The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card May Be My Favorite Hotel Card — Here’s Why

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey℠ Card launched earlier this year, bringing the ability to transfer points to travel partners and strong rewards earnings.

And as someone who travels a ton, it’s quickly earning its way toward a spot in my wallet — here’s why.

Why I’m Considering the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card

My portfolio of credit cards is already overflowing. Since I’m trying to stay in good graces with issuers and stay under the Chase 5/24 guideline, I’m trying not to apply for as many credit cards as I have in the past.

I was initially skeptical when Wells Fargo announced it was launching its own travel credit card. When the launch of the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card came earlier this year, I didn’t think about it beyond learning that the addition of transfer partners was delayed — not a good start.

But then I took a second look — and then a third. This time, I really went into investigating Wells Fargo’s transfer partners.

While I haven’t applied for the card yet, it’s the next on my list thanks to its favorable earnings for hotels and 1 very special transfer partner.

The Wells Fargo Autograph Journey Card Beats Out Other Hotel Cards

Every hotel chain has its own co-branded credit cards, whether you’re looking at World of Hyatt or Marriott Bonvoy. And while these credit cards will offer strong earnings on purchases within their respective chains, they fall flat when it comes to charges with competitors.

In contrast, the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card rewards you for spend on all hotel purchases:

• 5x points per $1 spent on hotels
• 4x points per $1 spent on airlines
• 3x points per $1 spent on other travel and dining
• 1x point per $1 on other purchases

Getting 5x points for all your hotel stays is extraordinary. It beats out premium travel credit cards such as the Chase Sapphire Reserve^®, which earns 3x Ultimate Rewards on all travel but comes with a steep annual fee of $550.

Of course, this isn’t even touching on the 4x points you get for airline purchases or the 3x for other travel and at restaurants, both of which match or beat other competitors despite the fact that the card charges just a $95 annual fee (rates & fees).

Wells Fargo’s Transfer Partners Are Excellent

As a relatively new currency, the Wells Fargo Rewards program only has a few transfer partners. Officially, there are 6 airline and hotel programs:

• Aer Lingus AerClub
• Avianca LifeMiles
• British Airways Executive Club
• Choice Privileges
• Air France-KLM Flying Blue
• Iberia Plus

But because Aer Lingus, British Airways, and Iberia all use Avios as their loyalty currency and those Avios are all transferable with one another, they really just count as a single partner.

That leaves Wells Fargo with just 3 other options. Luckily, they’re all highly useful ones.

However, probably my favorite transfer partner is the one that just about everyone else is going to ignore: Choice Privileges. If you’ve ever encountered me in real life (or on Facebook, or probably somewhere on this site), you know that I have an obsession with Choice Privileges and its reward program.

That’s because it’s so insanely generous. Sure, it’s missing flagship properties like you’d find with other chains — there aren’t any St. Regis or Waldorf Astoria equivalents, for example, but it still offers incredible value.

There are a few reasons for this. The first is that Choice allows you to book multiple room types, even suites, without charging you additional points. The same goes for additional guests within your room; there is no extra cost.

What’s more, Choice hotels offer incredibly cheap redemptions in notoriously expensive locations, such as Scandinavia. Here’s an example at the Comfort Hotel Grand Central in Oslo: You’d either pay 16,000 points or $228 for a one-night stay.

Now, unlike American Express and Capital One, both of which transfer to Choice at a 1:1 ratio, Wells Fargo points transfer to Choice at a 1:2 ratio. This matches the rate that those with eligible Citi cards receive and means you can score extraordinary deals when redeeming Choice points.

In the above example, you’d pay just 8,000 Wells Fargo points for your stay in Oslo, giving you a value of 2.85 cents per point. We value Wells Fargo points at 1.5 cents each, which means you’d be redeeming for nearly double their value!

Aside from this, the ability to use so few points for a stay is incredibly refreshing in an age when Marriott and IHG’s dynamic pricing often see rates of over 100,000 points per night.

Final Thoughts

I haven’t applied for the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey card just yet, but it’s next on my list.

Despite its limited set of transfer partners, the card offers excellent earnings on hotel stays and other travel purchases. I love that the points transfer over to Choice at a 1:2 ratio, which means I’ll always get amazing value for the points I redeem.