I'm also a fan of the Chase Sapphire Reserve. I got in on the deal when they were offering 100,000 chase ultimate points. Both my wife and I signed up for it and with just one sign up bonus, we got a free Mediterranean cruise with a balcony out of the deal. Still have the points from the other sign up bonus. Chase points are very valuable because you can transfer them to a couple of other companies. One of the best uses for them is through Hyatt. We don't stay at hotels too oftern (usually do VRBO) but we have used them in Fort Lauderdale where hotels are a little pricey. Got a room that they wanted $250 plus tax for only 8,000 points (cash value of $80). There was no tax either.

The Sapphire Preferred is also a good card if the $450 annual fee scares you away. I usually keep a card for 1 year and then cancel it if it has an annual fee. Everyone believes your credit score tanks when you do that but I sign up for about 2 cards a year and my credit score is well above 800. Yes, it goes down about 10 points after you cancel but it goes back up after a few months.

One of the great hotel cards out there is the IHG card. A few months ago it was one of my favorite cards but they recently changed it. It's still a good card but no where what it was before. I never use it besides for one purchase a year (to keep my IHG points from expiring) but you get an annual hotel stay up to 40,000 points for free (minus the annual fee of $89). It's a nice perk when you travel internationally where the IHG hotels are usually better.

With the old IHG card, you got a stay at any IHG property for only a $49 annual fee. Both my wife and I have these cards so we get a free weekend every year. We stayed at the Intercontinental Paris next to the opera house. It was a 450 euro per night and for the $49 annual fee, we got to stay there.

Another decent card is the AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite. Most cards you need to spend $3000-4000 dollars in the first 3 months to get the promotion sign up bonus. With this card, you just need to purchase 1 thing of any value and pay the $95 annual fee and then you get 50,000 miles. If you work with AA or one of their regionals, you also get 20% off flights when booking with points.

As you can probably tell, I'm mostly into sign up bonuses with cards. Yes, getting 3-4% is nice for certain categories but you can get a lot of points very quickly with the sign up bonuses.