Which Credit Card Should You Use For Hotel Spending? Here’s The Math

As a savvy consumer, you should always do what you can to maximize your return on spending, and tailor that to particular categories. In this post, I’d like to take a look at the best credit cards to use for hotel spending — no, I’m not talking about the best hotel credit cards, necessarily, but instead, which cards offer the best return on hotel spending. Typically recommending which credit card is best for a particular bonus category (like dining, grocery stores, gas stations, everyday spending, etc.) is easy. That’s not really the case when recommending which credit card to use at hotels, since you don’t just have to consider which credit cards broadly offer the best bonus categories for travel, but you also have to consider whether the hotel brand you’re staying at has a co-branded credit card that offers bonus points for stays at that specific brand. Then there’s the whole topic of booking through credit card hotel portals. So let’s take a look at the most rewarding credit cards for hotel spending in general (regardless of the brand you’re staying at), and then compare that to the bonuses offered by specific co-branded hotel credit cards. The best transferable points credit cards for hotel spending1. Chase Sapphire Reserve®2. Sapphire Reserve for Business℠3. Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card4. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card5. Citi Strata Premier® Card6. Bilt Palladium Card7. Chase Sapphire Preferred® CardThe best hotel credit cards for hotel spendingChoice PrivilegesHilton HonorsIHG One RewardsMarriott BonvoyWorld of HyattWyndham RewardsCrunching the numbers on hotel spendingCredit card hotel portals can also offer bonus pointsBottom line The best transferable points credit cards for hotel spending Broadly speaking, what are the most rewarding credit cards for hotel spending? For this section, I’m excluding co-branded hotel credit cards. That’s because I’m looking at the cards that offer the best bonuses on hotel spending in general, rather than the best bonuses for a particular brand of hotel. The below rewards for spending are based on my latest miles & points valuations of transferable points currencies, and I’m only including cards that are still open to new applicants. Below is a chart summarizing this, and then I’ll have a more detailed explanation. Credit cardPoints on hotel spendingCalculated returnChase Sapphire Reserve®4x6.8%Sapphire Reserve for Business℠4x6.8%Wells Fargo Autograph Journey5x6.5%Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card3x5.1%Citi Strata Premier® Card3x5.1%Bilt Palladium Card (Rates & Fees)2x3.4%Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card2x3.4% 1. Chase Sapphire Reserve® Reward for hotel spending: 6.8% (4x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)Card annual fee: $795Things to be aware of: This is a personal card, there are no foreign transaction fees, and there’s no cap on this bonus Read my Chase Sapphire Reserve review, learn more about the Chase Sapphire Reserve. 2. Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ Reward for hotel spending: 6.8% (4x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)Card annual fee: $795Things to be aware of: This is a business card, there are no foreign transaction fees, and there’s no cap on this bonus Read my Sapphire Reserve Business Reserve review, learn more about the Sapphire Reserve Business. 3. Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card Reward for hotel spending: 6.5% (5x points, which I value at 1.3 cents each)Card annual fee: $95Things to be aware of: This is a personal card, there are no foreign transaction fees, and there’s no cap on this bonus Read my Wells Fargo Autograph Journey review, learn more about the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey. 4. Ink Business Preferred® Credit Card Reward for hotel spending: 5.1% (3x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)Card annual fee: $95Things to be aware of: This is a business card, there are no foreign transaction fees, and the 3x points is limited to the first $150,000 in combined purchases in bonus categories each account anniversary year (then 1x points) Read my Ink Business Preferred review, learn more about the Ink Business Preferred. 5. Citi Strata Premier® Card Reward for hotel spending: 5.1% (3x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)Card annual fee: $95Things to be aware of: This is a personal card, there are no foreign transaction fees, and there’s no cap on this bonus Read my Citi Strata Premier review, learn more about the Citi Strata Premier. 6. Bilt Palladium Card Reward for hotel spending: 3.4%+ (2x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each, but that doesn’t factor in the value of 4% back in Bilt Cash, which is also worth something)Card annual fee: $495 (Rates & Fees)Things to be aware of: This is a personal card, there are no foreign transaction fees, and this is just the standard return on everyday spending, so it’s not even a bonus category Read my Bilt Palladium review, learn more about the Bilt Palladium. 7. Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card Reward for hotel spending: 3.4% (2x points, which I value at 1.7 cents each)Card annual fee: $95Things to be aware of: This is a personal card, there are no foreign transaction fees, and there’s no cap on this bonus Read my Chase Sapphire Preferred review, learn more about the Chase Sapphire Preferred. Several credit cards offer 2-5x points on hotel spending As you can see above, there are cards that offer anywhere from 2-5x points per dollar spent on hotels, with a return that I value at anywhere from 3.4% to 6.8%. Can you get a better or worse return when using a co-branded hotel credit card? To be comprehensive, let’s look at the co-branded credit cards issued by Choice Privileges, Hilton Honors, IHG One Rewards, Marriott Bonvoy, World of Hyatt, and Wyndham Rewards. First let me share how much I value a point in each of these currencies (and of course let me emphasize that everyone should use their own valuation of points): Choice Privileges — 0.6 cents each Hilton Honors — 0.5 cents each IHG One Rewards — 0.5 cents each Marriott Bonvoy — 0.7 cents each World of Hyatt — 1.4 cents each Wyndham Rewards — 0.6 cents each To keep things fairly simple, let’s look at the co-branded credit card(s) from each