My first ever use of credit card points was for Hilton Hotels. My husband got a credit card with a great sign up bonus and some free reward nights which allowed us to stay in some swanky Hilton properties for free. There are benefits for sure to having a co-branded credit card. Status with Hotels and airlines give you extra perks. But a Hilton point is only good at the Hilton. A Delta Mile is only good at Delta. Credit cards points that are part of a bank, like Chase, American Express, Citi, or Capital One belong to the bank, not to a brand, and have many travel transfer partners. For example, a Chase Ultimate Reward point is tied to your credit card account at Chase. It can be redeemed in the travel portal, for gift cards, or as cash back. But where it really shines is transferring to partners. All four of these bank cards have travel partners where the points are worth exponentially more than the 1 cent per point you would get as cash back. I transferred 75,000 Chase UR points to Hyatt and was able to use those points to book they Hyatt Ziva in Cancun for 3 nights. The room is over 500 per night. So I got a $1500 value from those points that are worth $750 cash back. Transferable currency for the win! If you are just starting out as a points collector, Chase is a great place to start.
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