Study: Hotel Credit Cards for Free Nights

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For many travelers, hotel rewards take a backseat to airline perks.

This is unfortunate because, in many cases, hotel loyalty programs can get you a much better return on your rewards. For hotel lovers, it's a great opportunity to stay in properties you usually wouldn't splurge on. Many hotel-branded credit cards give big bonuses equivalent to a few free nights.

But the hotel credit card market is a crowded field, and some cards are worth significantly less than others. There is no standard for what "1 point" equals, and the real value can range anywhere from less than 1 cent to several cents depending on where and how you redeem them. In this guide, we do our best to give you our estimate of what each reward program is worth.

To help you figure out which hotel credit card is right for you, CreditDonkey has put together a comparison of popular options, including promotions from our partners.

Checking In: The Basics

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First, let's get the obvious out of the way: if you don't like to stay in hotels (even free ones), you have no business applying for a hotel-branded card. While there are many benefits, they do you no good if you never step foot on a hotel property. In this case, you'd be better applying for a general travel rewards card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred card or the Capital One Venture.

For Travel Rewards: Travel Credit Card Deals

Hotel Rewards Compare

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Still with us? To decide on the hotel credit card for you, consider the following factors:

• Hotel loyalty: To get the most out of hotel credit cards, you'll want to stay at the same hotel chain. This allows you to rack up points faster to your free-nights goal.

  Major hotel chains have loyalty programs tied to each card, and some cover a large variety of properties worldwide. Consider which hotels you often frequent, or want to stay at in the future. If you go to a certain city often or have vacation plans, look up which hotel chains are in the city.

  • Hilton Credit Card
    
  • Wyndham Credit Card

• Rewards structure: You also want a card that gives you good rewards on everyday spending. You should be able to earn rewards for regular purchases like food, gas, and online shopping. This will allow you to earn points faster.

• Redemption value: How many points does it take to get one free night? Calculate approximately how much you'd have to spend to get to a free night and if it's worth it. Some hotel programs have more expensive award charts.

• Annual fee: Hotel-branded credit cards often have annual fees. Some might waive the fee for the first year, but you still need to factor this extra cost into your decision and estimate whether you'll get enough in rewards year over year to make up for it.

• Flexibility of use: Can you use the card only at specific hotels? And how extensive is the worldwide coverage? Some hotel cards let you transfer your points to airline partners, which gives you more ways to use your points.

  Related: Airline Credit Cards

These guidelines are meant to help you decide which card works best for you. Hotel stays have so many variables that it's impossible to determine one card that's perfect for every budget, every lifestyle, and every location.

Here's a list of CreditDonkey featured hotel credit cards:

Hilton Credit Cards

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At American Express' Secure Site Hilton Honors American Express Ascend Card offers 125,000 Bonus Points after you spend $2,000 on purchases within the first 3 months of opening your new card account. You earn a Weekend Night Reward after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year. You earn 12X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases spent directly at a hotel or resort within the Hilton Portfolio. You earn 6X Hilton Honors Bonus Points for each dollar of eligible purchases spent at U.S. restaurants, U.S. supermarkets, and U.S. gas stations. For all other eligible purchases, you earn 3X Hilton Honors Bonus Points. If you spend $40,000 on eligible purchases in a calendar year, you earn Hilton Honors Diamond status through the end of the next calendar year. There is a $95 annual fee. Terms apply. Apply Now | See Rates & Fees Intro APR for Purchases Intro APR for Balance Transfer Regular APR Annual Fee N/A N/A 17.74% - 26.74% Variable $95

Wyndham Rewards Visa Signature Card from Barclaycard

Wyndham Hotel Resort © Greg Grimes (CC BY-SA 2.0) via Flickr

• Signup Bonus: Earn 15,000 bonus points after your first purchase.
  
• Rewards: Earn 3x points at participating Wyndham hotels; 2x on gas, utilities, and groceries; 1x point on everything else
  
• Benefits: Get automatic Gold Status
  
• Annual Fee: $0 annual fee.

Wyndham has more than 25,000 locations worldwide with familiar roadside names such as Super 8, Ramada, and Travelodge. Redemption is simple: it's a flat 15,000 points for a free night at any Wyndham hotel, home, or condo. That makes the signup bonus worth a free night, for no annual fee.

You also get automatic Gold Status, which includes perks like late check-out and free wi-fi. But the most valuable perk is either 10x points per dollar or 1,000 points for each stay, whichever is more. So, you could stay at a budget location 15 times and earn enough points for a free night at any luxury Wyndham in the world.

Wyndham: Pricing information from published website as of March 21, 2017

Checking Out

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Hotel credit cards can offer great value, but typically only if you travel more frequently and like to stay in the same hotel chain. This will allow you to earn rewards faster and take advantage of all the perks. When choosing the best hotel card for you, remember to consider your travel destinations, the everyday earning structure, and reward rate.

While I'm confident that all of these cards would be a solid pick, your particular travel tastes might be better suited by another option. If you have a favorite hotel not mentioned here, more than likely there's a credit card with its name on it.