Recommendations for rewards CC for travel

[canwegosoon]

OK DH is doing a lot of corporate dinners(4-5) a month, so I can count on about 12-1500 in dining per month, plus 8-10 hotel trips per year(another 3-5K) and 4-5 flights(not paid for by DH).

I want to keep this work dining/travel seperate from our personal CC's. Many times he does not have control over what airline he travels(the flights are usually corporate booked, sometimes from different companies). We use Albany as our home airport so we have most carries(no Jet Blue).

Any advice...
TIA, Terri

 

[clkelley]

I would get a Diner's Club card. (It has a MasterCard logo).

It is $95 per year (maybe his company will reimburse him).

1 point per dollar.

Points are transferrable to most airlines, and you can also get lots of different gift cards, hotel points programs, etc.

You can also charge hotels, airfare, and other travel expenses to the card, then pay for those items with your points balance at the rate of 100 points per $1.25.

For example, instead of sending 24,000 points to Southwest for a Rapid Rewards ticket, let's say you find a great airfare or Ding!.

Let's say that Ding resulted in an airfare of $129 total.

That airfare would cost you only 10,320 points (plus a $5 processing fee).

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

Diner's Club is not accepted at many places.

You might want to check out flyertalk.com, where there are a number of good discussions as to the benefits of different cards.

http://flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=390

 

[canwegosoon]

Thanks for the info on Flyer talk...I read a little, but DC(which I have to check on) and Amex seems to be the 2 many people have. I also want to look at Starwood(anyone use them?) and a friend suggested Capital One(again I have no Idea).

If anyone else has an input I would appericate it -Thanks

 

[clkelley]

Diner's Club is not accepted at many places.

You might want to check out flyertalk.com, where there are a number of good discussions as to the benefits of different cards.

http://flyertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=390

As I stated above, Diners Club now carries a MasterCard logo and is accepted everywhere Master Card is accepted.

We have great success with it.

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

When you chose a card, keep credit limits in mind. I use a Gold AMEX for travel and never have a credit limit problem. My husband uses a Starwood AMEX for travel, which, while providing better benefits (such as more choices for frequent flyer miles), does have a credit limit.

As I stated above, Diners Club now carries a MasterCard logo and is accepted everywhere Master Card is accepted.

Sorry, missed that.

 

[Psychodisney]

I have a Capital On no hassle card. No annual fee. 1% back on purchases. The nice thing (for me) is that it is not 25,000 points per ticket. The points required are based on the flight cost-this works out well if your tickets would be $300 or less. You can shop around for the best fare, any airline. To figure out how many points you need you multiply the airfare X 85. So for a ticket that is 250 you need 21,250 points.

 

[canwegosoon]

When you chose a card, keep credit limits in mind. I use a Gold AMEX for travel and never have a credit limit problem. My husband uses a Starwood AMEX for travel, which, while providing better benefits (such as more choices for frequent flyer miles), does have a credit limit.

Thanks that is a good point to keep in mind, but I do not think Credit limit is going to be a problem...plus DH does get rembursed fairly quickly

 

[canwegosoon]

I have a Capital On no hassle card. No annual fee. 1% back on purchases. The nice thing (for me) is that it is not 25,000 points per ticket. The points required are based on the flight cost-this works out well if your tickets would be $300 or less. You can shop around for the best fare, any airline. To figure out how many points you need you multiply the airfare X 85. So for a ticket that is 250 you need 21,250 points.

Is CO good for all airline? If Jet Blue is going to now be in Newburg I might be willing to try them out.

 

[Psychodisney]

Yes-any airline-no blackouts. You make the reservation( or they can), then you call Capital One and they credit your account and deduct your mileage points. So easy.

 

[HeatherC]

I also think American Express Membership Rewards is a good one. You can book hotels, airfare, gift cards, etc.. You can browse the rewards on the Amex website.

We have used our points for stays at Marriotts as well as free tickets every year to SeaWorld.

Good luck to you.
Heather C

 

[clkelley]

American Express Delta Skymiles is NOT a good card. We had one years ago. It had a credit limit that was also a monthly limit. One month we were doing a lot of work on the house and was running our appliances and furniture through the card. We bought the appliances and paid them off immediately, and even though the card had a zero balance, still had to wait till the next month to buy the furniture and other house stuff because we had spent our limit for the month.

 

[plutolovr]

My husband has a Platinum AMEX, with membership rewards. I think any of the AMEX cards are wonderful. You pay it off every month, you also can have the option of paying some larger purchases off over time, and there's also a sign & travel option. The points rack up quickly when it's used for corporate expenses. We use ours for airline travel, usually Southwest Rapid Reward credits. Never had a hassle doing so.

 

[NancyIL]

My husband uses our Starwood AMEX for most of his corporate travel, unless he stays at a Marriott property - and then I remind him to use the Marriott Rewards Visa! There is no annual fee for the Starwood Amex the first year, and $30/year thereafter. You earn 1 point per dollar spent, and most points can be exchanged on a 1:1 basis for frequent-flyer miles on many airlines. When you transfer 20,000 Starwood points to an airline, Starwood gives you 5,000 bonus points - so you effectively get a free domestic ticket using only 20,000 Starwood points: https://www201.americanexpress.com/cards/Applyfservlet?csi=6/15439/b/58/2997318612/29907145337/0/n

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I also think American Express Membership Rewards is a good one.

It's definately not the best if you want to earn frequent flyer miles, due to limited numbers of participating airlines. If this is your main goal, I would chose another card.

 

[ExPirateShopGirl]

Yes-any airline-no blackouts. You make the reservation( or they can), then you call Capital One and they credit your account and deduct your mileage points. So easy.

I will second the Capital One no hassle miles card. I use mine to pay many of my regular monthly bills and pay it off each month. Things like cell phone, groceries, etc.

Even though we fly free on one airline, it allows us to buy tickets to destinations not serviced by that particular airline or its partners, or buy an actual seat on a flight for which we are unable to fly standby. Never a hassle!