The Starwood Preferred Guest credit card from American Express offers one Starpoint for every dollar spent on the card, as well as 4–5 Starpoints for money spent at Starwood Properties. The Starwood credit card can also be used to accrue frequent flyer points, with cardholders receiving 10,000 bonus points after the first purchase, which can be used towards hotel stays or airline travel. Put more simply, this is a credit card that is great for people who want to use American Express to save money on travel.

The Starwood Rewards Program
The Starwood Preferred Guest program really does reward you for staying at the Starwood properties – places like Le Meridien hotels, the Sheraton, W Hotels, and St. Regis.  Every night you stay you earn rewards points, called Starpoints.  The number of points you earn depends on how often you stay with them.

Reward Tiers

Starwood has different tiers in their rewards program – Preferred Guest, Gold Preferred, and Platinum Preferred.  You enter the program as a Preferred Guest and after you’ve stayed 10 times (or 25 nights) you move up to the Gold Preferred tier.  Then, if you stay with Starwood 15 more times (or 50 nights) in that same year you’re moved up to Platinum Preferred.

Each higher tier has increasing benefits, one of those is that you earn more points for each Starwood stay.  At the base level you earn 2 Starpoints for every night stay and at the Gold and Platinum Preferred level you earn 3 points per night.

Extra Points & Hotel Credits

The cool thing about the Starwood card is that on top of the Starpoints you earn from staying at the hotel, you earn an extra 2 points if you put your stay on your card. In addition, if you are a Starwood cardholder you get a credit every year for 5 nights and 2 stays towards your next Preferred Guest level.

Frequent Travelers

Our old neighbor was in sales and covered an 8 state area so somtimes he’d be on the road for 2–3 weeks at a time.  He used to stay at mainly Marriott properties and used their rewards program but switched over to Starwood about 2 years ago.  In addition to the consumer card, there’s also a Starwood business card, which is what he was using.

He’d use all the Starpoints he earned in his travels to take his wife and little girl on trips around the country.  They’re also big shoppers – since you earn one point for each dollar you spend on the card it was a good card for them.

Starwood Hotel Deals

The best Starwood deals going on right now are the free nights you can get when you signup for the Starwood Preferred Guest card. 

You earn 10K Starpoints when you first use the card and 15K more when you use it for at least $5K of purchases in the first 6 months.  Depending on which category of hotel you redeem them with those points can be good for 3–4 free nights.

In addition to the credit card offer, Starwood’s pretty good about running promotions on their website for discounted hotel stays. Usually it requires you staying for at least one night and then getting discounted or free nights depending on how long you stay.

Some of these hotel promotions are more short-term and require a Starwood coupon code to take advantage of it.  There are some that are more long standing that don’t require a promotion code, for example

Better Tomorrow Promo – For every night you stay at a Starwood hotel and pay the full rate, you save 40% off the next night you stay.

3^rd Night Free Promo – If you book two nights in a row, ie Saturday/Sunday, then the third night is free.

No Blackout Dates
Unlike other hotel rewards programs, there are no blackout dates so you can redeem your Starpoints whenever fits into your travel schedule. Obviously, one of the big drawbacks to some hotel rewards programs is that they have blackout during times when you travel most: the summertime or during holidays. The ability to claim your free hotel room whenever you travel definitely helps set this program apart from others.

You do need to be familiar with how Starwood classifies their hotels, by Category levels – the higher the Category the nicer the hotel.  You don’t earn more rewards by staying at nicer hotels but when it comes to redeeming your Starpoints they go farther at the lower category hotels.  For example, you might use the same number of points to stay one night in a Category 6 hotel that you could use to stay for 3 nights in a Category 3 hotel.

So you can choose whether you want to use all your points in one or two nights at a really fancy place or stretch your free stay out for longer at a different hotel.  One thing to keep in mind, the Category 3 and 4 properties are nice hotels, it’s just the 5 and 6 category are far more luxurious.

