Stash Hotel Rewards Credit Card, New 50,000 Point Bonus
The Offer
Spend $3,000 in the first 3 months of card membership and get 50,000 bonus to use for free nights at Stash partner hotels. The usual offer is 10,000 points. The $85 annual fee is waived the first year.
Card Benefits
- Annual Fee, $85, waived first year
-
3 Points additional per dollar spent at Stash Partner Hotels
- 2 Points per dollar spent on all other hotels, dining and gas
- 1 Point per dollar spend elsewhere
- Earn Stash points on reservations made through the booking portal.
Stash Program Overview
Pros and Cons of Independent Hotels
Before I saw this offer, I’ll admit I wasn’t very familiar with the Stash Hotel Rewards Program. After doing some research, I’ll admit, I’m still not. I’ve never stayed at any of their hotels, nor have I heard of MOST of them. I don’t think I’ve ever been attracted to a Boutique Hotel because it flies in the face of everything I love- Points, Loyalty and Free Upgrades. With no loyalty program attached, I’m not accruing loyalty nights, none of my money is working for me- it’s just going into a big dark hole. Sure, I might be earning a few extra points per dollar because it’s in the hotel category etc, but it’s not the same.
To be fair, there is definitely a reason to stay at a boutique hotel, they’re often original, have character and are appreciative of their customers. Let’s also note that being a free agent means you can stay pretty much wherever you want whenever you want and in my world, flexibility is King.
In comes Stash, a loyalty program for boutique, independent hotels. At first, I was hoping this could be a triple dip situation, but I don’t really see any opportunity for the third. First, you can earn bonus points for the Travel or Hotel category on your credit card. Then you can earn Stash Loyalty points as long as you book through the appropriate channels. Appropriate channels are the website or directly with their partner hotel. There could be a third opportunity to earn on these reservations if you’re able to get a deal directly from the hotel or maybe an Amex Offer.
Stash Booking Portal
Interestingly, you can also book non-partner hotels, think anything you can book on a regular 3rd party site on the Stash Portal. However, you will only receive 1 point per dollar. I don’t see much point in doing this because you will lose out on direct booking benefits, but its’s worth noting, if you’re chasing a specific redemption.
I also noticed this promotion when I set up my account and logged in to poke around. Book in October and earn an extra 1,000 points. If they do regular promotions like this, it’s a good way to get increased value out of your bookings.
Bonus Analysis
This credit card is from Synchrony Bank, this is a positive in my view because it means you’re less likely to have any issues getting approved because you’ve got too many cards or too much credit. I could be wrong, any data points are welcome! The offer states that this is enough for 2 free nights at any Stash Partner Hotel. To be fair, it also says in the fine print that this is based on the average price across their portfolio. I think this is a bit misleading. If you’re going to say it’s enough to stay at “any one of our”… hotels, it should be enough for 2 nights at any of their hotels. But, I found a bunch of hotels for 30,000+ points per night.
Looking at options to redeem the 50,000 points, there are plenty of hotels with cheaper rates under 20,000 and based on the pics and ratings they look pretty nice. Here’s an example of one quick search in NYC. Looking at these rates- seems like points are worth on average, about 1 cent a piece. Thus, the sign up bonus is worth around $500. As with anything else, it is always possible to get more or less based on the specific redemption.
Conclusion
I’m torn on this one and that’s not something I say very often. On the one hand, I love the idea of being able to stay at any hotel I feel like and not worry about their loyalty program. Unfortunately, Stash doesn’t have enough hotels for me to feel like I have options everywhere. I am undoubtedly, going to be looking to use their loyalty program, because it just adds options. As I mentioned earlier, I tend to overlook smaller branded or boutique hotels because they don’t offer value back. This program helps to change that!
Will I be getting this card? Possibly. I’d like to do a little more research on hotel options and cities. I certainly wouldn’t be using this for every day spend as 1 point per dollar in an award program I’m unfamiliar with isn’t exactly mowing me over with excitement. However, I could see using this for bonus category spend. I also think this would be a great card for anyone who actually regularly stays at a couple of these hotels.
What do you think? Is anyone excited over this?
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I had the card before at the old bonus offer. I met minimum spend but could never find a property to use the miles at so I closed the card. Did not see value then but the new bonus makes it more appealing. Very few properties esp in the Seattle area. None in Alask