Dwindling Hotel Co-Branded Credit Cards

With the recent discontinuation of the MBNA Choice Privileges MasterCard and the fate of the Chase Marriott Rewards Premier Visa Card being completely up in the air, it is extremely slim pickings for hotel co-branded credit cards in Canada.

Either we can view this as the market being wide open. Or this trend continues and maybe we will not longer see any co-branded hotel credit cards in Canada. I get the feeling that the MBNA Best Western MasterCard may be up next.

There are essentially only 5 credit cards left in the market:

Capital One IHG Rewards Club World MasterCard

• $120 annual fee
• Earn 60,000 sign up bonus points after your first purchase
• Earn 5,000 bonus points for every $10,000 you spend (no limit on how many times you can earn the 5,000 bonus points)
• Earn 5 points for every $1 spent at any hotel within the IHG family of hotels
• Earn 2 points for every $1 on all other purchases
• Receive Platinum Elite status with IHG Rewards guaranteed for the life of the credit card account

American Express Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card

• $120 annual fee
• Earn 20,000 points when you spend $500 in the first 3 months of having this card
• Earn 5,000 points for every approved referral
• Earn 1 point for every $1 spent on all purchases
• Spend $30,000 a year (anniversary year of having the credit card) to receive an automatic upgrade to Starwood Gold Preferred Guest membership
• Spend $40,000 a year (anniversary year of having the credit card) to receive a Free Weekend Night Award

MBNA Best Western MasterCard

• No annual fee
• Earn 20,000 sign up bonus points after your first purchase
• Earn 50 points for every cash advance transaction over $50
• Earn 1.5 point for every $1 on all purchases
• Receive a 1 tier elite status upgrade within the Best Western Rewards program when you spend $6,000 on your card within 1 year

Capital One IHG Rewards Club Platinum MasterCard

• No annual fee
• Earn 15,000 bonus points after your first purchase
• Earn 5,000 annual bonus points when you spend over $10,000 (only once per year)
• Earn 2 points for every $1 spent at any hotel within the IHG family of hotels
• Earn 1 point for every $1 on all other purchases
• Receive Gold Elite status on with IHG Rewards for your first year

You can also get the American Express Gold Rewards Card which allows you to earn Membership Rewards. Membership Rewards are transferable to:

• Hilton HHonors at a 1:1 ratio
• Starwood Preferred Guest at a 2:1 ratio

Personally my top 3 hotel rewards programs are IHG Rewards, Best Western and Starwood Preferred Guest. So for the time being, I am still content with what is available. That being said, I am sure that there are those of you who would like to see more variety of c0-branded hotel credit cards to offer more options. Here’s hoping one company will step it up.