Redeeming Your Free Room

The free rooms you can reserve with your Starpoints are standard rooms, be aware that a few destinations don’t have regular rooms so you won’t be able to use your StarPoints for free stays at those hotels or resorts.

Something else to keep in mind is that it often takes fewer points to get your free night over the weekend instead of during the week.  As you can see in the chart below, your points can go farther over the weekend.

Starwood Preferred Guest Airline Miles
Starwood has relationships with about 30 airline companies that allow you to transfer StarPoints into airline miles, most of them transfer one mile for each StarPoint.

They also have an airline bonus, if you transfer 20,000 points into airline miles, you’ll get back an extra 5,000 points. So let’s take a look at how many airline miles you could get in the first year of your card.

As mentioned above you’ll get 10,000 for signing up and an additional 15,000 bonus points if you spend $5,000 in the first six months. If you transfer those 25,000 points into airline miles to get the additional 5,000 bonus points, that’s 30,000 airline miles.  Of course, this assumes that you can exchange 1 point for 1 mile, but many of the major carriers, like United, Delta, Continental, and American Airlines, do give you 1 for 1.

APR and Annual Fee
Compared to other travel rewards cards of its type, the American Express Starwood Preferred Card has a relatively low fee of $65. The APR is also low with a low introductory APR for the first six months of the card (the period where you can earn an extra 15,000 bonus points). All of this means that you’ll be able to reap rewards as soon as you get card without having to spend a lot of money to get it. See the chart at the bottom for specific details about current rates and offers.

Customer Feedback
I asked readers about their favorite credit cards and one guy named Jason had some good things to say about the Starwood card.  He covers the credit card industry for another website so he really digs through all the rewards and term and conditions when comparing and using credit cards.  I thought the fact that he pointed out this card was a good sign, here’s what he had to say:

Jason’s Comments
For travel rewards, I have found no better card than the Starwood Preferred Guest card from American Express. The benefits at Starwood hotels are fantastic – I can book an award stay at any room within their brand, which includes Westins, Sheratons and others, with no blackouts or capacity controls. Awards start at 3,000 points with some Westins going for as little as 7,000.

Your fifth award night is also free, so you can easily save 20% off of those low rates. By comparison, Hilton and Intercontinental group also offer no blackouts and no capacity restrictions on their awards, but their award rates are much higher.

The benefits of the Starwood card goes well beyond hotels. The StarPoints are transferable to dozens of major airlines. They are the ultimate universal currency when you need to top off an airline account for a major award redemption. In fact, you can use the Starwood card to earn more airline miles than the airline’s cards themselves.

Starwood grants a 5,000 point bonus when you redeem 20,000 Starpoints for airline miles. This gives you 1.25 miles per dollar spent rather than the one to one ratio offered by most airline cards. The annual fee is $65, but this pays for itself when you are able to snag a pricey hotel for free or fly in business class after making a transfer of Starpoints to airline miles.

Conclusion
The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card has a tough to beat rewards program, which can then be used at over 30 different airlines or at most of the Starwood hotels around the world. This review didn’t talk much about international travel but Starwood recently announced it’s adding 50 new hotels across the Middle East, Africa, and Europe.

Starwood Preferred Guest is obviously best for people who travel frequently, such as business travelers, but anyone who is interested in staying at Starwood properties can get quality hotel stays for big discounts or for free. The relatively low annual fee you pay for access to their rewards program makes this one of the best hotel credit cards available today.

The Marriott Rewards Credit Card card is a hotel rewards card from Chase that has a good rewards program and lets you earn you a free hotel stay as soon as you sign up for the card. Marriott points can be used at over 3,100 worldwide locations, so wherever you are traveling you can be earning hotel rewards with Marriott. I think this is a good card for the frequent traveler who enjoys Marriott hotels, which may surprise you a little.

I’ve talked multiple times before about the potential disadvantages of earning all your points with one airline or hotel chain and said some good things about cards that let you earn and use rewards independently, like the Blue Sky and Discover Miles cards.

