Question
Hi
I do the corporate travel for my company. Presently I use american express - historically I have used the membership rewards to redeem points for airfare.
They would like me to look into alternatives - other credit cards that accrue points for airlines (less blackout dates...) Membership rewards no longer participated with USAIR - which is the airline many of my travelers use.
My travel expenses are well over $600,000. The majorits of this is hotel costs. We typically use the points received for the airfare..
Any suggestions on a good card to accrue points???
Also - anyone ever use the a BTA card? Can this be used at hotels?
Thanks for your help!
Answer
If the majority of your costs are hotel costs, have you considered using a hotel credit card?
I would suggest these cards:
American Express Hilton
Citibank Hilton Visa
American Express Starwood
Good Luck,
Rob
Answer
IMO Amex Starwood is the best card out there now period!
Answer
Unfortunately neither the Hilton nor Starwood cards are likely to be suitable for your circumstance. These are personal cards, and you will probably need a business card account which allows you to issue a number of cards, assign individual credit limits, establish formal liability for charges, etc.
Do I understand correctly that the company is redeeming Membership Rewards points to obtain airline tickets for business travel? Airlines very much want to discourage this and it is probably a reason American Express has so few domestic airline partners in Membership Rewards. US Air has also ended their relationship with Club Rewards, but you nonetheless may wish to consider Citibank's Diners Club (http://dinersclubus.com/dce_content/home) (which is now accepted by all Mastercard merchants) because they have more airline and hotel partners than American Express.
If a high proportion of charges are at hotels, you may wish to consider the business credit card issued by Chase for Intercontinental Hotel Group (http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?mkid=6MHD&MSC=Z0030209&partner_dir_name=priority_club_bizcard_ic&page=cont). This Visa card earns three Priority Club points per dollar when used at Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Indigo, Holiday Inn, Staybridge and Candlewood Properties. The bad news is that it earns only one point per dollar elsewhere, and Priority Club points convert 4:1 to airline miles on nearly three dozen airlines including US Air. The means the credit card would generate 0.75 miles per dollar at IHG properties and only 0.25 mile per dollar elsewhere. However, the hotels stays themselves would generate additional points.
Chase issues a similar business card for Marriott (http://www.firstusa.com/cgi-bin/webcgi/webserve.cgi?mkid=6FJY&partner_dir_name=marriott_bizcard_15k_certificate&page=cont).
dennis