top tier United status (which you probably would with frequent long haul business class flying) you get 11x purchase price, with a max of 75K miles per ticket. I pretty much hit the 75K every time I fly internationally, so very easy to accumulate miles this way (at least on someone's else's dime - my company's!)

Pair that with Chase Sapphire Reserve and Freedom Unlimited, and you are all set.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have both Amex membership rewards and Chase. Amex has historically been my go-to, but I'm branching out to Chase.

Posters have correctly advised that most of the points come from sign-up bonuses (not flying). I used to fly regularly for work in business class long haul, and in my busiest year I've accumulated maybe 120,000 airlines miles. While the same could have been had with a couple of credit cards.

The idea is to strategically acquire one card after another to collect reward bonuses.

In the last 9 months I've exhausted the rewards for Amex Platinum, and IHG Premier rewards. Currently spending down Chase Business Cash, and plan to apply for another Chase and IHG in a month or so. Read up on how often you should be doing this, I've made a couple of inexperienced mistakes.

This year's travel so far:

- going to Amsterdam with 2 kids for spring break (Air France saver awards, 34K round trip per person)

- going to Turkey with 2 kids in July (Air France saver awards, about 92K roundtrip for 3 )

- going to St. Augustine, FL in November for 5 days with the entire family (DH and I plus 3 kids)

- currently spending and saving points for a trip to London for all five of us next spring break. This will come from IHG rewards and from either Chase or Amex spend.

It's more powerful if both spouses play this game.

This is impressive. Where can I learn how to play the game? Anything I can read? We have sapphire and freedom, which I got many years ago. We have not cancelled them or gotten new cards. Are we supposed cancel the existing cards and apply for new ones to get the large sign in bonus miles?

https://frequentmiler.com/start-here/

Thank you. It looks like I will not be able to cancel sapphire reserve or downgrade it to become eligible for another round of sign up bonus. If I do that, I will keep the points, but lose the 1-1 transfer or 1.5 point conversion in the chase ultimate reward ecosystem until I get a new sapphire card, which is not guaranteed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have both Amex membership rewards and Chase. Amex has historically been my go-to, but I'm branching out to Chase.

Posters have correctly advised that most of the points come from sign-up bonuses (not flying). I used to fly regularly for work in business class long haul, and in my busiest year I've accumulated maybe 120,000 airlines miles. While the same could have been had with a couple of credit cards.

The idea is to strategically acquire one card after another to collect reward bonuses.

In the last 9 months I've exhausted the rewards for Amex Platinum, and IHG Premier rewards. Currently spending down Chase Business Cash, and plan to apply for another Chase and IHG in a month or so. Read up on how often you should be doing this, I've made a couple of inexperienced mistakes.

This year's travel so far:

- going to Amsterdam with 2 kids for spring break (Air France saver awards, 34K round trip per person)

- going to Turkey with 2 kids in July (Air France saver awards, about 92K roundtrip for 3 )

- going to St. Augustine, FL in November for 5 days with the entire family (DH and I plus 3 kids)

- currently spending and saving points for a trip to London for all five of us next spring break. This will come from IHG rewards and from either Chase or Amex spend.

It's more powerful if both spouses play this game.

This is impressive. Where can I learn how to play the game? Anything I can read? We have sapphire and freedom, which I got many years ago. We have not cancelled them or gotten new cards. Are we supposed cancel the existing cards and apply for new ones to get the large sign in bonus miles?

https://frequentmiler.com/start-here/

Thank you. It looks like I will not be able to cancel sapphire reserve or downgrade it to become eligible for another round of sign up bonus. If I do that, I will keep the points, but lose the 1-1 transfer or 1.5 point conversion in the chase ultimate reward ecosystem until I get a new sapphire card, which is not guaranteed.

You can get a Sapphire Preferred (or another Reserve) bonus if it's been more than 4 years since your previous bonus. Downgrade your current card to a Freedom Unlimited, then maybe 3 days later apply for the Preferred (if it's been more than 4 years). Or you can refer your spouse, and get their bonus and a referral. Make yourself an authorized user on their Sapphire card, and then you can pool points across both people into one account.

The other, more lucrative longer run play for Chase UR is to get their business cards, which have huge bonuses, huge referral bonuses, and 3 cards, of which you can get all of them. Just refer back and forth between spouses and you can get around 120k points per new card.