U.S. Hotel Co-Branded Credit Card Comparison

Hotel stays are one of the more important expenses when traveling. Booking the right hotel can save you money and greatly improve your travel comfort. And having a good hotel co-branded credit card can make your stays even more comfortable, give you extra perks, and even provide you with a free night certificate every year. In this post, we'll compare the various hotel credit cards.

AMEX Hilton Aspire

AMEX Hilton Aspire is, in my opinion, the best hotel card. Although the annual fee is as high as $550, the benefits that come with it can more than make up for the fee! This card gives you a $400 Hilton Resort hotel credit each year and a total of $200 in airline incidental credits, plus a free night certificate valid at any property, so it definitely earns back its annual fee. In addition, simply holding the card gives you Hilton's top-tier Diamond status, which includes room upgrades, free breakfast, and lounge access—very worthwhile. If you don't know the tricks for using the resort and airline credits, click through to read the detailed guide.

Hilton has a huge number of hotels around the world. With this card, you can prioritize Hilton properties when you travel, enjoy Diamond benefits, and also avoid the hassle of requalifying every year with brands like Marriott and Hyatt. It is especially well suited for people who have fixed travel plans each year but have trouble earning enough nights to requalify with Marriott, Hyatt, and similar programs. The points you earn can be used for hotels in China, many of which can be booked for 10,000 points, which is excellent value. The any-category free night certificate can be used at extremely expensive hotels such as those in the Maldives and Hawaii.

AMEX Marriott Bonvoy “No Longer Available” & Chase Marriott Bonvoy Boundless

These two cards are broadly similar in function. The AMEX Marriott Bonvoy card (formerly SPG) is no longer available (you can downgrade from AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant). Both cards have a $95 annual fee and come with Marriott Bonvoy Silver Elite status, but that status doesn't really provide many practical benefits. Starting in the second year, after paying the annual fee, you'll receive one free night award that can be redeemed at hotels costing 35,000 points or less. In addition, the card gives you 15 elite qualifying night credits to help you work toward higher status, but reaching Platinum status for breakfast benefits requires 50 nights, which is hard for most people to achieve (you can consider a status challenge). In short, you're basically paying $95 for one night at a hotel costing 35,000 points or less. These two cards earn 6x points on Marriott Bonvoy purchases and 2x points on other spending.

Marriott Bonvoy also has a very large global hotel footprint. The free night award is easy to use and should be worth $200+, but the benefits are not guaranteed—you generally won't get breakfast or upgrades (breakfast is only for Platinum members and above). That said, Marriott Bonvoy points can be transferred to airline miles, including Alaska Airlines, ANA, and Japan Airlines. When you open a Marriott Bonvoy account, you can use a referral link to earn an extra 2,000 points per stay, and you can also call to sign up for the "Stay 2, Get 1" promotion, where the free night is valid at hotels costing 25,000 points or less.

AMEX Marriott Bonvoy is no longer available, so if you can make good use of the free night award each year, it can be a good sock-drawer card. Because of the Chase 5/24 rule, Chase Marriott cards are basically only available early in your card journey.

Chase World of Hyatt

This card is similar to the Marriott card above. The annual fee is also $95, it gives you Discoverist status, and it doesn't really come with many practical benefits. Starting in the second year, after paying the annual fee, you'll receive a free night certificate that can be used at Category 1-4 hotels. You also get 5 qualifying night credits toward elite status, and for every $5,000 you spend, you earn 2 additional qualifying night credits. But compared with the 30 nights needed to reach Explorist and the 60 nights needed to reach Globalist, the number of qualifying nights you get is quite small. In short, you're basically paying $95 for one night at a Category 1-4 hotel. After Small Luxury Hotels joined the program, there are also more free night options, and hopefully this time when I return to China I can bring everyone a stay review of Hotel Eclat in Beijing (Category 4). This card earns 4x points on Hyatt hotel spending, 2x on airfare, car rentals, restaurants, public transit, and fitness clubs, and 1x on other spending.

Hyatt hotels are not as widely distributed, so there aren't as many choices as Hilton or Marriott, but free nights can still be worth $200+ in major cities. That said, because the status level is not very high, the benefits are pretty average. Hyatt points can often be used for good value at Park Hyatt properties in places like New York and Sydney. Another great place to burn points is Hyatt's all-inclusive Ziva and Zilara resorts, especially Ziva Cancun, where the author once redeemed 50,000 points for two nights.

Because of the Chase 5/24 rule, Chase World of Hyatt is basically only obtainable when you first start applying.

Chase IHG Premier

This card has a $99 annual fee and gives you Platinum status, but IHG elite benefits are inconsistent and really depend on luck. Starting in the second year, after paying the annual fee, you'll receive one free night certificate (FN), which can be redeemed at hotels costing 40,000 points or less. In addition, points purchases come with a 20% discount, award stays get the fourth night free, and you earn an extra 10,000 points every year after spending $20,000. This card earns 10x points on IHG hotel spending, 2x on restaurants, grocery stores, and gas stations, and 1x on other spending. The welcome bonus is 120,000 IHG points plus $50, with $5,000 in spending required within six months.

IHG hotels are fairly widespread, but they generally aren't very upscale, and the elite treatment is not especially reliable. On the other hand, many IHG redemptions don't cost many points, and the value is particularly good in China.