of the hotel groups that offers the highest return on hotel spending (keep in mind the main reason to get hotel credit cards could be for the elite status and free night certificates that they offer). Below is a chart summarizing this, and then I’ll have a more detailed explanation. Hotel programMax points per dollar spentCalculated returnChoice Privileges10x6%Hilton Honors14x7%IHG One Rewards12x6%Marriott Bonvoy6x4.2%World of Hyatt4x5.6%Wyndham Rewards8x4.8% Choice Privileges The Choice Privileges Select Mastercard offers 10x points on Choice spending, which I value at a return of 6%. This is quite good — it’s not quite as good as the rewards offered on the Chase Sapphire Reserve (personal or business), by my valuation, but is otherwise very competitive. I wouldn’t use Choice’s credit card for hotel spending Hilton Honors The Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (learn more) offers 14x points on eligible purchases made directly with hotels and resorts in the Hilton portfolio, which I value at a return of 7%. This is excellent, and beats the return on spending offered by all transferable points cards, though only by a narrow margin. I use the Hilton Aspire Card for my Hilton hotel spending IHG One Rewards The Brand New IHG One Rewards Premier Select Credit Card (learn more) offers 12x points on IHG hotel spending, which I value at a return of 6%. This isn’t quite as good as the return on spending offered by some transferable points cards, though others may feel differently based on their valuation of points. Earn bonus points for hotel spending with IHG’s credit cards Marriott Bonvoy The Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (learn more), Marriott Bonvoy Bevy® American Express® Card (learn more), and Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (learn more), offer 6x points on Marriott hotel spending, which I value at a return of 4.2%. This isn’t as good as the return on spending offered by some transferable points cards. That being said, some may wish to still use a Marriott co-branded credit card, since there aren’t many other ways to efficiently earn Bonvoy points. Furthermore, keep in mind that the Bonvoy Bevy Card offers 1,000 bonus points per eligible Marriott stay for cardmembers, beyond the 6x points. Earn bonus points on spending with Marriott’s credit cards World of Hyatt The World of Hyatt Credit Card (learn more) and World of Hyatt Business Credit Card (learn more) offer 4x points on Hyatt hotel spending, which I value at a return of 5.6%. While not quite as good as the return on spending offered by the Chase Sapphire Reserve, some may still wish to use one of these cards, due to the additional rewards and sweet spots on spending. I use the World of Hyatt Card for my Hyatt hotel spending Wyndham Rewards The Wyndham Earner Business Card (learn more) offers 8x points on Wyndham hotel spending, which I value at a return of 4.8%. This is decent, but not quite as good as the return offered by some other cards. I wouldn’t use Wyndham’s credit card for hotel spending Crunching the numbers on hotel spending Everyone will value points differently, and those with different points valuations may also come up with different conclusions. As you can see, based on my valuation: The Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve Business offer up to a 6.8% return The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey offers up to a 6.5% return The Ink Business Preferred and Citi Strata Premier offer up to a 5.1% return The Bilt Palladium and Chase Sapphire Preferred offer up to a 3.4% return What’s surprising is that co-branded hotel credit cards largely don’t offer a better return for stays at their “own” hotels than some of these cards do. Based on my valuation of hotel points, I’d argue that Hilton Honors is the only program where it generally makes sense to use a co-branded credit card rather than a transferable points card. I can also see merit to doing this with World of Hyatt, given the additional perks for spending, but it’s not some slam dunk. Earn 14x points on Hilton stays with the Hilton Aspire Card Credit card hotel portals can also offer bonus points While I wouldn’t consider it to be a core part of the analysis, one other thing that has to be mentioned is that some credit card portals nowadays offer bonus points when you book hotels through them. Here are the most popular ones, ranked by their return on spending: : The Citi Strata Elite℠ Card (learn more) offers 12x points on hotels booked through Citi Travel The Capital One Venture X Rewards Credit Card (learn more) and Capital One Venture X Business (learn more) offer 10x miles on hotels booked Capital One Travel The Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve Business offer 8x points on hotels booked through Chase Travel℠ The American Express Platinum Card® (learn more) and The Business Platinum Card® from American Express (learn more) offer 5x points on prepaid hotel bookings through Amex Travel I value all of those points at 1.7 cents each, so to me that’s like a return of 8.5% to 20.4%, depending on the card. That of course sounds amazing, but just keep in mind there’s often an opportunity cost to booking through these portals. You’ll often find better prices or a better overall value elsewhere. Furthermore, unless you’re booking specifically through the luxury hotel programs, you typically won’t earn points or receive elite credits on these stays, so there’s a tradeoff. Lastly, hotels often prioritize third party guests last for things like room assignments, upgrades, etc., so don’t be surprised if you don’t get treatment that’s quite as good as booking direct. Earn bonus rewards by booking through hotel portals Bottom line It’s always worth trying to maximize your return on hotel spending. It’s interesting how the return on spending at hotels varies, and often you’ll find the best return on transferable points credit cards, rather than the credit cards actually associated with the hotel group. In general, the Chase Sapphire Reserve and Sapphire Reserve Business are going to offer the best return on hotel spending, as you earn 4x points, which I value at a 6.8% return. However, some people may still prefer to use a co-branded hotel credit card, especially if those points are otherwise hard to earn, or if there are some threshold spending bonuses that make it worthwhile. What’s your go-to credit card for hotel spending?