BEST HOTEL CARDS FOR TRAVELERS

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If you use a certain hotel chain a lot for business travel, that program’s card will have an edge, but be advised hotel programs vary radically in how easy they make it to cash in points. While Wyndham’s program is straightforward and predictable, Marriott’s gets more complicated every year. Many hotels have followed the airline model of using dynamic pricing for points, which means you don’t really know what your points are worth until you pull up a specific city and dates.

HILTON HOTELS
The point redemption levels for Hilton properties are higher than most others, making their points worth as little as half a cent each much of the time. Hilton hands out those points so generously to its credit card holders, however, that you can easily cash them in regularly if you have its Amex card. It’s common to earn 3X, 5X or more for every dollar you spend in a multitude of categories. The lowest-level Hilton Amex comes with a generous sign-up bonus and no annual fee; but if you pay $95 annually for the Surpass or Business card instead, you get far more in value than that. Besides earning 12X points at Hilton properties and a minimum of 3X elsewhere, you can enjoy a free night award annually, automatic Gold status and 10 complimentary Priority Pass lounge visits per year.

IHG HOTELS
The IHG Rewards Club Premier card currently grants you 125,000 points for signing up and spending $3,000 and gives you automatic Platinum status for room upgrades. The $89 annual fee is easily offset by a free-stay credit each year for any property costing 40,000 points or less. In some cases, that covers an InterContinental or Kimpton property.

MARRIOTT HOTELS
After swallowing up Starwood a few years ago, Marriott now offers the largest array of hotels in the United States and beyond. Its new dynamic pricing means you’ll pay dearly outside of low season, though, and luxury properties can cost a whopping 130,000 points for a single night. The Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card awards you 100,000 points after a $3,000 minimum spend, and you earn an industry-high 17X per dollar at any of Marriott’s 7,000-plus properties.

WYNDHAM HOTELS
With a wide range of properties and a straightforward redemption system with only three tiers, Wyndham’s cards from Barclay prove an easy choice, offering 30,000–45,000 points with a minimum spend, plus high multipliers on every dollar put on the card. You can buy your way into automatic room upgrades with the Wyndham Rewards Earner Business Card, though, which grants automatic Diamond Elite level for its $99 annual fee. Upon annual renewal, you receive a 15,000-point bonus.

MULTIPROGRAM TRAVEL CREDIT CARDS

If you frequently travel on different airlines, stay at different hotel chains and have orphan points that don’t add up to enough to cash in, a multiprogram card can help you top off those accounts to reach your goal. Instead of being tied to one provider, you can bank points in a central system and then transfer them to partners as needed.

The Chase versions are Sapphire Preferred and Sapphire Reserve. The Preferred — currently offering a 60,000-point sign-up bonus — makes a better bet for most travelers since it carries an annual fee of $95 compared to $550 for the latter.

You get primary rental car insurance and travel discounts when booking through Chase, but the main reason to have this card is program transferability. For airlines, you can shift your points to programs from Southwest, Air Canada, United, Virgin Atlantic, JetBlue and others. Points can transfer to hotel partners IHG, Marriott and Hyatt.

If you hold a regular Amex that’s part of the Membership Rewards program, you earn points you can transfer elsewhere as needed. Delta Air Lines is the only U.S. national carrier, though, joined by JetBlue and Hawaiian Airlines. A more extensive list of foreign carriers includes Air Canada, Aeromexico, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Singapore Airlines and others. Participating hotel programs include Choice, Hilton and Marriott.

The Membership Rewards program is the same no matter which card you have, but the benefits and earning multipliers vary as the annual fee rises from $149 to a hefty $695 per year.

Just remember to pay off the balance, of course, or otherwise high interest charges will negate those free flights and stays.