Study: Hotel Credit Cards for Free Nights
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Must-read list of hotel credit card promotions. Check out this essential list of credit card offers before your next hotel stay.
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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 Rewards Credit Card.
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.
- 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.
- Hotels with limited footprint. Whether you travel domestically or internationally, you want a hotel program you can easily use. Some hotels don't have as wide of a footprint as others, making it difficult for you to find a property to use your points. Think about where you want to travel to and look up what hotel options are in the area.
- Hotels with blackout dates for award booking. Some programs only release a limited number of basic rooms to be available for booking with points. This can make booking a room troublesome for the dates you need.
- Cards that are slow to earn points. You want a card helps you rack up the points faster. Some cards don't offer as generous reward structures.
Here's a list of CreditDonkey featured hotel credit cards:
Hilton Credit Cards
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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.
Ross Frasier is a research analyst at CreditDonkey, a credit card comparison and reviews website. Write to Ross Frasier at ross@creditdonkey.com. Follow us on Twitter and Facebook for our latest posts.
Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author's alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. This site may be compensated through the Advertiser's affiliate programs.
For rates and fees of the Hilton Honors Surpass card, please click here.
Disclaimer: The information for the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card has been collected independently by CreditDonkey. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
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