Best Card For Australia & New Zealand Hotels

The famous Chase Sapphire Reserve card makes another appearance with its awesome redemption for hotels through the Chase portal or transferring through one of their hotel partners. When it comes to booking hotels in New Zealand and Australia, you’ll find a ridiculous amount of options. Thankfully, with Ultimate rewards you aren't limited to one specific hotel brand. You get to choose between transferring points to 3: IHG, Hyatt or Marriott. There are a number of coastal hotels that are part of the transfer partners. And, as always, your miles stretch through the portal with this particular card at 1.5 cents per point. So pick your city, do a search and you’ll be sure to find something when you’re using these extremely valuable, diverse rewards.

Marriott makes our Australia/New Zealand list because their presence down under is compelling, including the only Ritz-Carlton on the continent. This particular card has a hefty sign-up bonus with occasional 100,000-point specials, allowing you to either increase your time abroad or boost the category of the hotel you want to stay in. There is an annual free night and a 5th night free perk that makes this particular card very appealing. It’s pretty obvious in the name that this is a Marriott card, so if you are not a fan of Marriott, go for another option on our Australia/New Zealand list. Also, this is a Chase card, so if you already have reached your Chase limit for credit cards, you may want to check out the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant or the Marriott Bonvoy Business cards from American Express.

Here we have a variety of different hotels that are offered all over the South Pacific through IHG. As always, you can book your hotel using your points or with points+cash. The hotels on the list range from clean and comfortable to glamorous luxury, with new ones added or opening up constantly. There are a couple of reasons why we love this one. First, you get an annual free night that can be used at any of their 40,000-point properties, which more than offsets the annual fee. Let's also not forget about the 4th night free perk that comes with this card. Plus, when you start planning your trip down under, keep an eye out for occasional IHG offers, like the “book 2 nights at selected voco and Crowne Plaza hotels and earn a free night on us,” which has been repeatedly offered for Gold Coast, Hunter Valley and Auckland.

A couple of things should be mentioned right off the bat about Hilton. First, this is an Amex card, so you still have a chance if you can’t apply for any other Chase cards at this time. Second, there's a Hilton in most major capital cities throughout Australia and New Zealand, so finding a hotel in the city you plan on visiting should be fairly quick. Hilton has a history of luxury and accessibility, and the properties in this part of the world is no exception. With this particular card, you’ll receive complimentary Gold Status, meaning you could get upgrades, free breakfast (for 2 adults), late-check out, 5th night free and more. Hilton Honors has an easy redemption process using its Points Explorer tool, where you can tap into the value of the Hilton Honors program and find some amazing deals for your trip down under. Whether you’re visiting the Great Barrier Reef or the Opera House in Sydney, you’re sure to find a Hilton to suit your needs.

Hyatt is low here only because of having fewer hotels in Australia. If you are staying in major city, it is still worth a look at Hyatt.