Get rewarded with credit cards issued by hotels

The credit card market is big business for hotels. Most issuers now offer hotels the opportunity to participate in their partnerships. Hotels opting for these partnerships typically have their hotels logos printed on the front. The hotels may also share in the profits created from these promotions.

For hotels, credit cards provide the ability to extend the hotels range of branded products and services. But, in a crowded market where there are so many credit cards for hotels customers to choose from, why pick offers issued by hotels instead of ones from a bank or that support a favourite charity?

The answer lies in what hotels offer

Hotels rewards

To attract customers to take up their products, hotels 'customise' their offers. Hotels do this by providing users with points every time the hotels credit card is used.

When redeemed, points on the hotels cards are exchanged for discounts at the hotels. For hotels consumers who use their cards frequently, and who also travel and use hotels on a regular basis, hotels credit cards and the rewards that they offer can be very attractive.

As an example, let's consider Marriott credit cards run by the Marriott hotels group. By accruing points on Marriott cards, consumers can enjoy a free night away at one of Marriott's many prestigious hotels. The more points account holders generate, then the greater the number of free nights users can claim at Marriott hotels.

But, how easy is it for users to amass points on cards issued by hotels? After all, if it takes a long while for users to build up points with the hotels, they're unlikely to get the full benefit of the offers presented by the hotels.

incentives from hotels

Many hotels issuing credit cards make it as easy as possible to acquire points quickly. To start with, a lot of hotels offer introductory bundles on points just for opening accounts with the hotels, or when making the first purchase.

The Marriott hotels group offers this second type of promotion on their cards, awarding 5000 point when they make their first purchase. For holders, it's then just a matter of gaining another 2,500 hotels points for a free night away at one of the group's category-one hotels - something that Marriott hotels make very achievable by way of a generous hotels points acquisition system.

For every £1 spent at Marriott hotels, holders are rewarded with two hotels points. If they are used elsewhere, users amass 1 hotels point per £1 spent issued by the hotels group. Therefore, to claim that first free night at a Marriott hotel, users must on average only spend around 5-10 paid nights at one of the 2400 Marriott hotels across the globe. Not a bad deal if you're a frequent traveller!