While all the potential negatives I’ve covered in the past still exist, if the rewards program is good enough then it can makeup for those shortfalls.  I think that’s the case with this card, if you’re already a Marriott fan then the points you can earn through their rewards program make this a decent option.

Marriott Rewards Free Night Promotion
I suppose I could be a little bias because the Marriott Rewards card was my very first hotel rewards card –- and I signed up for it because it gave me one free nights stay at Marriott. Well times have changed… for the better!

Now the Marriott rewards free night offer has actually turned into four free nights, plus one. After you sign up for the card, you get an e-certificate for a free night stay, just like before. However, now after you make your first purchase on the card you earn 22,500 Marriott points, which is enough for another four free nights stay. That’s a nice little vacation break at a Marriott hotel that you can get as soon as you’ve made your first purchase on the card.

Marriott Rewards Program
Your Marriott Rewards card earns you 3 points for every $1 you spend staying at a Marriott and 1 point for every $1 spent on all other purchases. There’s a big list of the types of hotels where you can use your Marriott points, I’ve stayed in a few of them.

For example, we spent our honeymoon in a Renaissance hotel in the Virgin Islands and I stayed at another nice Renaissance in San Francisco when I was there for a conference.  We’ve stayed at a nice Marriott on vacation in Boston and St. Louis and I spent another week at a Residence in near Sacremento for a work trip.  We’ve also stayed at various Courtyard by Marriott and FairField Inn & Suites locations on family trips around the MidWest.

Some of the hotels where I haven’t stayed but you can earn and use points are JW Marriott Hotels, the SpringHill Suites, and the TownePlace Suites.  There are a few Ritz-Carlton hotels and Marriott Conference Centers where you can’t use your points so if you’re looking to stay at one of those call ahead and ask first.

Marriott Points
The points you earn on your Marriott Rewards card can be used for vacations, hotel stays, or airline miles but the majority of people I know with this card use them for free nights and vacations. A good friend of ours travels a lot for his sales job and he takes his family on two or three trips each year paid for with Marriott points. One cool thing about redeeming your points is that anytime you use them to book a stay of at least 7 nights, you earn another 15,000 Marriott points. I don’t know of any other hotel rewards program where you can earn points for redeeming points.

Frequent Traveler Bonuses
Each time that you stay at a Marriott Hotel using this credit card you will earn credits towards Elite Membership. With 15 nights of stays you’ll get silver level elite status, 50 nights pushes you to gold level and 75 nights gets you up to platinum level. At each level you receive additional bonuses at no extra cost to you as a cardholder. These benefits include discounts, room up grades and even additional opportunities to earn even more bonus points on the card. Plus for every $3000 you spend on the card, you get an extra night towards your Elite status.

APR and Fees
This credit card does have an annual fee, it’s not outrageous, only $30. Additionally, that fee is waived for the first year. The APR is competitive for a rewards credit card; see the chart below for specifics. The card is designed for people with excellent credit.

Marriott Rewards vs Premier Rewards

You can actually choose between two different rewards cards from Marriott, the regular card or the Premier card.  The downside of the Premier version is that you’ll pay a higher annual fee, the question is are the features of the Premeir card worth it?

With the Marriott Premier card you earn 2 extra points per dollar spent at Marriott hotels than you would with the base version.  You also earn double the points for travel purchases of airline tickets, dining, or car rentals.  For all non travel related expenses you earn the same as the regular rewards card, 1 point per dollar.

You also earn more bonus points when you first sign up for the Premier card.  You get the bonus points after your first purchase and the Premier version gives you an extra 7500.  It can also help you get to bonuses that come with Elite status faster, after 10 nights instead of 15.

Probably the best feature of the Premeir Rewards version is that every year you get free night at a category 1–5 Marriott hotel if you’re a cardholder.  Once a year, about a 6 weeks after your anniversarry month you get a certificate in your rewards account that you can use to book a free night.  While the free night basically pays for the annual fee, you do have to make sure you use the certificate and not lose it because its not redeemable after 6 months.

From what I can tell if you stay at Marriott hotels frequently, or even just a few times a year, the benefits of the Premier card will outweigh the higher annual fee.

