Originally Posted by
Ragnarok
The SPG is definitely not a good choice.
Your calculation for the SPG is a bit off as the 2.7% FTF is purely a fee and not part of your original spending.
Using your numbers, 16000 points for a night that cost 1500 CNY ( ~ 245 USD ) , that's a rewards rate at 1.53 cents (US) per USD spend, and the 2.7% FTF is more than double your rewards rate. So that's not a option that you should consider at all.
AMEX Plat also isn't a good option given the $450 annual fee unless you can really use the benefits like lounge access or the hotel perks with FHR.
I would suggest the Discover IT card. It's a 1% Cashback with rotating 5% category, but it has no annual fee, no foreign transaction fees, no DCC, and it runs on the UnionPay network in China, so its acceptance will be much better than AMEX ( or even Visa / MC for that matter )
If the stores that you visits doesn't force DCC, then CapitalOne QuickSilver Visa offers 1.5% Cashback, no annual fee, no FTF
Thanks Ragnarok for your reply. I can see what you mean regarding the calculation, it looks quite strange.
Say 16000 USD gets 245 USD back but results in a 435 USD conversion fee. This doesn't make any sense, right? But the original return is 245 / 16000 = 0.0153. Shouldn't the new return be 245 / 16435 = 0.149? Definitely the first calculation is dominating, and there must be something wrong in the second calculation...
Also, I don't wanna roam into another company since I already have 5 Chase cards, and a SPG AMEX. Because of the evil DCC, I always run into problems with Visas, and I am tired of teaching dumb cashiers here how to turn off DCC...
Do you know the value of AMEX Rewards points if I use them for airfare redemption? Thanks~
Originally Posted by
cloud_171
I also agree that Discover card is your best bet for wide acceptance and skip the SPG.
Though I would say get the Merc Benz Plat card, the 50k points on top of $400 in airline credit more than makes up for the $475 annual fee. Transferring 120k MR points to Aeroplan will get you round trip business class on Air China and the fuel surcharges should be less than ANA
In addition, I would consider getting Chase Sapphire Preferred for the places that do take it. I've mainly used it in higher end hotels since they seem to understand immediately when I ask to be charged in CNY.
Dear cloud_171, I have already got the Sapphire Preferred. It is a wonderful card. However, using Visas in Beijing is a big pain in the .... In Shanghai and Hong Kong, you at least have the choice of USD and local currency. In Beijing, especially with POS machines from a bank called Communication Bank, DCC is by default on, and some say you cannot turn it off on some machines (unable to verify since some cashiers are really incompetent). Big hotels have no problem turning it off, but I do go to a lot of shopping malls and supermarkets.
Since Platinum gives a lot of benefits, and I am pretty sure DCC is not effective on AMEX cards with my own verificating experiment, I think I want to have a Platinum someday, and I don't mind the annual fee, since I am already around $1000 for my 5 Chase cards. I am just not sure how much the MR points value.