How Long Can You Live on Hotel Card Sign-Up Bonuses

There are quite a few different hotel credit cards out there all offering lucrative sign-up bonuses. Some offer a number of free nights while others offer a certain number of points. It’s pretty clear how many nights you can stay for free with the first type of sign-up bonus, but the cards that offer points are a bit more tricky. Here are the main hotel credit cards currently available and the number of free nights you can get — plus the total number of nights you could live out of hotels if you got all of these cards at the same time (which I totally don’t recommend)!

Marriott/Ritz-Carlton

Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card
These credit cards offer 80,000 points each for their sign-up bonuses after completing minimum spending requirements. Marriott’s reward chart starts at 6,000 points per night for a Category 1 PointSavers hotel. The upper end is 45,000 points per night for a regular Marriott hotel, but you can also redeem your Marriott points for uber fancy Ritz-Carlton hotels. Top tier Ritz-Carlton hotels cost 70,000 points per night. This means that the sign-up bonus for each Marriott credit card could get you as few as one night or as many as 13!

Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card

Of all of the cards on this list, this one is the most straight forward. When you apply for the Ritz-Carlton Rewards card, you’ll earn two complimentary nights at a Category 1-4 Ritz-Carlton property after completing minimum spending requirements.

Hilton

Hilton Honors Card from American Express

The Hilton Honors card has a 50,000 Hilton point sign-up bonus after completing minimum spending requirements. Hilton’s award chart starts at 5,000 points per night but can go to 95,000 points per night (or even higher!) just for a basic room. That means this sign-up bonus is worth anywhere from less than one free night to 10 free nights at Hilton properties.

Hilton Honors Surpass Card from American Express

The Hilton Honors Surpass card has a higher 75,000 point sign-up bonus after completing minimum spending requirements. Since we’re still talking about Hilton with rooms starting at 5,000 points to over 95,000 points for a free night, this sign-up bonus is worth up to 15 free nights at Hilton properties.

Hyatt

Hyatt Credit Card

Hyatt’s credit card used to come with a fixed two nights at any Hyatt property worldwide, but was recently changed to have a 40,000 Hyatt point sign-up bonus after completing minimum spending requirements. Free nights at Hyatt properties can cost as little as 5,000 points and as much as 30,000 points for a standard room. This 40,000 sign-up bonus could get you as many as eight free nights at Hyatt properties or as few as one with some points to spare.

Starwood Preferred Guest

Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express

The Starwood Preferred Guest credit card offers 75000 SPG points after completing minimum spending requirements. SPG’s hotels start at just 2,000 points per night and can cost as many as 35,000 points per night. This sign-up bonus could get you anywhere from not-quite-one to 15 free nights at SPG properties.

Starwood Business Credit Card from American Express

If you’re looking for a business credit card, the Starwood Business card gets even 15,000 more points for its sign-up bonus for a total of 100,000 SPG points after completing minimum spending requirements. SPG points can be used for hotel stays, but they can also be transferred to airline frequent flyer programs. If you convert your points into airline miles, you will get the 5,000 miles bonus for transferring 20,000 SPG points.

InterContinental Hotels Group

IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card
When you apply for the IHG Rewards Club Select credit card and complete minimum spending requirements, you’ll earn 60,000 IHG points. IHG Reward nights start at just 5,000 IHG points for PointBreaks properties and can cost as much as 60,000 points per night for top-tier properties. This sign-up bonus is worth anywhere between one and 12 nights at IHG properties.

What’s the total number of nights you can get for free from hotel credit card sign-up bonuses?

The total number of hotel nights you can get out of the sign-up bonuses from hotel credit cards varies a lot depending on what category of hotel you want to stay in. If you’re looking to stretch your points as far as they can go, you can book as many as 100 nights at hotels (with a few points left over) from the sign-up bonuses alone! On the other hand, if you only redeem your points at top-tier properties, you’ll max out your free nights at less than a week with only six free nights with a decent number of points left over.

In reality, if you got all of these cards all at once or spread out over a few months or years, you would probably redeem the sign-up bonuses for somewhere between six and 100 nights at hotels. Additionally, you’d have a few more points at your disposal considering you have to spend money (and would therefore earn points) in order to earn the sign-up bonus.

Other options?

In addition to the credit cards listed above, many other smaller hotel chains offer credit cards with some type of sign-up bonus. Additionally, credit cards that earn transferable points currencies like Chase Ultimate Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, and Citi ThankYou points can also be utilized for free hotel nights by transferring to hotel partners and redeeming directly.