Which cards give the best redemption value?
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Redemption value varies widely across hotel co‑branded cards, transferable points programs, and cash‑back cards, so picking the right card depends on how you plan to use the points. FrequentMiler +4
Top Hotel Co‑branded Cards
- The Sonesta hotel credit card delivers the highest overall return at 6.36% when you concentrate spending in its 2× bonus categories.
- Hilton Surpass follows with a 5.71% return, thanks to its 6× multiplier on qualified spend. 🔗
- Wyndham Business ranks close behind at a 5.6% return, though specific spend requirements aren’t listed. 🔗
- Marriott Bountiful/Bevy and World of Hyatt each provide around a 5% return (5.06% and 5.04% respectively) when you meet their bonus spend thresholds. 🔗
- Hilton Aspire, IHG Premier/Business, and the Marriott Business card fall into the 3.5%–4.5% return range.🔗
Top Transferable Points and Cash‑back Cards
- Citi’s “I Prefer” transfer option stands out, delivering nearly 4 cents per point in the top 10% of redemptions, making it the most valuable transferable currency for lodging.
- Marriott points can reach about 1.75 cents per point when you factor in the fifth‑night‑free benefit on a five‑night award. 🔗
- Hilton points transferred via American Express average roughly 1.58 cents per point in the top tier of redemptions. 🔗
- Choice Privileges points have a reasonable redemption value of 0.75 cents per point, offering a solid return on low‑spend offers. 🔗
- IHG Premier points typically redeem at 0.61 cents per point, but selective “cherry‑picking” can push value to 0.8–1.0 cents per point. 🔗
- Chase Sapphire Preferred guarantees at least 1 cent per point for travel redemptions, with occasional boosts that exceed this baseline. 🔗
- BMO Rewards provide a consistent 0.67 cents per point when redeemed for travel. 🔗
- Standard cash‑back cards that treat points as 1 cent each also deliver a reliable 1 cent per point value.🔗
FrequentMiler 41%
Which hotel credit card is the most rewarding for spending?
Co-branded credit cards, and hotel cards specifically, are often frowned upon as a place to put regular spend, especially in comparison to bank cards with transferable currencies and sexy bonus categories. That said, hotel cards can be both rewarding and fun in the right circumstances. The reason is that they tend to have a ton of perks that are offered for holding onto the cards and also for spending on them. These usually include some combination of points bonuses, elite status, elite-qualifying nights, and/or free night certificates. We collectively refer to these cash carrots as “Big Spend Bonuses.”
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2026: $11B+ in Hotel Points Outstanding, Why Devaluations Are Inevitable
Major hotel chains disclose more than $11bn in outstanding points liability. The chains want those points to devalue. You want them to hold value. Guess who’s winning. Marriott’s most recent annual report lists roughly $3.99 billion in deferred revenue tied to Bonvoy’s outstanding points liability. Hilton’s figure is approximately $2.91 billion. Wyndham Rewards sits at around $1.5 billion. The other major chains, IHG, Hyatt, Choice, Accor, add several billion more. Total unredeemed hotel points across the big public chains run north of $11 billion and the number grows every quarter. This is what your loyalty looks like on
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Which transferable credit card points are most valuable for lodging?
Transferable points like Chase Ultimate Rewards, Citi ThankYou Points, and Amex Membership Rewards are, by and large, the most sought-after currency in points and miles. The primary reason for this is flexibility: rather than being tied to redemptions through a single loyalty program, such as United Mileage Plus or Hilton Honors, they can be transferred to and used for awards with many different airlines and hotel brands. This means you theoretically have a much larger menu of redemptions and, as a result, a much easier path to receiving outsized value for your points. However, although each transferable currency
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60K Choice Privileges points with no annual fee with new Choice Mastercard offer
The Choice Privileges Mastercard is currently featuring an increased introductory offer of 60,000 Choice Privileges points after spending $1,000 on purchases in the first 90 days. That’s a solid offer for the no-annual-fee version of the card (in fact, it matches the offer for the $95-annual-fee Choice Privileges Mastercard Select while requiring less spend). The Offer & Key Card Details | Card Offer and Details | | --- | | Wells Fargo Choice Privileges Mastercardⓘ $427 1st Yr Value EstimateClick to learn about first year value estimates60K Points Non-AffiliateThis is NOT an affiliate offer. We
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IHG Premier card: Increased 185K welcome offer
Today, Chase increased the welcome offer on the IHG Premier card to a whopping 185,000 IHG points, the best we’ve seen in terms of total points (there was a 5x60K free-night certificate offer previously). The bonus is in two tiers: 150,000 bonus points are earned after spending $3K in the first 3 months from account opening, and an additional 35,000 bonus points after spending a total of $6K in the first 6 months from account opening. The no-annual-fee IHG Traveler card also offers 125,000 points after a total of $4,000 in spend, which is among the best
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Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Review: The Best Value $95 Annual Fee Card
Link: Learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is one of the most popular travel rewards cards out there, and for good reason. The card has a reasonable annual fee, great rewards structure, and offers valuable travel protection. In this post, I want to take an in-depth look at this card, and share why this card can be worth having in your wallet. In this post: While a lot of people nowadays talk about the Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review), this card was built on the basics of the Chase Sapphire
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How to Redeem BMO Rewards for Max Value
BMO has an entire ecosystem of credit cards dedicated to earning BMO Rewards, its in-house points currency. The earn rates across BMO’s credit cards are strong, so let’s take a look at how to redeem BMO Rewards for maximum value. Lucky for those of us who earn points to travel, the best use case for BMO Rewards is redeeming directly for travel. The redemption rate is 150 points = $1 or 0.67 cents per point (CPP). BMO retired its in-house travel portal back in August 2022, which was great news. The redemption rate for travel stayed the same
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Best Cash Back Credit Card Offers
We’re usually all about earning points and miles. The games we play involves acquiring points & miles so that we can then travel as close to free as possible. That doesn’t mean that you turn up your nose at cash, however. You may have more travel rewards points than you can use for the foreseeable future or there may be travel costs you’re planning for that can only be paid with cash. You may be saving for a large purchase, retirement or a kid’s college fund. Towards any of those ends, credit card welcome offers, bank account bonuses, rewards