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Our site may earn compensation when a customer clicks on a link, when an application is approved, or when an account is opened with our partners, and this may impact how or where these products appear. While we don't cover all available credit cards, our editorial team creates and maintains all of the analysis of these cards, and our content is not influenced nor subject to review by any credit card company, bank or partner prior to (or after) publication. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.
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Amex vs. Citi vs. Chase: Which booking portal is best for hotels?
Katie Genter is a digital nomad who has traveled full time since June 2017. She writes and edits stories about points and miles, and loyalty programs, often letting her personal experiences color these stories.
October 22, 2019 • 27 min read
The cards we feature here are from partners who compensate us when you are approved through our site, and this may impact how or where these products appear. We don't cover all available credit cards, but our analysis, reviews, and opinions are entirely from our editorial team. Terms apply to the offers listed on this page. Please view our advertising policy and product review methodology for more information.Editorial disclaimer: Opinions expressed here are the author's alone, not those of any bank, credit card issuer, airline or hotel chain, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
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Quick summary
Hotel prices can vary widely depending on how and where you book, even for the same room and dates.
Travel portals linked to popular rewards cards often do not offer the lowest net cost for hotel bookings compared to direct booking or third-party sites.
Using points through these portals generally yields less value than transferring points to airline or hotel partners, per TPG's valuations as of the article's date.
Special benefits like a fourth-night-free can sometimes make select portal bookings competitive, but these are exceptions rather than the rule.
What to consider
Rates in travel portals may not include elite benefits or loyalty earnings unless booking direct.
Point redemptions through portals often provide lower value than TPG's estimated point valuations as of the article's publication.
Some limited-time offers or benefits, such as a fourth-night-free, can influence the best booking method for specific stays.
What you'll miss from the article
Detailed comparisons of booking costs and net values across multiple booking channels for five New York City hotels, including when portal bookings may or may not make sense.
Generated by AI with support from our editorial team.
Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.
If you ask guests at almost any hotel how much they paid for their room last night, you'll get many different answers. Sure, these guests booked at different times and might have different room types. But prices for the same room booked at the same time can also vary, based on how you booked.
Many popular travel rewards cards like the Chase Sapphire Reserve, The Platinum Card® from American Express and the Citi Premier® Card have travel portals for their cardholders. Through these portals, you can book hotels, flights or other types of travel using either your card or the points earned by your card.
The information for the Citi Prestige has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
However, some readers have reported inflated costs when booking hotels through these portals. In this guide I evaluate how prices offered through the American Express, Chase and Citi travel portals compare -- both to each other, as well as to other booking methods.
For the purposes of this guide, I considered the following booking options:
Booking a cash rate directly with a hotel brand using a cobranded hotel credit card
Booking an award night directly with a hotel brand
Clicking through hotels.com using the Capital One® Venture® Rewards Credit Card or the Capital One® VentureOne® Rewards Credit Card (ends Jan. 31, 2020)
I’ll consider all of these options for five different properties in New York City, each of which was selected before I began checking prices.
For each property, I considered four- or five-night stays. I randomly selected a date about two months in the future for my searches. For four-night stays, I used the dates of Dec. 18-22, 2019, whereas for five-night stays I used the dates of Dec. 17-22, 2019. I used four-night stays for most searches, since this aligns with the Citi Prestige’s fourth-night-free benefit. However, for hotel brands that offer a fifth night free on awards to at least some customers, I used five-night stays for my searches.
The rates listed in this piece are for two people staying in the least-expensive room type. The rates include all taxes and fees that are disclosed during the booking process. The rates listed were available when I searched, but may not still be available. For direct rates, I considered member rates and promotional rates for popular hotel brands.
For the Amex, Chase and Citi travel portals, you can book stays using an eligible credit card or using points. If you decide to use points, you'll get a flat-rate value for them that is lower than TPG's valuation of these points. American Express Membership Rewards points are worth 0.7 cents each when used to book hotels through Amex Travel. The value you'll get from your Chase Ultimate Rewards points when booking hotels through the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal depends on which Ultimate Rewards card you have: Chase Sapphire Reserve cardholders get 1.5 cents per point, Chase Sapphire Preferred Card and Ink Business Preferred Credit Card cardholders get 1.25 cents per point and cardholders of no-annual-fee Chase Ultimate Rewards cards (like the Chase Freedom (No longer open to new applicants) and Ink Business Cash Credit Card) get 1 cent per point. The value you'll get from your Citi ThankYou points when booking hotels through the Citi ThankYou portal depends on which Citi ThankYou card you have: Citi Prestige cardholders get 1 cent per point while Citi Premier® Card holders still get 1.25 cents per point until April 10, 2021.
