Comments on: Choosing a travel rewards program

By: Leatrice

Leatrice — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 19:09:49 +0000

Dag nabbit good stuff you whppiresanppers!

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:25:48 +0000

I find that in most of the world, $50 per night can get me a very nice room at a nice hotel, guesthouse, B&B, or whatever. And I’ve never found the fancy hotel atmosphere to be something I enjoy.

Saying that you get 4.8% back is only relevant if you would have spent the money to stay at a Starwood or similarly priced property. If you would have stayed a nice local place for half (or less) or the cost, your actual reward value accordingly divided in 1/2 (or less).

I usually go for plane tickets. One free plane ticket is worth 20 nights or more of free accommodation (and I find most years I can earn at least one free ticket, if not two).

By: The Value of Starwoods SPG points Part 1 | Tim's Adventures

The Value of Starwoods SPG points Part 1 | Tim's Adventures — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 04:33:36 +0000

[...] primary cards. My articles on developing strategiest credit card rewards strategies have even been linked by Dan, a Canadian travel blogger, from Two Go Round The [...]

By: Chua

Chua — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:41:03 +0000

I will (somewhat) kindly disagree with your findings. I don’t know the options in Canada, but for an American I do not recommend this card for travelers. I have spoken to Tim on this and still don’t see the SPG card the same way you both do. I started writing my reasons in the comment box, but it didn’t fit so I had to post it at http://www.thinkchua.com

By: Travel Credit Cards | THINKchua

Travel Credit Cards | THINKchua — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:39:33 +0000

[...] up with a Starwood’s Preferred Guest card as “the best card for travel” (here and here are two examples). After reading several posts, I decided there needed to be a counterpoint [...]

By: Daniel

Daniel — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:20:35 +0000

There’s a couple of great advantages to this card. First, I hate to pay—and absolutely refuse to pay—an annual fee. So no worries there! There is absolutely no annual fee. That’s what makes the ‘earn rate’ so good. Secondly MBNA’s online access is pretty darn good, making remote management of your account fairly easy.

By: Dave and Deb

Dave and Deb — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:47:16 +0000

Hey guy, great post. Does your card have a yearly fee? One of my petpeeves is paying a CC company any yearly fee. I still love my aeroplan You are definitely doing a great job researching before you leave, making me think about what we should be checking out. Thanks

By: Daniel

Daniel — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:42:32 +0000

Hey Tim—no, thank you. You’ve got a triumvirate of pretty cool articles on credit cards and reward programs. I happened across them as I was doing a little online research for the article above. I think that you mentioned in your piece that its the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express. In my opeinion, it’s superior to the MBNA card mentioned above, albeit only available to US residents, with only one drawback—it’s an American Express, which isn’t quite as widely available as a MasterCard or Visa. Anyway, thanks for posting. Have subscribed to your updates via RSS, too!

By: Tim Morrison

Tim Morrison — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 16:19:14 +0000

Hey Dan,
Great article and thanks for linking to one my posts. The Starwoods US credit card is the one I use as my personal rewards card.