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2025 Edition: Best Credit Cards for Hotels

Pick the right credit card for hotel stays and earn up to 4 mpd- or up to 10 mpd through special OTA pages (if you don't mind a mark up!)

Hotel stays are a great opportunity to rack up miles towards your next trip. However, given the variety of ways you can book and pay for hotels, picking the right credit card isnโ€™t always straightforward.

In this post, weโ€™ll look at different scenarios, and the best card to use in each.

๐Ÿ’ณ Whatโ€™s the Best Card forโ€ฆ
โ“ Overall Guide
โœˆ๏ธ Air Tickets
๐ŸŒŽ Amaze  ๐Ÿ›๏ธ Atome
๐Ÿ’ฐ CardUp ๐Ÿš— Car Rental ๐Ÿ’— Charity
๐Ÿฝ๏ธ Dining ๐Ÿซ Education โšก EV Charging
๐Ÿฅก Food Delivery ๐Ÿจ Hotels โ˜‚๏ธ Insurance
๐Ÿ“ฑ Kris+ โš•๏ธ Medical ๐Ÿ–๏ธ Overseas
๐Ÿ’Š Pharmacies โ›ฝ Petrol ๐Ÿš Public Transport
๐Ÿ›’ Supermarkets ๐Ÿšฐ Utilities ๐Ÿ’’ Weddings

How do hotel transactions code?

Sofitel Kuala Lumpur

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

  • Merchant Category Code (MCC)
  • Whether the transaction is processed online or offline
  • Whether the transaction is in SGD or foreign currency (FCY)

Merchant category code

๐Ÿจ Pay directly with hotel ๐ŸŒ Pay via OTA
  • MCC 3500-3999 (major hotel chains)
  • MCC 7011 (other hotels and AirBnB)
  • MCC 4722

If youโ€™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.

โš ๏ธ Important Note

Just because a hotel is part of a chain doesnโ€™t guarantee it will code under the chainโ€™s corresponding MCC in the 3500-3999 range. As shown in the screenshot below from the Westin Kuala Lumpur, itโ€™s possible for chain hotels to code as 7011.

If youโ€™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 โ€œpay at hotelโ€ rate, your transaction will code as MCC 3500-3999/7011

In case youโ€™re uncertain about the MCC, thereโ€™s three ways of looking it up before making a purchase:

Method Ease of Use Reliability
โ“HeyMax โ—โ—โ— โ—
๐Ÿ“ฑ Instarem app โ—โ— โ—โ—
๐Ÿค– DBS digibot โ—
โ—โ—โ—
Note: โ€œEase of useโ€ and โ€œreliabilityโ€ are all relative. HeyMax already provides a solid baseline for reliability, and the DBS digibot is still simple enough to use, despite requiring more steps than the other two methods.

Online/offline processing

Virtually every hotel will require you to provide a credit card to secure your booking. However, depending on the rate youโ€™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.

โš ๏ธ Caveat

Youโ€™ll notice Iโ€™ve used terms like โ€œgenerallyโ€ and โ€œlikelyโ€. Thatโ€™s because Iโ€™ve encountered situations with Hilton and GHA where supposedly prepaid and non-cancellable rates were charged offline at the hotel, at the time of check-in.

When in doubt, itโ€™s best to email the hotel to find out the billing arrangement.

SGD or FCY

If youโ€™re staying at an overseas hotel, then you can simply use any card which offers bonuses for FCY spend.

Just be careful that you donโ€™t fall victim to the DCC scam. Always opt to pay in FCY instead of SGD, and if youโ€™re not given the choice, be sure to raise a dispute.

Stays booked directly with the hotel

If youโ€™re booking directly with the hotel, the following cards can be used to earn up to  4 mpd.

๐Ÿจ Bookings via Hotel
(Paid online or at the front desk)

