Hotel credit cards are among the most underrated out there. Understandably a lot of people get cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) and Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review) to maximize the rewards they’re earning for their spending, and that’s a great idea. These cards offer valuable bonus categories, no foreign transaction fees, great travel coverage, and more.
But I think supplementing one of those cards with a hotel credit card can make a lot of sense. That’s because hotel credit cards largely offer some incredible perks that more than justify the annual fee, including free hotel status and even some free night certificates.
In this post I wanted to specifically look at which credit cards offer free nights as part of their rewards structure. These free nights come in different forms:
- Some free nights are offered for spending a certain amount on a card
- Some free nights are offered as an annual benefit just for having a card, with no spending required
In this post:
Hotel credit cards with free nights December 2024
Below I’m listing all the hotel credit cards that offer free nights as one of the benefits. In many cases, these free nights can more than justify the annual fee, and it can be worth having the cards just for these free night certificates.
Below are the hotel credit cards with the best free night perks that are still open to new applicants.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
Annual fee: $150 (Rates & Fees)
Free night certificate: This card offers a free night reward after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year; this covers properties retailing for up to 150,000 points per night, and you can find a list of excluded properties here
Apply for the Hilton Honors Amex Surpass Card, read a review of the Hilton Honors Amex Surpass Card.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
Annual fee: $550 (Rates & Fees)
Free night certificate: This card offers a free night reward shortly after you get the card, and an anniversary free night reward every year upon your account renewal with no spend requirement, plus an additional free night reward after you spend $30,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year, plus an additional free night reward after you spend $60,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year; this covers properties retailing for up to 150,000 points per night, and you can find a list of excluded properties here
Apply for the Hilton Honors Amex Aspire Card, read a review of the Hilton Honors Amex Aspire Card.
The information and associated card details on this page for the Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card has been collected independently by OMAAT and has not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
IHG One Rewards Premier Credit Card
Annual fee: $99
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any IHG hotel retailing for up to 40,000 IHG points per night; it’s also possible to redeem for a more expensive property by topping off your certificate with points (in other words, you could book a 60,000 point hotel for a free night certificate plus 20,000 points)
Apply for the IHG Premier Card, read a review of the IHG Premier Card.
IHG One Rewards Premier Business Credit Card
Annual fee: $99
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any IHG hotel retailing for up to 40,000 IHG points per night; it’s also possible to redeem for a more expensive property by topping off your certificate with points
Apply for the IHG Premier Business Card, read a review of the IHG Premier Card.
Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card
Annual fee: $125 (Rates & Fees)
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 35,000 Marriott points per night; it’s also possible to redeem for a more expensive property by topping off your certificate with up to 15,000 points
Apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, read a review of the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card.
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Annual fee: $95
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 35,000 Marriott points per night; it’s also possible to redeem for a more expensive property by topping off your certificate with up to 15,000 points
Apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card, read a review of the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card.
Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card
Annual fee: $250 (Rates & Fees)
Free night certificate: This card offers a free night certificate after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year, valid at any property retailing for up to 50,000 Marriott points per night; it’s also possible to redeem for a more expensive property by topping off your certificate with up to 15,000 points
Apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card, read a review of the Marriott Bonvoy Bevy Card.
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card
Annual fee: $650 (Rates & Fees)
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 85,000 Marriott points per night; it’s also possible to redeem for a more expensive property by topping off your certificate with up to 15,000 points
Apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, read a review of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card.
World of Hyatt Credit Card
Annual fee: $95
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at a Category 1-4 Hyatt property, plus a second free night certificate when you spend $15,000 on the card in an account anniversary year with similar terms; a majority of Hyatt properties are Category 1-4, and you can find a full listing of hotels by category here
Apply for the World of Hyatt Card, read a review of the World of Hyatt Card.
Cards with free nights (closed to new applicants)
The above are the cards offering free nights that new members can still apply for. Now I wanted to share some of the cards offering free nights that are no longer open to new applicants. This is because over time credit card issuers change their card portfolios, which is why these cards are no longer open to new cardmembers.
Below are the hotel credit cards that are no longer open to new applicants that are best for free nights.
IHG Rewards Select Credit Card
Annual fee: $49
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any IHG hotel retailing for up to 40,000 IHG points per night; this covers a vast majority of IHG properties over at least some dates (IHG has dynamic award pricing)
Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card
Annual fee: $95
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 35,000 Marriott points per night
Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card
Annual fee: $125
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 35,000 Marriott points per night
Ritz-Carlton Credit Card
Annual fee: $450
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 85,000 Marriott points per night
Bottom line
There are potentially lots of great benefits to hotel credit cards, including big welcome bonuses, easy opportunities to earn hotel status, generous rewards structures for spending, and more.
The best part is that most issuers let you have multiple credit cards, meaning you can potentially earn more than one free night certificate per year. In the case of just about all of the above cards, I’d say the free night certificates more than justify the annual fees.
What’s your favorite hotel credit card free night certificate?
The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), Marriott Bonvoy Bevy™ American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), Marriott Bonvoy Business® American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card (Rates & Fees), and Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (Rates & Fees).
I do find it easy to redeem with Marriott. At least in the past IHG made it very difficult. Perhaps with the new redemption rules it has become similar to Marriott where any hotel within the budget can qualify. Marriott lets you add a certain number of points.
Without a doubt, the World of Hyatt is my favorite hotel credit card. I don't even think about using it for a Category 4 hotel, I just make sure that the specific room on the specific night for which I used it would have cost at least $95 inclusive of fees at my Hyatt Leverage rate -- and show my a Hyatt property anywhere in the world that costs less than that on any night of the year. I easily get $150-$200 or even more in value from it each year.
Marriott free night certificates can ONLY be applied to a pure points redemption. They CANNOT be used for a points-and-cash redemption. At a practical matter, that will exclude many upgraded rooms and suites.