SUCKISSTAPLES said:jdopple said:Just got this offer from HSBC. Balance Transfer $500 and get two roundtrips to Hawaii for Free. You have to book 7 days at a hotel though.

Wonder what the minimum cost for that would be?thats a typical travel scam. you can always find these "fly free if you stay 7 nights" for trips to london , hawaii, etc. The hotel rate is inflated so high to makeup for the air

Figured that.

jiffy said:Pitty on me for not posting here originally, however here is my question:

I hear alot of raving about the AMEX Starwood and how good it is for converting miles to any airline, but you only earn 1pt per dollar.

I know I'm naieve, but how can this be better than the AMEX Costo True Earnings, which offers Cash Back as follows: 3% for dining, 2% for travel, hotels, and car rentals, and 1% elsewhere?

Because you

1) have the ability to earn a minimum of 1.25 points/$. There is a 5,000 mile bonus when you transfer 20,000 miles into a FF program

and

2) Starwood points in themselves can easily be valued for more than $0.02 or $0.03 per point. And if transferring, it's not too hard to make FF miles worth more like $0.02+ per mile.

I have the Fidelity Gold AMEX. I'm trying to figure out if I should pay the $40 to join the Membership Rewards program. The only reason I would is to convert points to frequent flyer miles.

Would the Fidelity Gold AMEX + Membership Rewards qualify as a "good" credit card for travel? Or is something like the Starwood card superior?

Thanks!

richfish13 said:I love starwood. It's one of the best cards out there IMO.

Yep, its one and ONLY card that I don't mind paying the annual fee for.

Yeah, the lowest return rate that I have found is around 2%, and the highest are around 5%.

NCL no question as they have many low priced cruises and you can play the casino for extra points to make the trip virtually free