Using rewards cards intro offers for travel (does it hurt?)

Quote from l2yangop : I have 3 cards currently with zero debt and a 700+ credit score. I am thinking about taking out a few more cards for the purpose of getting the travel rewards and then cancelling them. How much of a credit hit am I likely to take? Does anyone have any empirical evidence on the score deduction?

Anecdotal evidence suggests that credit score will take a 3-5 point hit from each inquiry for a new card. But its dependent on other things, like how long you have had your current 3 cards.

For high end rewards cards you want a score of 720+ or even better would be 750+.

If you score is above those threshholds, I would try to find travel rewards cards with first year fee waived, and then use the card for 11 months then cancel.

I just opened 8 new cards myself to stack up some rewards for travel mostly.

Currently, Experian score dropped to 742 from 774. This fully supports the 3-5 pt hit per application. However, I applied for 3 cards from Chase, 2 through Amex, 1 at Citi, 2 at Barclays. My Experian credit report is showing 5 new inquiries from this activity (Amex pulled twice for some reason, will have to look into and hopefully have removed) instead of 4 as I expected.