Conclusion
The Marriott Hotel rewards card by Chase gives you several different ways to earn a good amount of Marriott rewards. The more you use it, the more rewards you get. The annual fee is low so it’s an appealing credit card for the people with excellent credit who can qualify for it. Like I said, if you’re a fan of Marriott hotels then this could be the hotel rewards card for you.

We all want to see new places, visit old favorites ,and just generally get a chance to vacation more. Although your chances of winning the lottery are pretty slim, it’s definitely possible for you to do more traveling if you can pay for part of it with a rewards card.

The best travel rewards credit cards cards not only allow you to earn points that you can apply towards the cost of travel – they also let you earn bonus points on travel purchases.  Which often means that the more you travel, the more free travel you can earn.

Types of Travel Rewards Credit Cards

There are many different types of travel rewards credit cards. Within each category there are some that will be better for you than others based on your specific needs from a travel rewards credit card. Before you can determine which credit card makes the most sense for you, you’ll need to gain a better understanding of the different types of travel rewards cards that are available to you.

Here is a look at the most common types of travel rewards credit cards:

Airline Rewards Cards. Some of the most popular rewards credit cards tend to be airline cards, such as Blue Sky from American Express that earn points for each plane ticket you buy, based on the number of miles that you fly.

Hotel Rewards Cards. The benefits of hotel branded credit cards, like the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit card, have long been known by travelers that prefer certain hotel chains. These cards are often used along with member programs that can get you discounts on the price of a hotel room.

Gas Rewards Cards. Gas rewards cards, such as the Discover Open Road card, are becoming more popular as the price of gas continues to rise. Any rebates or cash back a traveler can earn by using a gas credit card are helpful during times of high fuel costs.

General Travel Rewards Cards. Whether you’re going on vacation or traveling for business, using a rewards card to pay for your trip has the eventual benefit of saving you some money on travel simply by booking your flight, paying for gas, or reserving your hotel room with your credit card. 

Different card issuers have rewards programs that allow you to mix and match travel rewards.  For example Citibank has the ThankYou program with cards like Citi ThankYou Premier and Chase has the Ultimate Rewards program with cards like Chase Sapphire.  American Express is also known for their Membership rewards program that lets you earn points across their family of charge cards, that can be used used for rental cars, hotel, or flights.

There are also some cards, such as the Starwood Preferred I already mentioned, that let you earn points for one type of travel like hotels, but also have a decent program for letting you transfer your points to partner companies in other travel industries, like airlines.

Comparing Travel Cards

Once you have figured out which type of rewards credit cards is best for you, you’ll still need to determine which card in that category is the best one. For example, you may know that you want an airline rewards card that will provide you with free flight miles for your shopping but you still need to decide which specific airline rewards card will be benefit you most. This means that you need to do some research into each card.

Some of the factors to consider when deciding on a travel rewards credit card include:

1) The way that points are earned. For example, do you earn one mile per dollar spent on the card or can you earn more than that? Some cards, such as the Discover Open Road card, offer higher rewards rates after a certain amount is spent annually on the card.

2) If there are bonus points available. For example, Escape by Discover allows you to earn up to 25,000 bonus points in the first two years of membership if you spend $1000 per month on the card.

3) Terms of redeeming rewards, especially if there are blackout dates or expiration dates on your rewards.

4) Whether the card is branded (to a specific hotel like the Marriott Rewards card or airline like the Continental OnePass Plus), which may affect how frequently you use it.

5) Whether your rewards can be redeemed only for travel purchases or for other items (like cash back and gift cards) as well.

6) What type of travel insurance is available on the card.

7) Additional travel perks card membership, such as access to airport lounges.

Rates and Fees

You’ll also want to make sure that you consider the costs of the card that could eat into the rewards you earn, such as:

• The APR
• Annual fee
• Late fees
• Balance transfer fees

Hopefully, this gives you a little help when reviewing and comparing the benefits and features of the top travel credit cards.  Check out the cards listed below to see if any of them can save you some money or earn you some points on your next trip.