Card Earn Rate Remarks
UOB Ladyโ€™s Card
Apply
4 mpd
Max S$1K per c. month. Must choose Travel as bonus category
Review
UOB Ladyโ€™s Solitaire
Apply
4 mpd
Max S$2K per c. month1. Must choose Travel as bonus category
Review
DBS Womanโ€™s World Card
Apply
4 mpd
Online
Max S$1.5K per c. month2
Review
DCS Imperium Card
Apply
4 mpd
FCY
Min. S$4K FCY spend per c. month
Review
HSBC Revolution
Apply
4 mpd
Max S$1.5K per c. month3
Review
UOB Preferred Platinum Visa
Apply
4 mpd4
Max S$1.1K per c. month
Review
UOB Visa Signature 
Apply
4 mpd5
Min S$1K max S$2K SGD spend per s. month
Review
StanChart Beyond Card
Apply
3-4 mpd
FCY
3 mpd for regular, 3.5 mpd for PB, 4 mpd for PP. No cap
Review
Maybank Visa Infinite
Apply
3.2 mpd
FCY
Min. spend S$4K per c. month
Review
Maybank World Mastercard
Apply
3.2 mpd
FCY
Min. spend S$4K per c. month, 2.8 mpd with min. spend S$800 per c. month
Review
StanChart Visa Infinite
Apply
3 mpd
FCY
Min. spend S$2K per s. month, no cap
Review
BOC Elite Miles Card
Apply
2.8 mpd
FCY
No cap
Review
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature
Apply
2.8 mpd
FCY
Min. spend S$800 per c. month
Review
HSBC Premier MC
Apply
2.8 mpd6
FCY
No cap
1. Reduced to S$1,500 per c. month from 1 August 2025, split into S$750 per bonus category
2. Reduced to S$1,000 per c. month from 1 August 2025
3. Temporary promotion until 31 October 2025
4. Must pay in person, using mobile payment (do not tap physical card)
5. If paid in SGD, must pay in person via contactless (tap physical card or use mobile wallet)
6. Temporary promotion until 15 August 2025

Two points to note:

  • If youโ€™re using the DBS Womanโ€™s World Card, your transaction must be processed online in order to earn the 4 mpd bonus rate
  • If youโ€™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
โ“ Whereโ€™s the Citi Rewards Card?
The Citi Rewards Card earns 4 mpd on all online transactions, except travel (defined as airlines, cruises, hotels, rental cars, trains). Therefore, it wouldnโ€™t be the right card to use here, as youโ€™ll earn just 0.4 mpd.

Stays booked through OTAs

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

Thereโ€™s two possible scenarios here:

  1. You book through the OTAโ€™s public landing page
  2. You book through the OTAโ€™s special landing page for certain cardholders (e.g. Citi x Agoda)

Either way, Iโ€™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

๐Ÿจ Bookings via OTA
(Paid for online)

Card Earn Rate Remarks
UOB Ladyโ€™s Card
Apply
4 mpd
Max S$1K per c. month. Must choose Travel as bonus category
Review
UOB Ladyโ€™s Solitaire
Apply
4 mpd
Max S$2K per c. month1. Must choose Travel as bonus category
Review
DBS Womanโ€™s World Card
Apply
4 mpd
Max S$1.5K per c. month2
Review
DCS Imperium Card
Apply
4 mpd
FCY
Min. S$4K FCY spend per c. month
Review
UOB Visa Signature 
Apply
4 mpd
FCY 
Min S$1K max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
Review
StanChart Beyond Card
Apply
3-4 mpd
FCY
3 mpd for regular, 3.5 mpd for PB, 4 mpd for PP. No cap
Review
Maybank Visa Infinite
Apply
3.2 mpd
FCY
Min. spend of S$4K per c. month. No cap
Review
Maybank World Mastercard
Apply
3.2 mpd
FCY
Min. spend of S$4K per c. month, 2.8 mpd with min. spend of S$800 per c. month. No cap
Review
StanChart Visa Infinite
Apply
3 mpd
FCY
Min. spend S$2K per s. month. No cap
Review
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature
Apply
2.8 mpd
FCY
Min. spend of S$800 per c. month. No cap
Review
BOC Elite Miles Card
Apply
2.8 mpd
FCY
No cap
Review
HSBC Premier MC
Apply
2.8 mpd3
FCY
No cap
KrisFlyer UOB Credit Card
Apply
2.4 mpd4 With min. S$1K spend on SIA Group per m. year. No cap
Review
1. Reduced to S$1,500 per c. month from 1 August 2025, split into S$750 per bonus category
2. Reduced to S$1,000 per c. month from 1 August 2025
3. Temporary promotion until 15 August 2025
4. For Agoda, AirBnB, Booking.com, Expedia, Hotels.com, Kaligo, Traveloka, Trip.com, UOB Travel

Special landing page

๐Ÿจ Bookings via OTA
(Paid for online)

  Agoda Expedia Kaligo
Citi PremierMiles Card 7.2 mpd โ€“ 10 mpd
OCBC 90ยฐN Up to 7 mpd โ€“ โ€“
UOB PRVI Miles 8 mpd 6 mpd โ€“

These bookings must be made through specific landing pages, which Iโ€™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 may be more expensive than if you were to go through the generic website. 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.

