Nowadays many premium credit cards (with steep annual fees) have travel credits of some sort, which can help offset the annual fee. In this post I wanted to rank these credits based on their ease of use, and also discuss why card issuers offer these credits to begin with.
Continue reading: Ranking Credit Card Annual Travel Credits: Which Are Best?
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
US Bank altitude reserve?!?! 325 on an travel OR DINING spend on the card is automatically reimbursed. $75 credit on Southwest priority card. Ritz card $300 credit which in practice works on any airline charge under $500 as long as you say it's a seat upgrade/exit row. B of A premium rewards Elite 300 air incidental credit. Booking thru a portal is a massive pain in the @$$ cr@ck, doubly so when there are schedules changes or IRROPS. Look at the countless stories on reddit of day of departure disasters when booking thru chase portal.
I have the Hilton Surpass card. Do I need to stay in a hotel to use the credit or would it apply if I just eat a meal in a hotel restaurant without incurring a room charge? (I’m not referring to a third party operated restaurant that happens to be located in the hotel, but rather specifically to a restaurant that is operated by the hotel.) Hilton’s web site says that the credit applies to all charges billed to the room, but it doesn’t address this specific situation. Has anyone received the credit in this situation, or had it denied? Thanks for sharing your experience.
It's not explicitly addressed, because it depends on how any particular property sets things up. If the restaurant charges through the same merchant account as the front desk of the hotel, it will get the credit; if it doesn't, it won't (and if the charge posts as a charge at the restaurant, you're not likely to be able to convince Amex to give the credit).
That said, if you're regularly going more than 4 months without staying at a Hilton, the Surpass may not be a great fit anyway.
One thing that makes this a little more difficult is whether the benefit is on a calendar year or cardmember year. For example, the Venture X is on a cardmember year and if that is not your go-to card for flights, one must pay attention so as to not miss the benefit.
CSR and the Altitude Reserve are in a class by themselves. C1 portal is expensive and it sucks. Amex makes you register for most credits, then spreads the credit out on a monthly basis, with no rollover. With Amex I get the signup bonus, and then cancel the card after a year. The points stay alive because I also have the No annual fee Blue Business Plus.
I just used the AmEx $200 hotel credit at Park Hyatt Chicago at a rate less that the hotel website so score. Plus free breakfast $60 credit including room service plus $100 hotel credit. Maxed out breakfast and enjoyed the Champagne spilt from the minibar - I wasn’t hungry enough to eat supper.
And I’ve got a workaround for the airline credit after the AA gift cards stopped being reimbursed