Because of the Chase 5/24 rule, Chase IHG is basically only available when you first start churning cards. The FN is capped at 40,000 points, so it can be hard to use in major cities, but it can still be worth the annual fee. Compared with the hotel cards above, it is not as useful, and whether it is worth keeping as a sock-drawer card depends on how often you travel and how effectively you can use the FN.

AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant

AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant is a hotel co-branded card with a $650 annual fee. However, this card provides a $300 dining credit each year and one 85,000-point free night award (worth about $300), so the effective annual fee works out to only about $50. On the points-earning side, it earns 6x at Marriott Bonvoy hotels, 3x on airfare booked through the official site, car rentals, and dining, and 2x on other spending, which is fairly average. But this card directly gives you Marriott Bonvoy Platinum status, which comes with breakfast and lounge access, so the benefits are very rich. If you stay at Marriott Bonvoy hotels frequently and care about elite perks, this card is a great fit. In addition, the card gives you 25 Elite Night credits, which can be used to requalify or work toward higher status. The card also includes a $100 Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis credit benefit, but you need to book directly a room tagged with $100 and stay at least two nights; this benefit is similar to FHR.

The Marriott Bonvoy hotel-related details were already covered above, so I won't repeat them here.

Chase Ritz-Carlton

Chase Ritz-Carlton is a credit card with a $450 annual fee. Each year, this card reimburses $300 in airline incidental charges and gives you one 85,000-point free night certificate, worth $300+, so the effective annual fee is -$150. The card earns Marriott points, with 6x on Marriott hotel spending, 3x on airfare booked through the official site, car rentals, and restaurants, and 2x on other spending. It also gives you Marriott Gold status, which comes with some benefits. The card also has a $100 Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis credit benefit, but you need to book directly a room tagged with $100 and stay at least two nights; this benefit is similar to FHR.

This card is no longer issued, but you can get it by upgrading from another Chase Marriott card.

Hilton Surpass

Hilton Surpass is a credit card with a $150 annual fee. Although this card does not give you a free night certificate each year, it does give you a $200 Hilton hotel credit, and it is not limited to resorts—you can use it at all Hilton properties. So if you can use the credit, it is effectively like getting $50 back on top of no annual fee. The downside is that the credit is issued as $50 per quarter. Although there are tricks to make it easy to use, it is still somewhat inconvenient and easy to forget.

In addition, this card directly gives you Hilton Gold status, which lets you enjoy free breakfast for two when staying at Hilton properties. That is one of the most generous benefits among the major hotel chains!

That said, its value is not as good as Aspire, so you might consider holding it for a year and then upgrading to Aspire to get more free night awards.

Other Hotel Cards

Here are a few more hotel co-branded cards worth briefly mentioning:

• AMEX Marriott Bonvoy Bevy: Somewhat mediocre. It does not directly provide a free night certificate each year, so you would only apply if you are doing it purely for the welcome bonus.
• Chase Marriott Bonvoy Bold credit card: No annual fee, and it does not provide a free night certificate. However, you can redeem points for travel purchases, which is one way to cash out.
• AMEX Hilton Honors credit card: No annual fee, but it also doesn't provide any perks. I would only recommend applying for it when you can piggyback on AMEX's 4-to-6 offer. You could consider upgrading to Aspire after a year and stacking more free night awards by holding multiple cards.
• Wells Fargo Choice Privileges Select credit card: If you like staying at Choice hotels, this card is very good. Although it has a $95 annual fee, it gives you 30,000 points every year (worth $150+), so it's basically a no-cost card to keep. Of course, it also has a number of other benefits! See the article for details.

Summary

When choosing a hotel co-branded credit card, you can pick based on the hotel brand you like. If you don't have a strong preference, I still strongly recommend the AMEX Hilton Aspire. The other hotel cards are mostly in the same tier—they are basically sock-drawer cards where you trade an annual fee for one free night. If you can use all of those free night awards every year, then holding several hotel co-branded cards is totally fine (I personally have kept Marriott, Hyatt, IHG, and Hilton cards for a long time).

I hope this article is helpful for choosing a hotel card, and I also encourage everyone to submit posts and share the great hotels you've stayed at!

Comparison of Hotel Credit Cards

Overview	Rewards	Credits	Free Night Certificate	Annual Fee	Link
AMEX Hilton Aspire	14x on Hilton; 7x on airfare, restaurants, gas	$200 airline purchases; $400 Resort	Uncapped	$550	Apply
Chase Marriott	6x on Marriott; 3x on gas, groceries, restaurants;	None	35k	$95	Apply
Chase Hyatt	4x on Hyatt; 2x on airfare, car rentals, restaurants, transit	None	cat1-4	$95	Apply
Chase IHG	10x on IHG; 2x on restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations	None	40k	$99	Apply
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant	6x on Marriott; 3x on airfare, restaurants	$300 dining credit	85k	$650	Apply
Ritz-Carlton	6x on Marriott; 3x on airfare, restaurants	$300 airline incidentals	85k	$450	None
Hilton Surpass	12x on Hilton hotel purchases, 6x on supermarkets, restaurants, gas purchases, 3x on other purchases	$200 Hilton purchases	None	$150	Apply
Detailed analysis: Comparison of Hotel Credit Cards