Be careful with Agoda DCC!

Since weโ€™re talking about OTAs, hereโ€™s something important to know. 

Agoda processes Mastercard transactions outside of Singapore (in Hong Kong to be precise). If the booking prices in SGD, and you use a Mastercard to pay, most banks including DBS and UOB will charge a 1% cross-border fee (itโ€™s conceptually the same as walking into a store in Hong Kong and choosing to pay in SGD). You can avoid the 1% fee by paying with Atome.

Visa transactions are processed in Singapore, so if youโ€™re using a BOC or UOB card, you will earn miles at the SGD rate, regardless of what currency you pay in. 

What if Iโ€™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:

Card Earn Rate Remarks
Citi Rewards Card
Apply
4 mpd Cap of S$1K per s. month 
DCS Imperium Card
Apply
4 mpd Min. S$4K FCY spend per c. month. No cap
UOB Visa Signature
Apply
4 mpd Min S$1K, max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
StanChart Beyond Card
Apply
3-4 mpd 3 mpd for regular, 3.5 mpd for PB, 4 mpd for PP. No cap
Maybank World Mastercard
Apply
3.2 mpd Min. S$4K per c. month, no cap. Earn 2.8 mpd with min. S$800 per c. month. No cap
Maybank Visa Infinite
Apply
3.2 mpd Min. S$4K per c. month. No cap
StanChart Visa Infinite
Apply
3 mpd Min S$2K per s. month. No cap
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature
Apply
2.8 mpd Min S$800 per c. month. No cap

Conclusion

Using the right card for hotel bookings can earn as much as 10 mpd towards your next trip, but be careful because thereโ€™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 youโ€™re booking through a special OTA website for bank customers, do take care that youโ€™re not paying significantly more. Extra miles are nice, but not if youโ€™re paying over the odds for them!

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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Jeremy

Iโ€™ve encountered a situation where booking directly through the hotel online with advance payment does not earn 4mpd on the WWMC. Guessing that this is because the hotel took the credit card info I filled and separately input them into their terminal, making it an โ€œofflineโ€ transaction. In such cases, would it be correct to say that the UOB Ladyโ€™s card will be a safer bet if we are unsure how itโ€™s processed since for Ladyโ€™s card it does not matter whether itโ€™s offline or online?

Tony

Thanks for the comment and this is useful for my future travels.

Jon

Can the DBS WWMC be used for hotel points purchases, or is that excluded?

Perplexed potato

You mean the HSBC Revolution doesnโ€™t give 4mpd for stays booked via Agoda?? Oh goshโ€ฆ.

Pchoz

Why no mention of Citi prestige card?

Raymond

Because this is about the โ€œbest credit cardsโ€ rewards? Prestige will be good if 4NF can be triggered, otherwise, its mpd is nowhere near 4mpd.

Jun

If I book a hotel via one of the public landing page websites, by they say that payment will be charged directly by property, that will screw up my miles right?

Jwt

Is it common to pay over counter for hilton members? Itโ€™s always that case for IHG

SydneySinger

Needs to be updated โ€“ HSBC Revo excludes hotels now. Also donโ€™t think itโ€™s still 6mpd for Lady Solitaire

Arun K

Does UOB Pref Plat give 4 mpd for Stays booked directly with the hotel still? since the MCC 3000-3999 is not explicitly listed as included in the card T&Cs

Michael Liew

I believe UOB PPV gives 4 mpd for Mobile Contactless Transactions at the hotel, not online. Aaron can you confirm?

Mike

When booking through websites like Agoda, do they need to be charged in SGD for the bonus points? Or charging in the local currency still earns the bonus points?

Alex

Cloud you please clarify why UOB Visa Signature is applicable for Points.com transactions
(Paid for online)? is it FCY only?

Christopher

Doesnโ€™t HSBC revolution exclude 4722 for earning 4mpd?

Shan

To get 7.2mpd via agoda using Citi PremierMiles Card, card owner has to be lead guest. Meaning no booking for family/ friendsโ€™ trips if card owner is not travelling too.

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