The information for the Chase Freedom has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Finally, remember that you usually won’t have access to elite benefits or earning when you don't book direct. It’s possible that you may occasionally be given access to benefits or earnings on these stays, but this shouldn’t be expected. Now, let’s consider the five properties:
In the following table, I compare the cost, credit card earnings and Hilton Honors earnings for the sample five-night stay. I assume that you have either Hilton Gold status through the Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card or Hilton Diamond status through the Hilton Honors Aspire Card from American Express (and that you use the corresponding card to pay for the stay when booking directly). Note that you’ll only earn Hilton points on the room rate, not on taxes and fees.
The information for the Hilton Aspire Amex card has been collected independently by The Points Guy. The card details on this page have not been reviewed or provided by the card issuer.
Booking Method
Dec. 17-22, 2019
Credit Card Earnings
Loyalty Earnings
Net Cost
Booking cash rate directly
$1,829 ($1,570 for room)
21,948 Hilton points, worth $132, with Hilton Surpass
25,606 Hilton points, worth $154, with Hilton Aspire
*Doesn't factor in the potential cash-back earnings you could get from clicking through a cash-back portal. **Based on TPG's valuations.
For this stay, the Citi Prestige fourth night free comes out ahead. However, since you'll only get a value of 1 cent each for your Citi ThankYou points when you use them to book travel through Citi ThankYou, you'll likely want to put the stay on your Citi Prestige Card instead of using points. Even ignoring the fourth night free, Citi ThankYou shows lower rates than the Amex and Chase travel portals.
If you don't have a Citi Prestige Card, or don't want to use one of your two annual fourth-night-free stays on this trip, you may want to book direct if you're an elite or are working toward elite status. Otherwise, booking through hotels.com is a good option until the end of January 2020 if you have the Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card or Capital One VentureOne Rewards Credit Card.
The standard rooms at the Andaz 5th Avenue are small but they have high ceilings and a separate sitting area. (Photo by Benji Stawski/The Points Guy.)
The Andaz 5th Avenue is a Category 6 Hyatt property. In the following table, I compare the cost, credit card earnings and World of Hyatt earnings for a sample four-night stay. In this table, I assume that you have Hyatt Discoverist status through the World of Hyatt Credit Card, and that you’ll use the World of Hyatt card to pay for the stay when booking directly. Note that you’ll only earn Hyatt points on the room rate, not on taxes and fees.
Booking Method
Dec. 18-22, 2019
Credit Card Earnings
Loyalty Earnings
Net Cost
Booking cash rate directly using the World of Hyatt Credit Card
*Doesn't factor in the potential cash-back earnings you could get from clicking through a cash-back portal. **Based on TPG's valuations. ***Hotel Collection booking.
The Citi Prestige fourth night free wins in this example as well. Ignoring the Citi Prestige fourth-night-free benefit, the Citi and Chase portals both find lower prices than Amex Travel — but this Andaz is a Hotel Collection property, which provides a $100 on-site credit and an upgrade if available, so you may want to book through Amex Travel if you value the Hotel Collection benefits.
Otherwise, Hyatt elites will likely want to book directly to get elite benefits and earnings, while non-elites who are looking for the lowest net cost (besides the Citi fourth night free) will want to book through hotels.com using the Capital One Venture Card or Capital One VentureOne Card.
View from the Sheraton Tribeca's club lounge. (Photo by Summer Hull/The Points Guy.)
Marriott provides a fifth night free on awards, so I considered a five-night stay at the Sheraton Tribeca New York Hotel. The hotel is a Category 5 Marriott property, so you’d need to pay between 30,000 and 40,000 points per night. For our sample stay from Dec. 17-22, the current cost is 140,000 points which is worth about $1,120 based on TPG's valuations.
In the following table, I compare the cost, credit card earnings and Marriott Bonvoy earnings for a sample five-night stay. In this table, I assume that you have either Marriott Silver status through the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Credit Card or Marriott Gold status through the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant® American Express® Card (and that you use the corresponding card to pay for the stay when booking directly). Note that you only earn Marriott points on the room rate, not on taxes and fees.
Booking Method
Dec. 17-22, 2019
Credit Card Earnings
Loyalty Earnings
Net Cost
Booking cash rate directly with Marriott Boundless or Marriott Brilliant
*Doesn't factor in the potential cash-back earnings you could get from clicking through a cash-back portal. **Based on TPG's valuations.
Booking through hotels.com using the Capital One Venture Card or Capital One VentureOne Card provides the lowest net cost for this example thanks to its excellent rate of return. Amex Travel and the Chase Ultimate Rewards portal get the same nightly rate though, which is slightly lower than what can be booked through Citi ThankYou. However, booking direct gets a rate that is just $1 higher than the lowest rate, so elites and aspiring elites will want to book direct to get elite benefits and earning.
