What To Look For In Your Credit Card with Hotel Rewards

Frequent travelers tend to spend a lot of time at hotels so it makes perfect sense to have a hotel rewards card or at least an airline miles credit card which also offers hotel rewards. It is quite easy for business travellers to rack up more miles than they would ever use just by booking free tickets. What's more some programs do not allow for transfer of miles and even worse there are programs where the miles expire. A good way for these travelers to get the most of the miles they earn is to cash in rewards on other aspects of their travels such as car rentals, dining and of course for accommodation at premier hotels.

When it comes to hotel reward cards many of them are tied to loyalty programs as they are for airline miles cards. For this reason it is also a good idea to first look to your hotel of preference to see what loyalty programs they have in place so that you can get the best of both worlds. If you plan to stay at these hotels why not get rewarded for your stays and earn credits that you can use later on? Aside from that sticking to one particular chain will push you up to elite status faster than trying to join too many programs at once.

If you are not particularly loyal to one chain you can go the route of a non-affiliate program that gives you the opportunity to earn and redeem rewards at any hotel of your choice. More often than not these programs would already have some option for accumulating airline miles and so you can have your airline and hotel rewards built into the same program.

If you are just starting out you can research your options. Start by detailing the cities you frequent. Do your trips only involve domestic destinations or do you also fly internationally? What hotels are best for you on your domestic stays? Do they also have international locations which will allow you to earn and redeem rewards even when you are out of the country? Does the hotel have an in-house loyalty program? Do they provide the opportunity to earn rewards in other ways? For instance can you accumulate points by making everyday purchases?

Check the reviews. What are members of the program saying? Is the rewards hassle free? Some programs offer great rewards that look good on paper but when trying to redeem they force members to jump through so many hoops that in the end they are not worth the paper they are printed on. There are a few programs that consistently get high ratings and those are the ones that you should be on the lookout for.

If you decide that hotel rewards are the way to go you need to do everything possible to maximize your rewards. You can maximize your rewards by choosing one program and sticking to it no matter how great the offer of another program looks. Spreading yourself too thin can not only spread out your rewards in a way that is not feasible but also put you in unwanted debt. Other ways you can maximize your hotel rewards are by making use of mobile technology such as iPhones and Blackberries to make reservations, taking note of blackout dates (yes even hotels have them), choosing a program that allows you to accumulate and redeem rewards in a currency that works for you (miles points, cash back etc) and by using your rewards when you need them most.

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*Check with the online credit card application for further details about the terms and conditions for each card. Airline Miles Credit Cards has done everything possible to ensure that the information provided is up to date. Any changes made to these programs will be presented in the terms and conditions on the credit card issuer's website.

Read More About Airline Miles Credit Cards

• What is an Airline Miles Credit Card?
• How Does an Airline Miles Credit Card Work?
• Should I Apply for One Airline's Credit Card or a Multi-Airline Credit Card?
• How Do I Know I'm Choosing the Right Airline Miles Credit Card for Me?