Are you looking for a travel rewards credit card that allows you to rapidly earn a large number of miles? That’s exactly what the Escape by Discover credit card is designed for. With the ability to earn 25,000 free miles in the first two years, this card provides ample opportunity to indulge your travel bug.

Escape by Discover® Fees

Let’s get this out of the way first; Escape by Discover does have an annual fee. However, the fee is only $60, which is pretty much par for the course in the market among travel rewards credit cards that charge an annual fee.   If a card with no annual fee is an important criteria for you then you might consider the Discover Miles card.   Discover Miles doesn’t have as much to offer in terms of rewards and perks but it doesn’t have an annual fee.

Escape by Discover® Rewards

No one likes paying an annual fee on a card but this one could be worth it if you cash in on the variety of rewards that the card offers. This is a travel rewards card that allows you to earn miles towards flights.

One of the first things you’ll notice about the rewards program is is that you can easily earn 25,000 bonus miles in the first two years of opening your account. That’s because you receive 1,000 bonus miles every single month for the first 25 months as long as you make at least one purchase on the card.

If you setup one of your automatic monthly bills to pay from this account, you’ll easily be earning those bonus miles. In addition to your bonus miles, you’ll be able to regularly earn miles on this card because you get 2 miles for every $1 that you spend. Many travel rewards cards only offer 1 mile per $1 so the Escape card gives you double the standard rewards offer.

Another good feature of the card is that there are virtually no restrictions on redeeming your miles. You can use them to fly on any airline with no blackout dates. There are no limits or expiration dates on the miles that you earn. And you can also choose to redeem the miles for hotels, rental cars, cruises, gift cards or merchandise instead of just for flights. In other words, it’s easy to earn rewards on this card and easy to redeem them as well.

This is something we’ve talked about before with the Blue Sky and Discover Miles card, having a card independent of a specific airline can insulate you a little from blackout dates.

Benefits of Escape by Discover

The travel rewards are probably the main reason that you’d look at this credit card – however, the card does have some other perks.

Balance Transfers

Escape offers a 0% APR on balance transfers and purchases after opening an account. The ongoing APR is competitive with better rates for customers with good credit (see the chart below for current rates and terms).  Because it does offer good intro rates for balance transfers it could be used as a short-term balance transfer credit card in addition to its function as a travel rewards credit card.  Just don’t forget that you pay a balance transfer fee and that it can take a few weeks to get your money.

Travel Perks

Since Escape by Discover is a travel rewards card, it makes sense that it also offers a number of ongoing travel perks. These perks include insurance coverage for a variety of troubles that you may encounter during travel such as lost luggage and travel delay costs. The card offers rental car insurance so you may not need additional insurance when you rent a car. Plus this card offers travel cancellation coverage in case something comes up and you need to be reimbursed for a trip that you can’t take after all. Basically you probably won’t worry as much during your travels when you use this card to book your trip.

Conclusion

Although Escape by Discover® does have an annual fee, it’s not outrageously high. Unlike many credit cards, that fee is unfortunately not waived during the first year of having the card. However, the card has a lot of potential to make that fee worth your while with easy-to-earn bonus miles and double earning points. If you use your card regularly, travel regularly and want to take advantage of restriction-free travel rewards then this card could be right for you.  

The SimplyCash may be one of the best business credit cards out there because of the fact that it combines a lot of rewards opportunities with reasonable rates and no annual fee. The card offers the highest cash back percentage on wireless phone services and office supplies, 5% back, and earns you 3% cash back on gas purchases.

Other business credit cards offer a flat 1% cash back on all purchases but the SimplyCash card combines a cash rebate card with a gas rebate card for business owners.  It kind of borrows from the model of the TruEarnings card, where you earn a fixed percent back on all your purchases, in the case of SimplyCash that’s 1%, and are paid a considerably higher rate for things like gas and office products. Having both of these available on one card is what makes it stand out the most for me.

