I Ranked EVERY Hotel Card (Get These 3)
Video Overview & Insights
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How about Hyatt?
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I snagged that Best Western Premium a few months ago right before I decided to start my 18-month credit garden. Been running a train with that thing -- racking up a ton of points that I'll be using for free nights along my road trip around the country this summer.
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A version for Europeans would be very interresting, because most euopeans don't travel to the US theses Days and only very rare to Canada.
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That black choice card, ihg premier one and Hilton surpass and maybe that boundless card sound like they’re better than regular credit cards to me, what do yall think? 4-6x on dining, gas and groceries and 2-3x on everything else!
Should I go with a bilt 2.0, Amex gold or the Hilton Amex
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Not breaking down what each hotel’s points are worth makes this video worthless. Example: Hilton fee-free card might give you 7x points but at $0.05 per point, that’s really only 3.5 points per dollar. As far as the “S” ranked cards? How good is the card benefits if the hotels are crap?
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Literally can’t with Marriott.. I would’ve had that card already if they didn’t cap to 50k points for reward nights. I wish they’d just give you a set number of points or at least let you pay the difference. Seriously, goodbye and nice hotel in Hawaii New York and basically anywhere else worth going. 😂
✏️ My Thoughts:
There are 18 hotel cards offered from major brands and it can be just about impossible to know which ones are actually worth getting…. unless you spend hours analyzing them all. Fortunately, that's exactly what I did and in this video, I’ll give you my rankings for every single one of them.
Great but useless for the majority of us - Europe, Asia etc
Hotel Credit cards can be loosely split into three categories: 1) No Annual Fee, 2) Low Annual Fee, and 3) Premium. And these are the tiers I’m going to take you through in these rankings starting with the no-annual fee hotel cards out there. And let me tell you,
These rankings are based on the typical traveler, who stays in hotels a handful of times per year who’s seeking value. That means a great return in benefits or perks or free stays compared to the money they put in to hold the card.
The choice Privileges select master card also had benefits when status matching to PENN casinos.
⏰ Timestamps:
0:00 - Intro
Late checkout at the Marriot is free with the app and no effort required to checkout at 1pm and I like this a lot cause 11a is too early for me and 10:30 I be rushing other hotels. Marriot is my favorite but their app can be difficult to use the more specific you want to get
1:14 - No Annual Fee
7:35 - Low Annual Fee
I got the World of Hyatt card to keep the points I earned from work travel from expiring. I am just in love with Hyatt Place as I never had restrictions on using my points, It is a cheaper cost, if i ever have to pay. But main love is it has living room, kitchen & work desk area with a 55+ TV. Also many have free breakfast and Staff treats you like a executive. It is a S tier to me. I spend the free nights on higher points weekend day and reg points on rest.
16:10 - Premium
This is a great list RD! I currently am holding three Hilton cards (using quite a few Amex spots) as I went for the Honors card for the SUB, then the Surpass for the SUB and used the first two quarters credits along with the food and beverage credits, then just added the Aspire for both the SUB, and since it's in December will use one of the $200 Hilton resorts credit and $50 airline credit (United Travel Bank). When the Surpass annual fee comes up either upgrade to two Aspires or downgrade and wait until life is a bit more luxurious travel. :) haha
More User Perspectives
Great video. Very helpful.
Sidenote:
We are starting our slow traveling the world retirement. I wonder if youve done a video aimed at slow travelers. 🤔
Basically we will be staying 1-3 months in a city or country at a time. In southern Europe, Eastern Europe, Turkey, Morocco, possibly South Africa, South America and the big one South East Asia 🌏
We are looking at IHG cards and buying there Bogo points offers and will be staying at least 100 + stays at a minimum in SEA. Probably at their Intercontinental brand.
We are mixed for Europe and Turkey. Marriott and Hyatt hotel points and cards might work. Looking at 100+ stays in these regions. Some airbnb.
We also are looking to fly business class with points, because of my messed up back and foot. Plus its just more comfortable.
My apologies for this info dump. Thinking it might help for you to point me in the right direction to your videos 😊
the hilton aspire is way better. you can get hotels that are 150k points for free. Its even better if you stack aspires.
@Theaverageazn247for hilton you said 30x but the screen showed 12x at 15:03 ?
@itsjustmike21939Just commenting to help you with the algorithm!
@mrrcman07Disagree with the Hilton Business after they nerfed the free night AND raised the fee.
@carlinrobSolid breakdown as always. The way RD simplifies hotel cards and shows real-life pairing strategies makes choosing the right setup so much easier.
@justinmircheHow is the Aspire not S tier?
@crisco9071No world of Hyatt Business card?
@deadxpride45Nice work! I lean toward if travel is only 1-3 x's a year, think you just keep pounding out SUBs for transferable currency cards.
