When American Express implemented a new policy to stop issuing points on gift card purchases (mainly at Simon and possibly GiftCardMall), a lot of people tossed out their Marriott Bonvoy cards. Thee new Marriott Bonvoy program has had its issues, leading once-loyal members to coin the term Bonvoyed. These two issues together have made the American Express Bonvoy cards undesirable. Reader Stuart recently reached out with a question that I’m sure many other people have as well:
With the elimination of points from Amex on gift card purchases, I am ready to cancel my Amex Starwood/Marriott card. My confusion is what card should I switch to? I like accumulating points to redeem at a hotel during vacations Is Chase Hyatt my best option? Any thoughts and advise is appreciated.
If you’re in the market for a new hotel loyalty program, there are several options: Hilton Hyatt, IHG, Radisson Rewards (ok, not really), Wyndham and None of The Above.
That’s right, you can very well choose not to be loyal to any rewards program, get yourself a 2% cash back card and get some elite-type benefits through the Visa Signature or the World MasterCard luxury travel program.
But if you want to keep earning hotel points through manufactured spending, you should consider the following alternatives:
A Chase Ultimate Rewards-earning card
There’s not really a need for a Marriott credit card, unless you do a great deal of regular spending and can milk the benefits that come with the higher annual fee cards. Otherwise, if you really need them, you can transfer Ultimate Rewards points to Chase. Or use your points to book Marriott hotels directly through the Ultimate Rewards Travel portal, because with the implementation of off-peak pricing, it will probably work out cheaper in most cases.
But which Ultimate Rewards-earning credit card should you get? Ideally, one with decent category bonuses. The Chase Ink Business Preferred not only has an impressive 80,000 point sign-up bonus, but it also earns 3 points per $1 spent on the first $150,000 in the following categories:
- Travel
- Shipping purchases
- Internet, cable and phone services
- Advertising purchases made with social media sites and search engines
If you can make this work MS-wise, it can be a good way to generate Marriott points. The Chase Freedom Unlimited is a good supplement. You can transfer your 1.5% cash back rewards 1:1 to Ultimate Rewards points.
Transferring Ultimate Rewards points to Marriott is not my first choice or recommendation. But if you need to top off your account for an award, it’s better than trying to manufacture spend on a non-compliant Marriott card. Nine times out of ten, you’ll get better value by using those UR points for Marriott hotel bookings through the Ultimate Rewards Travel Portal.
IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card
The IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card is the one to beat right now when it comes to earning maximum rewards. For a limited time, cardholders earn 4x points per $1 spent on everything during the first 12 months of account opening. This is a change from the previous 2x bonus on gas, groceries and dining.
Staying at an IHG hotel? Charge the bill to the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card card and you’ll earn a total of 40 points per $1 spent:
- 25 points per $1 cardholder bonus.
- 10 base points per $1 spent through IHG.
- 5 points per $1 elite bonus, since the card earns Platinum elite status.
If you’re buying $1,000 Visa gift cards at Simon Mall for $3.95 each, then earning enough points for a free night at a top-tier hotel would require just $17,500 worth of spending or roughly $84.97 out of pocket. Below is a breakdown:
70,000 points requires $17,500 in spending at 4 points per $1
- 17,500/$1,000 Visa gift cards = 17.5
- 17.5 x $3.95 fee = $69.13
- 17.5 x $0.88 money order fee = $15.4
- Total cost: $69.13 + 15.4 = $84.53
Try to do that with a Marriott card.
Of course, manufacturing spend with a Chase card makes some people nervous, but the 4x bonus points on all spending can still make these top-tier awards more attainable. Plus, IHG has over 5,600 hotels worldwide, making them fairly competitive with Marriott’s 7,000+…
Hilton Honors Aspire
The Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express us the only premium credit card I plan on keeping long term. I know: This is still an American Express card, which means manufactured spending activities are severely limited. But you can still earn a lot of points from daily spending and get rewarded with a free weekend night every year. Plus another one, if you manage $60,000 of spending before December (I know, I’m pushing it).
Aside from its lack of MS potential, the Hilton Aspire has a ton of worthwhile benefits. For starters, it offers top-tier Hilton Diamond status without requiring any spending, saving me from having to figure out how to charge $40,000 worth of something other than gift cards.
It also gets me Priority Pass Select, an annual free weekend night, $250 Hilton resort credit and $200 airline fee credit. Pretty much all of these benefits came in handy on my stay at the Waldorf Astoria Maldives. I saved $250 cash and earned lots of points.
Hilton Surpass Card from American Express
In terms of category bonuses, you might want to opt for the Hilton Surpass if you do gift card churning at grocery stores. That card earns 6 points per $1 spent at U.S. supermarkets.
I once ranked Hilton as one of the best rewards programs for earning free nights and that still stands. Between the base earnings, elite bonuses and frequent double point promotions, earning free nights is a lot easier than its non-existent award chart might let on. A top-tier free night might cost 95,000 points but you’ll get there a lot faster thanks to all of these bonus point opportunities.
Note: If you’re applying for Hilton Aspire Card, consider using my referral link. I’ll get 10,000 bonus points if you’re approved. Shoot me an email if you’re interested.
Final thoughts
If you’re looking to substitute your Amex Marriott Bonvoy credit card in order to continue manufactured spending, you’ve got lots of options. Marriott Bonvoy isn’t the end-all-be-all of hotel loyalty programs.
Between its insane peak pricing and inconsistent service, it’s probably a good idea to switch to another loyalty program for a while.
My vote goes to Hilton, which not only has one of the best rewards programs, but also the best hotel credits. Yes, you’re manufactured spending abilities are limited since the Aspire and Surpass cards are both issued by American Express.
As of now, grocery stores aren’t affected by Amex’s new rules against gift card churning, making the Surpass ripe for MS. And if the rules do go into effect, earning points for hotel nights through regular credit card spending is a lot easier with Hilton than with Marriott.
If you do ever need Marriott points, you can earn them through Chase. Skip past the Bonvoy Bold card and straight into your Ultimate Rewards balance. Chances are, redeeming those for direct travel bookings are going to be a better use of points than transferring to Marriott.
Are you looking to get rid of your Marriott Amex card? Which card are you looking to replace it with?
[jetpack_subscription_form title=”Subscribe via email for more points, miles and free travel”]
Leave a Reply