The Crowne Plaza Times Square's red sign is visible from the stands in Times Square. (Photo by JT Genter/The Points Guy.)
The Crowne Plaza Times Square costs 60,000 points per night. But IHG gives a fourth night free on award stays to cardholders of the IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card. For the purposes of this guide, I’ll assume you have the IHG Premier Card and the Platinum Elite status that comes with this card.
In the following table, I compare the cost, credit card earnings and IHG earnings for a sample four-night stay. In this table, I assume that you use your IHG Premier Card to pay for your stay when booking directly. Note that you only earn IHG points on the room rate, not on taxes and fees.
Booking Method
Dec. 18-22, 2019
Credit Card Earnings
Loyalty Earnings
Net Cost
Booking cash rate directly using IHG Premier
$1,190 ($1,025 for room) + $161 in resort fees due at property
*Doesn't factor in the potential cash-back earnings you could get from clicking through a cash-back portal. **Based on TPG's valuations.
Booking a fourth-night-free award stay is the best option here if you have the points (or can buy them) and agree with TPG's valuation of 0.5 cents each for IHG points. Otherwise, booking direct provides the best room rate, with all other methods charging $106 more for the four-night stay. However, in terms of net cost, booking through hotels.com with an eligible card or using one of your two annual Citi Prestige fourth-night-free stays will be better.
The Mr. C Seaport hotel in lower Manhattan has some positive aspects, but TPG's review didn't find it worthy of its high nightly rate. (Photo by Darren Murph/The Points Guy.)
Mr. C Seaport hotel is a member of Leading Hotels of the World but doesn't partner with any other points-earning or -redeeming alliances. In the following table, I compare the cost and credit card earnings for a sample four-night stay. In this table, I assume that you’ll use the Sapphire Reserve to pay for the stay when booking directly.
Booking Method
Dec. 18-22, 2019
Credit Card Earnings
Loyalty Earnings
Net Cost
Booking cash rate directly
$1,333 including resort fees
3,999 Ultimate Rewards points using Sapphire Reserve, worth $80
n/a
$1,253*
Hotels.com using Capital One Venture Card
$1,326 ($1,143 for room) + $80 in resort fees due at property
*Doesn't factor in the potential cash-back earnings you could get from clicking through a cash-back portal. **Based on TPG's valuations. ***Fine Hotels and Resorts booking.
The lowest net cost for booking this hotel is through hotels.com using an eligible card, even though booking direct costs $73 less. However, you can book a stay through Amex's Fine Hotels and Resorts program for a net cost of $170 more — which may be worth it when you consider that you get a $100 property amenity, upgrade, late checkout and daily breakfast for two.
So, how did the Chase, Amex and Citi travel portals fare in terms of hotel bookings? Let's look at it in terms of both booking cost and net cost in the following table, which excludes the Citi Prestige fourth-night-free benefit except as noted:
Lowest net cost (including Citi Prestige fourth night free)
0/5
0/5
2/5
Lowest net cost among Amex/Chase/Citi
2/5
2/5
1/5
As you can see, booking through the travel portals for Citi, Chase or Amex didn't provide the lowest net cost in any of these examples -- although the Citi Prestige fourth-night-free benefit did result in the lowest net cost in two of the five examples.
Of course, these examples assume that you have access to all of these travel portals, as well the Capital One Venture Card or Capital One VentureOne Card, which currently unlock the ability to earn an effective 24% return when booking through hotels.com and combining with Hotels.com rewards. So if you have a smaller subset of booking options, you may find that booking through your card's travel portal performs relatively better. But this guide should be a stark reminder to check multiple booking options before booking. Don't simply assume that booking through your credit card's travel portal will always be best.
As for using points to book though your credit card's travel portal: This guide illustrates just how much potential value you lose in doing so. Using your points toward hotel bookings values your points significantly lower than TPG's valuations, although the difference is much more in the case of Amex Membership Rewards cards (0.7 vs 2 cents per point) than it is for the Sapphire Reserve (1.5 vs 2 cents per point) and the Citi Premier (1.25 vs 1.7 cents per point). If you've been using your transferable points toward hotel bookings through your card's travel portal, use the following guides to help consider whether you could be getting better value from your points.
By commenting, you agree to our Community Guidelines to help create a positive space for conversation. The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser, our partners, or The Points Guy (“TPG”). They have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these parties. All responses are submitted by individual contributors, and neither the bank advertiser, our partners, nor TPG are responsible for ensuring that all posts and/or questions are answered.