@XrayThreeFiveNinerThe $0 Hilton card is pretty good compared to most cobranded cards. It’s just that the rest of the Hilton cards are so good that makes it so low imo.
@SnazzySki98Boundless is S tier for $95 it’s the best bang for your buck
@undutifultitan345Hey, new subscriber. I need your opinion on the new t mobile credit card from capital one/visa
@eobby22Disagree with the Wyndham Earner +. While it doesn't really have any good benefits, it has a great earning rate for a hotel credit card. 4x on restaurants and grocery stores and 6x on gas packs a big punch since Wyndham points are more valuable than most other hotels.
@trmbn65Hilton devalued their points again. They are now $0.003 per point. So even at 7x back, that's only 2.1%. I still keep my Surpass card as the Hilton credits, and free breakfast/food and drink credit with gold status easily justify the annual fee. But I would not recommend the card as a daily driver with that low points value.
@harkinsdavidDo these same benefits apply to the business versions of those credit cards? I’ve gone between IHG, Hyatt, and Hilton cards for a while, though no application yet. Seems like the IHG and Hyatt perks are mostly similar but the Hilton version is a bit nerfed on the business end.
@jaz_thehatchetIHG over the two Hiltons and the Hyatt? 😂
Also, the 50k free nights on the Marriott card seems great…until you try to find 50k hotels…
I often stay in Marriott hotels, so like the Bonvoy Brilliant from American Express. The 3x on dining means this is my default card for dining, and you get a $300 statement credit for dining ($25 per month), and it works in basically any restaurant from McDonald's to a fancy restaurant. So while the annual fee is $650, you can easily get this $300 back right away without thought. The points at Marriott with the platinum status are good, and there is access to Marriott lounges as well.
If you stay in Marriott hotels frequently, this is the card you want. If you only stay in Marriott hotels like 10 nights a year, maybe it's not the best card.
For no annual fee cards, I think those cards are great with their sign-up bonuses if being used outside the US
@mkwakuI personally think the Bonvoy Brilliant should be a tier higher as I feel that $25 monthly dining credit is very powerful being that it doesn't restrict you in restaurant choice. That credit plus the annual free night just makes the card not only easy to beat in annual fee, but powerful for simplicity of it's credits and the value you easily get back with Platinum.
@kanicshepThe IHG premier one rewards is a keeper card. My wife gets more benefits from it than I do, but it's the gift that keeps on giving! The United airlines $50 travel bank perk is an oddball, now that you mentioned it 😮.
@Kuula98Great video thank you. The other one I can think of is Amex Bonvoy card which is available through product change only. With $99 ($95) annual fee and gives a free room per year up to 35k Marriott’s point value. Thank you again.
@mehran888You should really talk about the number of elite nights counted towards status that each credit card grants. Some of those are added benefits if you are a brand loyalist, which I know you're not but is important to those that do track that. Hyatt card for instance auto-grants five nights towards status every year, that's a good step towards Explorist or Globalist and then additional spend on the card adds nights to that status as well. Same with the Marriott cards.
@pyrotfbobaNow do mid tier travel cards or best 2 ecosystem matchups
@StevenBaker2736Other Ritz-Carlton features: you get unlimited guests and unlimited authorized users who get lounge access, both at the Sapphire Lounge and at Priority Pass lounges (subject to lounge capacity restrictions). Plus this card has the best travel insurance in the game. Truly a spectacular card. It has many of the benefits (but not credits!) of the Sapphire Reserve card at a much lower cost.
@JBRothmanThis is great, usually only 4 hotel families are generally discussed: Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt and IHG. I would nudge up the Amex Hilton Honors card to a higher rank based on potential. Occasionally you can get a great signup bonus: 1 Free Night Reward plus 70k points and you know what the Hilton FNR is worth. Additionally, it has longer term potential, since you will likely get a juicy upgrade offer from Amex after a year. So you can end up with another Aspire card as part of a 2 or 3 Aspire card strategy (I would put the Aspire in the S-tier due to the overwhelming value and status it provides).
@JBRothmanGreat video! I love to see a video of which credit card setups pair best with what hotel credit cards. I use a chase trifecta and I’m debating is it makes sense to add the WOH card or stick to my IHG one rewards card.
@jchap2953At 15:04 you state that the Hilton Honors Surpass get you 30X back on Hilton Stays, yet the text you highlight shows 12X. Can you explain your math there? I had also heard a similar miss-mach on other cards but thought I was just not hearing you. However, 30X really jumped out there.
@loopbearGreat info RD👍🏾 However, the frequent devaluations of Hilton points at their high-end properties places them in the B tier... and falling😅
@Nkz_starPlease can you rank airline credit cards.
@rsa2303