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Hotel credit cards are among the most underrated out there. Understandably a lot of people get cards like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card (review) and Chase Sapphire Reserve® Card (review) to maximize the rewards they’re earning for their spending, and that’s a great idea. These cards offer valuable bonus categories, no foreign transaction fees, great travel coverage, and more.
But I think supplementing one of those cards with a hotel credit card can make a lot of sense. That’s because hotel credit cards largely offer some incredible perks that more than justify the annual fee, including free hotel status and even some free night certificates.
In this post I wanted to specifically look at which credit cards offer free nights as part of their rewards structure. These free nights come in different forms:
- Some free nights are offered for spending a certain amount on a card
- Some free nights are offered as an annual benefit just for having a card, with no spending required
Hotel credit cards with free nights January 2022
Below I’m listing all the hotel credit cards that offer free nights as one of the benefits. In many cases, these free nights can more than justify the annual fee, and it can be worth having the cards just for these free night certificates.
Below are the hotel credit cards with the best free night perks that are still open to new applicants.
Hilton Honors American Express Surpass® Card
Annual fee: $95
Free night certificate: This card offers a free night reward after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year; this covers properties retailing for up to 150,000 points per night, and you can find a list of excluded properties here
Apply for the Hilton Honors Amex Surpass Card, read a review of the Hilton Honors Amex Surpass Card.
Hilton Honors American Express Business Card
Annual fee: $95 (Rates & Fees)
Free night certificate: This card offers a free night reward after you spend $15,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year, plus a second free night reward after you spend $60,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year; this covers properties retailing for up to 150,000 points per night, and you can find a list of excluded properties here
Apply for the Hilton Honors Amex Business Card, read a review of the Hilton Honors Amex Business Card.
Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card
Annual fee: $450
Free night certificate: This card offers a free weekend night reward shortly after you get the card, and an anniversary free weekend night reward every year upon your account renewal with no spend requirement, plus an additional weekend night reward after you spend $60,000 on purchases on your card in a calendar year; this covers properties retailing for up to 150,000 points per night, and you can find a list of excluded properties here
Apply for the Hilton Honors Amex Aspire Card, read a review of the Hilton Honors Amex Aspire Card.
IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card
Annual fee: $89
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any IHG hotel retailing for up to 40,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night; this covers a vast majority of IHG properties over at least some dates (IHG has dynamic award pricing), and as of March 2022 you’ll be able to top off your certificate with points to book more expensive properties
Apply for the IHG Premier Card, read a review of the IHG Premier Card.
Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card
Annual fee: $125 (Rates & Fees)
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 35,000 Marriott points per night; this covers about 6,300 of Marriott’s 6,500+ hotels, and you can find the cost of each hotel here (in the coming weeks it should be possible to top off a certificate with points to book a more expensive property)
Apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card, read a review of the Marriott Bonvoy Business Card.
Marriott Bonvoy Boundless® Credit Card
Annual fee: $95
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 35,000 Marriott points per night; this covers about 6,300 of Marriott’s 6,500+ hotels, and you can find the cost of each hotel here
Apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card, read a review of the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless Card.
Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card
Annual fee: $450 (Rates & Fees)
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 50,000 Marriott points per night; this will cover a vast majority of Marriott hotels, and you can find the cost of each hotel here
Apply for the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card, read a review of the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant Card.
Radisson Rewards Premier Signature Visa Card
Annual fee: $75
Free night certificate: This card offers free night certificates for each $10,000 spent per cardmember year, up to three free certificates per year; you’re restricted to redeeming these at Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, or Country Inn & Suites by Radisson hotel located in the US
Apply for the Radisson Rewards Premier Visa Card.
World of Hyatt Credit Card
Annual fee: $95
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at a Category 1-4 Hyatt property, plus a second free night certificate when you spend $15,000 on the card in an account anniversary year with similar terms; a majority of Hyatt properties are Category 1-4, and you can find a full listing of hotels by category here
Apply for the World of Hyatt Card, read a review of the World of Hyatt Card.
Cards with free nights (closed to new applicants)
The above are the cards offering free nights that new members can still apply for. Now I wanted to share some of the cards offering free nights that are no longer open to new applicants. This is because over time credit card issuers change their card portfolios, which is why these cards are no longer open to new cardmembers.
Below are the hotel credit cards that are no longer open to new applicants that are best for free nights.
IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card
Annual fee: $49
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any IHG hotel retailing for up to 40,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night; this covers a vast majority of IHG properties over at least some dates (IHG has dynamic award pricing)
Marriott Bonvoy American Express Card
Annual fee: $95
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 35,000 Marriott points per night; this covers about 6,300 of Marriott’s 6,500+ hotels, and you can find the cost of each hotel here
Marriott Bonvoy Business Credit Card
Annual fee: $125
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 35,000 Marriott points per night; this covers about 6,300 of Marriott’s 6,500+ hotels, and you can find the cost of each hotel here
Ritz-Carlton Credit Card
Annual fee: $450
Free night certificate: This card offers an anniversary free night certificate every year, valid at any hotel retailing for up to 50,000 Marriott points per night; this covers a vast majority of Marriott hotels, and you can find the cost of each hotel here
Bottom line
There are potentially lots of great benefits to hotel credit cards, including big welcome bonuses, easy opportunities to earn hotel status, generous rewards structures for spending, and more.
The best part is that most issuers let you have multiple credit cards, meaning you can potentially earn more than one free night certificate per year. In the case of just about all of the above cards, I’d say the free night certificates more than justify the annual fees.
What’s your favorite hotel credit card free night certificate?
The following links will direct you to the rates and fees for mentioned American Express Cards. These include: The Hilton Honors American Express Business Card (Rates & Fees), Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant™ American Express® Card (Rates & Fees), and Marriott Bonvoy Business™ American Express® Card (Rates & Fees).
