Category

Which card earns most on hotels

Every card we track, ranked by what it actually returns per dollar of hotels spending — annual fee shown beside it, because a rate that loses to its own fee is not a good rate.

Rates re-checked against issuer pages; most recent check September 2, 2026.

Top of the table: Capital One Venture X Business at 16¢ per dollar, against a $395 annual fee. Whether that beats a free card depends entirely on how much hotels spending you actually put through it.

Hotels — every card we track

#CardRateValue per $Annual feeNotes
1 Capital One Venture X Business
Capital One
10× 16¢ $395 conditional
2 Amex Business Platinum
American Express
8.5¢ $895
3 Amex Platinum
American Express
8.5¢ $895
4 Capital One Venture
Capital One
$95
5 Capital One Venture Business
Capital One
$95 conditional
6 Chase Sapphire Reserve
Chase
7.2¢ $795
7 Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business
Chase
7.2¢ $795 conditional
8 World of Hyatt
Chase / Hyatt
6.8¢ $95 conditional
9 Hilton Honors Amex Surpass
American Express / Hilton
12× $150
10 Chase Ink Business Preferred
Chase
5.4¢ $95 conditional
11 Amex Business Gold
American Express
5.1¢ $375
12 Capital One Spark Cash Plus
Capital One
5% $150 conditional
13 Chase Freedom Unlimited
Chase
5% conditional
14 Chase Ink Business Premier
Chase
5% $195 conditional
15 Citi Strata Premier
Citi
4.5¢ $95
16 Marriott Bonvoy Boundless
Chase / Marriott
4.2¢ $95 conditional
17 Bilt Obsidian Card
Bilt
3.6¢ $95
18 Bilt Palladium Card
Bilt
3.6¢ $495
19 Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase
3.6¢ $95
20 Capital One Venture X
Capital One
3.2¢ $395 conditional
21 Wells Fargo Autograph
Wells Fargo
22 United Explorer
Chase / United
2.6¢ $150
23 Citi Double Cash
Citi
2%
24 Bilt Blue Card
Bilt / Wells Fargo
1.8¢
25 Amex Gold
American Express
1.7¢ $325
26 Chase Ink Business Unlimited
Chase
1.5% 1.5¢
27 Atmos Rewards Ascent Visa Signature
Bank of America / Alaska
1.4¢ $95
28 Citi AAdvantage Platinum Select
Citi / American Airlines
1.3¢ $99
29 Southwest Rapid Rewards Plus
Chase / Southwest
1.3¢ $99
30 Delta SkyMiles Gold Amex
American Express / Delta
1.2¢ $150
31 Amex Blue Cash Preferred
American Express
1% $95
32 Capital One SavorOne
Capital One
1% $39
33 Chase Ink Business Cash
Chase
1%
34 Discover it Cash Back
Discover
1%

Cents-per-dollar figures use our standard point valuations, not transfer-partner rates. Transferring to an airline or hotel partner at the right moment can beat these numbers; routine redemptions generally will not. We publish the conservative figure on purpose.

Caps matter more than the headline rate for anyone who spends seriously in a category: a 5× rate that stops after $1,500 of spend is a different product from an uncapped 3×. Both are shown above.

This is a curated catalogue of the cards we track, not every card on the market. Rates can change without notice; confirm with the issuer before applying.

Disclosure — some Apply links pay us. Some of the cards listed here carry a referral link and some do not; each card’s own page says which. Where one exists, applying through it earns a referral reward for MaxMyPoints or for someone here, at no cost to you, and the offer through it is sometimes better than the issuer’s public one. Rates here are read from each issuer’s own published page, and the audit ranks cards on published rates and your own spending, and never reads which cards carry a referral link. These pages carry no application links.

All cards we track

This page ranks categories. Your statements know what you actually bought.

A table of published rates can tell you which card is best in theory. It cannot tell you what last year cost you, because it has never seen a line of your spending. The audit reads a full 12 months and prices every purchase against the card you used and the card you should have.

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