Although there’s no annual limit on the total cash back you can earn with the card you only earn 5% back on the first $12,000 worth of purchases of wireless and office supplies you make in a year.  The same applies for gas purchases, after your first $12K annual gas spending, the remaining sales earn you 1% cash back.

Simply Cash Discounts
In addition to the cash rebates, the SimplyCash® Business Card from American Express OPEN offers discounts at all OPEN Savings merchant partners. This means that not only will you receive cash back on purchases, but you can also save additional money on a variety of office-related products and services.

The OPEN Savings program has a good selection of companies that businesses tend to work with for things like travel, technology, shipping, etc.  Here you can see some examples of the merchants in the program such as HP, Hyatt Hotels, FedEx, AirTran, Hertz, and Symantec.

The Open Savings program is pretty simple, if you use your Simply Cash card at one of the merchants, the discount is automatically applied when you pay.  For example, Symantec makes the popular Norton Anti-virus software, if you buy Norton for your business with your SimplyCash card you get a 10% discount.  You do have to read the terms of each merchant and product to make sure you get the discount.  In the case of Norton, the Symantec products are only eligible for the discount if you buy through their online store.  So be sure you know the terms of the merchant before you buy.

Rewards are Automatic
Another nice thing about this business rewards credit card is that redeeming your rewards requires absolutely zero effort on your part. Each month when you receive your credit card statement you will see that your cash back rewards have been automatically added to that statement. Many business owners have good rewards credit cards but are so busy that they forget to redeem those rewards. That will never be a problem with a card that offers automatic rewards!

Simply Cash APR and Fees
As is the case with many business credit cards, the Simply Cash from American Express card has a relatively low APR with an introductory 0% APR. The card also has a longer-than-average 25-day grace period, as well as no annual fee and no fee for additional cards, all of which enhance the appeal of this card. To get up-to-date information about the APR for this card scroll down to the chart at the bottom of this page.

American Express Benefits
American Express does make a serious effort to make their business credit cards more than just a credit card. Their OPEN network not only has the Savings program I discussed earlier, it also features the OPEN Forum and Connectodex.  These online business communities feature business resources to help fill the gaps in a business owner’s expertise, as well as networking tools for trading advice and collaboration.

The online account management and reporting you get with an American Express card like SimplyCash are pretty flexible when it comes to tracking and reporting on how you’re spending your money.

Conclusion
Of all the benefits of the Simply Cash from American Express, the 5% rebate on office purchases is the greatest selling point. For any business owner who logs a lot of miles in a car or other vehicle for deliveries or other purpose, the cash back on gas expenditures is also highly attractive especially as gas prices continue to climb. All in all, this card has no annual fee, low APR, and high rebates: all things you should look for in a business credit card.

Airline Bonuses
The Delta Reserve Card has a lot to offer over other frequent flyer cards. The mile-per-dollar spent is the same as most other airline cards. On top of that, however, you can earn additional rewards and enjoy many perks. Double miles are available for certain purchases of groceries, home improvement, gas stations, and at the post office – making it very versatile when measured against other airline reward cards. You don’t have to spend on travel purchases to earn extra rewards towards travel, which is nice for people who travel regularly but not extensively.

Medallion Qualification Miles
The jewel of Delta’s SkyMiles cards is the Medallion Qualification Miles program. The Reserve card is the top tier of Delta’s frequent flyer cards. Other Delta cards offer frequent flyer points, but not in the same bulk as MQM’s, which can build up frequent flyer points by the thousands at a time.

With the Delta Reserve Card, you get 10,000 MQM’s immediately after your first purchase. If you spend $30,000 a year on the card you’ll receive an extra 30,000 bonus miles – in addition to the miles already credited from point-per dollar, for a total of 60,000 rewards points. If you spend $60,000 a year, it will net you an additional 15,000 miles. The more you spend on this card, the more you benefit from it.

Extra Rewards
As a Reserve cardholder you’ll also receive a free flight voucher for a companion ticket on coach or first class. So even though the Reserve card has a high annual fee when compared with other airline cards, this free airfare makes up for the fee. Delta Reserve cardholders will also be eligible for Skyclub access to the Delta Crown Room for the cardholder and two guests. People who enjoy travel perks when they fly will enjoy what this card has to offer.

