2024 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Hotels

Paying for your hotel stays with the right credit card can be a great way of racking up miles to fund your next trip. However, given the variety of ways you can book and pay for hotels, picking the right card isn’t always straightforward.

In this post, we’ll look at different scenarios, and the best card to use in each.

How do hotel transactions code?

When determining the right card to use for hotel transactions, we need to consider two things:

• MCC
• Whether the transaction is processed online or offline

MCC

If you’re paying at the hotel directly at the front desk or on its official website, the transaction will code in the MCC 3500-3999 range for major hotels, or MCC 7011 for smaller hotels and AirBnB.

If you’re paying for a hotel through an online travel agent (OTA) like Agoda, Booking.com,  Expedia, Hotels.com or Trip.com, the transaction will code as MCC 4722.

Do keep in mind that booking a hotel via an OTA is not necessarily the same as paying for a hotel via an OTA.

• If you book via an OTA and pay at the time of booking, your transaction will code as MCC 4722
• If you book via an OTA and choose a “pay at hotel” rate, your transaction will code as MCC 3500-3999/7011

In case you’re uncertain about the MCC, there’s three ways of looking it up before making a purchase:

Online/offline processing

Virtually every hotel will require you to provide a credit card to secure your booking. However, depending on the rate you’ve selected, payment may either be made at:

1. The time of booking
2. The time of check-in/check-out

(1) is generally for prepaid and non-cancellable rates, while (2) is generally for flexible and cancellable rates. In other words, (1) is likely to be processed online, while (2) is likely to be processed offline.

Stays booked directly with the hotel

If you’re booking directly with the hotel, the following cards can be used to earn up to  4 mpd.

🏨 Bookings via Hotel (Paid for online or at front desk)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month. Must choose Travel as bonus category Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd	Max S$2K per c. month. Must choose Travel as bonus category Review
DBS WWMC Apply	4 mpd Online only	Max S$1.5K per c. month Review
HSBC Revolution Apply	4 mpd*	Max S$1K per c. month. MCC 7011 excluded Review
UOB Pref. Plat. Visa Apply	4 mpd^	Max S$1.1K per c. month Review
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4 mpd*	Min S$1K max S$2K SGD spend per s. month Review
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	3.2 mpd (till 31 Aug 24) FCY only	No cap Review
*If paid in SGD, must pay in person via contactless (tap physical card or use mobile wallet) ^Must pay in person, using mobile payment (do not tap physical card)

Two points to note:

• If you’re using the DBS Woman’s World Card, your transaction must be processed online in order to earn the 4 mpd bonus rate
• If you’re using the UOB Visa Signature Card and the spend is charged in SGD, you must pay via in-person contactless spend. If the spend is in FCY, there is no such restriction

For overseas hotels, you can also consider pairing your Mastercard (except DBS) with Amaze to earn the same miles, with lower FCY transaction fees.

Stays booked through OTAs

If you book your hotel through an OTA, you could potentially earn up to 10 mpd with the right card. 

There’s two possible scenarios here:

1. You book through the OTA’s public landing page
2. You book through the OTA’s special landing page for certain cardholders (e.g. Citi x Agoda or DBS x Expedia)

Either way, I’m assuming you choose the Pay Online rate. If you choose the Pay at Hotel rate, then your card is only charged at the time of check-in/out, and you should refer to the previous section.

Public landing page

🏨 Bookings via OTA (Paid for online)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
UOB Lady’s Card Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1K per c. month. Must choose Travel as bonus category Review
UOB Lady’s Solitaire Apply	4 mpd	Max S$2K per c. month. Must choose Travel as bonus category Review
DBS WWMC Apply	4 mpd	Max S$1.5K per c. month Review
UOB Visa Signature  Apply	4 mpd FCY only	Min S$1K max S$2K FCY spend per s. month Review
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	3.2 mpd (till 31 Aug 24) FCY only	No cap Review
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	3.2 mpd (till 30 Jun 24) FCY only	Min. retail spend of S$800 per c. month. No cap Review
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card Apply	3 mpd*	With min. S$800 spend on SIA Group per m. year Review
*For Agoda, AirBnB, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Kaligo, Traveloka, Trip.com, UOB Travel

Special landing page

🏨 Bookings via OTA (Paid for online)
	Agoda	Expedia	Kaligo
Citi PM Card	7 mpd	–	10 mpd
OCBC 90°N	Up to 7 mpd	–	–
UOB PRVI Miles*	6 mpd	6 mpd	–
*Can also book hotels via UOB Travel for 6 mpd

These bookings must be made through specific landing pages, which I’ve linked to in the table above. You will also be required to make payment at the time of booking.

A word of warning: bookings made through these pages can be more expensive than if you were to go through the generic website (though not always). You should make a point of comparison shopping, and should the price on the special landing page be higher, you need to decide if the differential is worth the miles.

What if I’m buying hotel points?

Purchases of hotel points from Points.com (which processes sales for Hilton Honors, IHG, Marriott Bonvoy and World of Hyatt) will not code as hotel transactions.

Instead, these code as USD transactions under MCC 7399 (Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified). You can use the following cards instead:

🏨 Points.com transactions (Paid for online)
Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Cap of S$1K per s. month
UOB Visa Signature Apply	4 mpd	Min S$1K, max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	3.2 mpd (till 31 Aug 24)	No cap
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	3.2 mpd (till 30 Jun 24)	Min. retail spend of S$800 per c. month. No cap
SCB Visa Infinite Apply	3 mpd	Min spend S$2K per s. month
UOB PRVI Miles Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap
UOB VI Metal Card Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap
HSBC TravelOne Card Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

Conclusion

Using the right card for hotel bookings can earn as much as 10 mpd towards your next trip, but be careful because there’s a lot of variables at play: booking direct vs an OTA, paying online versus at the hotel, paying in local currency vs FCY.

If you’re booking through a special OTA website for bank customers, do take care that you’re not paying significantly more. Extra miles are nice, but not if you’re paying over the odds for them!