Hotels.com® Rewards Visa® Credit Card

At a Glance

The Hotels.com Rewards Visa Credit Card is a straightforward hotel credit card from Wells Fargo. The card provides basic rewards earning potential and useful travel protections in a package that charges no annual fee or foreign transaction fees.

Ideal for Those Who:

• Prefer to book their travel through Hotels.com
• Plan to book travel outside the United States
• Want the peace of mind that comes with travel interruption or cancellation protections
• Don’t want to pay an annual fee or foreign transaction fees

Hotels.com® Rewards Visa® Credit Card Review

The Hotels.com Rewards Visa Credit Card is a no annual fee co-branded hotel card from Wells Fargo. The card rewards those who prefer the Hotels.com brand and interface when booking stays with additional rewards and protections.

Hotels.com Rewards

The Hotels.com Rewards Visa earns stamps towards (you guessed it) the Hotels.com Rewards Program. Stamps are the rewards currency of the program, with members getting a single stamp for every night they stay at a property booked through the Hotels.com website. There are currently over 500,000 properties within the Hotels.com network, meaning no matter where your travel plans take you there is likely a hotel, inn, bed & breakfast, or resort eligible to earn stamps.

How to Earn Stamps

Since the card is part of the Hotels.com Rewards Program, holders earn stamps for bookings via the website or Hotels.com app. An additional stamp enhances the single stamp for every eligible booking for every $500 in purchases they make with their card. The Hotels.com Rewards Visa also comes with a decent signup bonus. New accounts earn one free night (ten stamps) after making $1,000 in purchases within the first three months of account opening.

How to Redeem Rewards

Redeeming rewards through the Hotels.com Rewards Program is very straightforward. Ten stamps are equal to one free night. This solo redemption option places the value of the Hotels.com Rewards Visa’s stamps at approximately $11 per stamp.  That earning rate equates to roughly two-percent cash back – or what you can expect from a flat-rate cash back card like the Citi Double Cash. Another thing to consider with the redemption process is that Hotels.com Rewards Visa Cardholders aren’t subject to the $5 redemption fee the website charges for every free night a user books. Such a fee seems excessive (and greatly reduces the “reward”), so the fact cardholders are exempt is a nice feature.

Other Features of the Hotels.com® Rewards Visa® Credit Card

The Hotels.com Card comes with no annual fee and no foreign transaction fees. These are unique features for travel or hotel cards, but they are still nice features to have, nonetheless. Given the near-global purchasing power of the Visa payment network, no fees on foreign transactions can result in significant savings when using the card abroad. It also assists travelers with purchase and fraud protections that cash can’t provide. The card does not provide any introductory APR offers. If you are looking for 0% intro APR on purchases, you’re out of luck. That said, the everyday APRs on both purchases and balance transfers are competitive with other similar products. The APR, for example, is practically identical to the Expedia Rewards Card from Citi. Other card features include:

• Trip Cancellation and Interruption benefits of up to $2,000 per insured individual on a Common Carrier ticket
• Visa Roadside Dispatch
• Travel and Emergency Assistance
• Zero Fraud Liability

Should You Apply for the Hotels.com® Rewards Visa® Credit Card?

The Hotels.com Rewards Visa Credit Card from Wells Fargo is a decent little hotel credit card for those that prefer to book their stays through Hotels.com or their mobile app. The card is a great enhancement to current members of the Hotels.com Rewards Program, as it offers additional stamps, removes the need for a reward fee, and features no annual fee. While the cash back value of the card is competitive, it isn’t spectacular. The real shortcoming with the card, however, is the limited redemption options available. Cardholders can only use their Hotels.com Rewards stamps with Hotels.com bookings. While this reward option is evident given the card’s name and branding, other general-purpose travel credit cards offer much more versatility. Overall, the Hotels.com Rewards Visa is a good – but not great – co-branded rewards card from Wells Fargo. If you are picky about your hotel booking sites, this may be the ideal card for you; if not, however, a general travel rewards card might be a better bet.