Originally Posted by
UMDpilot
Hi guys,
What is the best credit card for us? I feel like most airline credit card Reward you with the most miles when tickets are purchased, which we don’t do often since we get to non rev. I would like to get something that through normal purchases get me the best deal on hotels, and also on airfares in situations when I can’t nonrev easily. Thanks! PS I’m fine with annual fee if it is worth it.
So back to the original question.
I would say the card(s) you want are ones with the possibility of transfer to multiple different hotels and airlines. The main players in that arena are Chase Ultimate Rewards points, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi for TYP. There are others, but let's stick with the major players.
I might recommend UR for your purposes initially. If you are new to the credit card points game then it is the logical place to start based on a rule known as 5/24. That is a Chase rule designed to stop credit card "churning". It limits anyone from getting approved for many of the Chase cards if you have applied for, and been successful, in obtaining 5 or more credit cards (from any bank) in the last 24 months.
The reason that is important is that there quite a large number of good Chase cards to get. URs are a very versatile currency. The list of transfer partners can be found with a simple search. There are 9 airline partners and 4 hotel partners. Hyatt was mentioned above and is a good value for hotel bookings.
UR earning cards include:
Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Freedom
Chase Freedom Unlimited
Chase Ink Business Preferred
What I might suggest is getting the Chase Sapphire Preferred primarily because the initial bonus of 50,000 points is reasonable right now and because it is a lower annual fee (waived the first year). At the one year point downgrade it to a no annual fee Freedom or Freedom Unlimited then wait for a good sign on bonus for the Sapphire Reserve (greater than 60,000 points). In the meantime you can also get a Chase Ink Business Preferred for another 80,000 points bonus if you want to build points quickly.
The Freedom has a good rotating points bonus system that allows one to earn in various categories each quarter. The Freedom Unlimited is a straight 1.5 points/$ spent or 1.5% cash back.
The advantage of the CSR over the CSP is a higher value for points when booing through the Chase travel portal. 1.5 cents/point versus 1.25 cents/point. Also the other benefits previously mentioned for a slightly higher effective annual fee of $150 versus $9
Other good Chase cards are the Chase IHG (mentioned above) and the Chase Marriott for their annual free night certificates.