This year alone, it seems as if every time I turn around, a credit card annual fee goes up (I should stop turning around). As a way of partially offsetting these higher fees, many premium cards offer credits for booking travel through their online portals. These vary a lot in their usefulness, though. In this post, I’ve ranked the rebates from most to least useful…
Criteria
- Breadth: The best options offer credit for any travel booked through the bank’s portal. For those that only provide credit for hotel bookings, credit for any hotel booking is preferred over those that limit to bookings within a specific hotel collection. Additionally, those that allow credits for one-night stays are preferred over those that require two-night stays.
- Timespan: Full-year eligibility is better than six months. Calendar year is better than member year because it’s much easier to remember when the credits reset.
- Amount: Bigger credit is better.
- Credit Type: A rebate is better than a discount*.
* Why I prefer rebates over discounts
A problem with a once-per-year discount is that plans can change. Imagine wanting to book two separate, refundable hotel stays, but you’re unsure whether you’ll keep both bookings. With a discount, you need to select just one booking where you’ll apply your discount, and then you’ll have to pay the full price for the second booking. If you end up cancelling the stay where you used your discount, it might then be too late to rebook the other stay or to use the discount elsewhere before it expires. With a rebate, though, you can book both stays, get the rebate, and then feel free to cancel either one. As long as you don’t cancel both stays, your rebate shouldn’t be clawed back. This is just one example of many where a rebate can be better than a discount.
Notes
- With American Express Platinum cards, I based the information and rankings on changes expected to take effect by September 18th: Both consumer and business Platinum cards are expected to get $300 credits twice per year for Fine Hotels & Resorts (any length stay) and The Hotel Collection (minimum 2-night stay).
- With the US Bank Altitude Reserve card, I based the information and rankings on changes to the card coming December 15th, 2025. The current $325 travel and dining credit will change to a $325 rebate for travel booked through US Bank Travel Center.
- I excluded the following types of portal credits from this analysis:
- Credits under $100. For example, the Sapphire Preferred card, United Explorer card, and United Business card all offer $50 hotel credits.
- Credits that require bigger spend. For example, the Citi Strata Premier℠ Card offers $100 off a hotel stay of $ 500 or more when booked through Citi Travel.
Best overall (all travel)
The best travel portal credits are not limited to hotels. These can be used for any travel booked through the portal:
| Card | Breadth | Timespan | Credit Type | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | US Bank Altitude Reserve Visa Infinite Card | Any Travel | Member Year | Rebate | $325 |
| 2 | Capital One Venture X Rewards Card | Any Travel | Member Year | Discount | $300 |
| Capital One Venture X Business Card |
I ranked the US Bank and Capital One credits as best overall because you can use them for any travel booked through the portal. They’re not limited to hotels. I put the Altitude Reserve card above the Venture X cards only because it offers a rebate rather than a discount. That said, I don’t have any experience with US Bank’s portal. If it proves to be substantially worse (higher prices, less inventory, etc.) than Capital One’s, I’ll swap the rankings.
Second best (all hotels)
The credits listed in this section can be used with any hotel as long as you can find it on the associated portal.
| Card | Breadth | Timespan | Credit Type | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Delta SkyMiles® Reserve Business American Express Card | Any Hotel | Calendar Year | Rebate | $250 |
| 4 | Delta SkyMiles® Reserve American Express Card | Any Hotel | Calendar Year | Rebate | $200 |
| Delta SkyMiles® Platinum Business American Express Card | |||||
| 5 | Delta SkyMiles® Platinum American Express Card | Any Hotel | Calendar Year | Rebate | $150 |
| Delta SkyMiles® Gold Business American Express Card | |||||
| 6 | Delta SkyMiles® Gold American Express Card | Any Hotel | Calendar Year | Rebate | $100 |
| 7 | Citi Strata Elite℠ Card | Any Hotel / 2+ Nights | Calendar Year | Discount | $300 |
The Delta cards and Citi’s Strata Elite card offer credit for all hotels, not just those limited to specific hotel collections. The Delta cards get a higher ranking because they work with 1-night stays, whereas the Strata Elite card requires 2 nights or more. Additionally, I appreciate that Delta credits are delivered as rebates rather than discounts.