Free Checked Bag
Now that airlines are charging to check bags, the Delta Reserve card can save you money each time you fly. With your card, you get a free checked bag on every flight.

Travel Perks
In addition to airline miles perks and the free checked bag deal, the American Express Delta Reserve Card offers everything you would get with a typical Amex card: travel insurance, as well as enhanced fraud protection. Overall, this card is pretty attractive, definitely attractive to those who use their credit card a lot every month for travel as well as other standard purchases.

Annual Fee
This credit card does come with an annual fee of $450. That’s one of the highest annual fees in the market so that’s certainly something to ponder carefully. However, the fact that you can earn so many rewards points on this card, as well as the fact that you get a free ticket each year, can offset the cost of the annual fee.

Conclusion
Delta and American Express put together a pretty good travel rewards program with this card, you have more ways to build up frequent flyer points than other cards of its kind with the Delta Reserve. You do have to weigh the annual fee with the rewards that you’ll get to make sure that this card will be worth your while.

The Hilton HHonors card is a travel rewards card with a generous points system: 5 points for every dollar spent at a Hilton, as well as money spent for gas, at supermarkets, drugstores, and other purchases. It’s not a Hilton-only rewards program by any means, making it one of the better hotel-affiliated credit cards available. Cardholders get 10,000 points after first purchase, as well as 10,000 additional points after the first stay at a Hilton Hotel.

Hilton Rewards In addition to 5 points rewarded at select merchants, the Hilton HHonors card gives cardholders a full three points for all other purchases. That’s pretty much unprecedented for a rewards card of this type. Most travel rewards card follow the point-per-dollar model. While points never expire, there is a limit of $100,000 in spending every year, which is more than enough for the vast majority of cardholders. Anyone spending more than that each year could combine this rewards card with a second rewards card to meet all of their spending needs and still get the great rewards offered by this card.

Hilton Bonus Points The Hilton HHonors card can be combined with the HHonors® reward program, which allows cardholders to earn points or frequent flyer miles towards a hotel stay. In addition to 10,000 points after first purchase, cardholders are eligible for 15,000 bonus points if $5000 is spent in five months of having the card. A cardholder could conceivably receive 35,000 bonus points within the first five months of using the card. That is a lot of bonus rewards points to cash in quickly when first getting the card.

Personalize your Rewards You are actually able to personalize how you earn rewards on this card. You can earn points or you can earn miles or you can earn a combination of both depending on what suits you but. You set your own earnings style through your online account.

Redeeming Rewards Most cardholders are travelers so they will want to redeem their points for travel. There are many different ways to do that; you can redeem for hotels, cruises, car rental, or vacation packages. You can also redeem your rewards for “experiences” such as motorcycle rentals or wine tasting. If for some reason you aren’t going to be traveling for a bit, though, and want to redeem your rewards in other ways then that option is available to you as well.

The rewards can be cashed in for shopping, dining and entertainment. You can even share or gift your rewards to others if you are feeling generous. Note that if you’re close to having enough points to redeem for something you want but you want to get it now then you do have the option of simply buying points to push yourself up to having the points you need to redeem rewards. Or you could get a friend to share their points with you!

The Hilton American Express Card The HHonors® reward program is an Amex card, so the card comes with all the built in protection of an American Express card – travel accident insurance, car rental insurance, fraud protection, and replacement protection. As this is a travel-related credit card, this is important. The card also has no annual fee and a low introductory rate. However, the card does have a relatively high long-term rate, so it’s not a great card for carrying a balance month to month.

Conclusion As mentioned, the Hilton HHonors Platinum Card has one of the best travel rewards points programs available and it offers these rewards with no annual fee. At the same time, this is offset a bit by the APR so it’s best for people who don’t typically carry a balance on their cards. If you do a lot of traveling and frequently stay at Hilton hotels then check it out.