American Express Membership Rewards - Benefit of Gold Rewards vs. Blue?

I received an offer in the mail for a Gold card with MR, first year free, and 25K MR points. I currently have a blue card with an average $25-35K/yr spend. It is not clear that the gold card has any additional benefits over the blue card except the free 25K MR points. We normally use our MR points for retail gift cards. Are the free MR points worth it? Is there any benefit to keeping the Gold card after earning the free MR points given that the blue card has no annual fee?

I received an offer in the mail for a Gold card with MR, first year free, and 25K MR points. I currently have a blue card with an average $25-35K/yr spend. It is not clear that the gold card has any additional benefits over the blue card except the free 25K MR points. We normally use our MR points for retail gift cards. Are the free MR points worth it? Is there any benefit to keeping the Gold card after earning the free MR points given that the blue card has no annual fee?


Trust me you are paying for those "free points" with annual fees over the next 2 years so really nothing is "free" but with the Blue Card everything you earn on it is free since there is no annual fee. Plus AMEX out of corporate greed has cut back on benefits for the gold and green card over the years that they are almost identical to the no annual fee Amex cards.

We normally use our MR points for retail gift cards.
I truly cannot understand why people do this and it makes my stomach turn when I read FT members doing this! :confused: You are only getting a 1% return and there are definitely better returns to be had. Why not get a cash back card that pays more than that if you are merely using your MR points for gift cards? I know everyone has their reasons but the general consensus is that gift cards are NOT a good use of points in any program. As an SPG member why not get a SPG AMEX and put the $25-35k on that card? 25-35k SPG points is worth much more than $250-350 in gift cards.

I received an offer in the mail for a Gold card with MR, first year free, and 25K MR points. I currently have a blue card with an average $25-35K/yr spend. It is not clear that the gold card has any additional benefits over the blue card except the free 25K MR points. We normally use our MR points for retail gift cards. Are the free MR points worth it? Is there any benefit to keeping the Gold card after earning the free MR points given that the blue card has no annual fee?

If you switch to the MR program AND if you redeem for premium cabin international travel then you have a pretty good chance of doing better in terms of value with the points than you are currently getting with the gift cards.

But the sticking point is the gift cards. As noted above, they aren't the best value for your loyalty to any charge program.

The retail gift cards are better than the general Amex gift cards or buying merchandise directly with points. For those of us that rarely travel, tons of SPG points or airline miles aren't terribly useful.

The retail gift cards are better than the general Amex gift cards or buying merchandise directly with points. For those of us that rarely travel, tons of SPG points or airline miles aren't terribly useful.

Both true statements. But in that situation a cash-back card can often yield better than the 1% you're getting with the gift cards.