Last place (specific hotel collections)
| Card | Breadth | Timespan | Credit Type | Amount | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | The Platinum Card from American Express | Fine Hotels & Resorts, The Hotel Collection (2+ nights) | 2x Per Year: Jan-Jun / Jul-Dec | Rebate | $300 |
| The Business Platinum Card® from American Express | |||||
| 9 | The New United Club℠ Card | Renowned Hotels & Resorts | Member Year | Rebate | $200 |
| The New United Club Business Card | |||||
| 10 | The New United Quest℠ Card | Renowned Hotels & Resorts | Member Year | Rebate | $150 |
| 11 | Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card | The Edit (2+ nights) | 2x Per Year: Jan-Jun / Jul-Dec | Rebate | $250 |
| Sapphire Reserve for Business℠ Card |
I had a hard time deciding whether to rank the Amex Platinum credits above or below the United card credits. The United credits have the advantage of being eligible for an entire membership year. The Platinum card credits have the benefit of being bigger, and they work with a large collection of hotels available through Fine Hotels & Resorts and The Hotel Collection. I don’t have any experience with Renowned Hotels & Resorts, but I expect that it’s a smaller collection than those offered by Amex.
I didn’t have any trouble placing Chase’s The Edit at the bottom of the list. Credits are twice per year and require a 2-night stay. Worse, I find that Chase’s prices are sometimes significantly higher than Amex’s.
Double-dipping with loyalty program rewards
In some cases, it’s possible to use a travel portal credit and earn loyalty program rewards simultaneously. For example, when booking flights, it’s always possible to attach your airline loyalty number to earn airline miles for your flight. With hotels, the situation is more complicated. Usually, when booking a hotel through any portal, you cannot earn hotel loyalty points. With some luxury hotel programs, though, it is possible to earn hotel loyalty rewards:
- American Express Fine Hotels + Resorts® & The Hotel Collection: Bookings made through these channels are supposed to earn loyalty points and elite credits. In practice, whether this works varies from property to property.
- Chase Travel℠: All of Chase’s “The Edit” properties, plus select other hotels, are supposed to earn loyalty points. Chase shows point-earning eligibility in the search results.
- Capital One Premier Collection: Some people have reported receiving IHG points when booking IHG hotels through Capital One’s Premier Collection.
- Bilt Rewards: To my knowledge, Bilt doesn’t currently offer travel credits, but it does allow you to earn loyalty points when booking hotels through their portal. See this post for details.
Advice: Attach your loyalty number anyway
If you book a hotel through a portal where you’re not expecting to earn points or elite credits, it’s a good idea to attach your loyalty number anyway — especially if you have elite status. It’s not unusual for hotels to honor elite benefits for online-travel-agency bookings even if they don’t award you with points or elite nights. If the portal doesn’t offer a way to attach your number, you can call the hotel to add the number before your stay.
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You should have mentioned that the Altitude Reserve is no longer accepting applications.
Can’t imagine they went through all this effort to completely revamp (or nerf) the benefits and announce transfer partners if they’re not going to relaunch the card sometime between now and December.
Did you update the Platinum credit information prematurely? This hasn’t been officially announced yet, correct?
Did you READ the article?
See the first note at the top of this post: “ With American Express Platinum cards, I based the information and rankings on changes expected to take effect by September 18th: Both consumer and business Platinum cards are expected to get $300 credits twice per year for Fine Hotels & Resorts (any length stay) and The Hotel Collection (minimum 2-night stay).”
As far as I know, the Amex Plat and Biz Plat 2x $300 FHR credits a year haven’t been officially announced yet and they are officially still just 1x $200 on personal plat and $0 on business plat, aren’t they?
Did you READ the article?
Yes. See the first note at the top of this post: “ With American Express Platinum cards, I based the information and rankings on changes expected to take effect by September 18th: Both consumer and business Platinum cards are expected to get $300 credits twice per year for Fine Hotels & Resorts (any length stay) and The Hotel Collection (minimum 2-night stay).”
When using Delta credits at a particular Marriott at which I’m a regular, the property grants me benefits . . . including an upgrade. Very thoughtful.
Greg, in your Bilt article, you mention that loyalty program member rates will become available. Will that include AAA rates as well? Thanks in advance.
I think so. That was actually Nick’s article. If you post the question there you’ll probably get a better answer then I can provide
Thanks
Great resource, Greg!
Interestingly, I never thought I be able to use the Renowned credit on my United Club. But, P2 and I decided to go to Vegas in September to see The Who at MGM Grand. I’m a little short on Marriott points right now, but sure enough, MGM Grand is part of Renowned! What a pleasant surprise 🙂 Happy hunting!