Originally Posted by
super-mileage-fan
Originally, Centurion was a win-win-win. What I mean by this, is that I would have never stayed at brands like Mandarin Oriental, Waldorf Astoria or St. Regis prior to having the black card and associated benefits. Now they are my favorite hotels. I started going out of my way to fly on DL, CO & US because I had status. I've had some good experiences.
I am the same way. I mostly used Hyatt until starting to use St. Regis with Centurion. That lead to use of SPG points and adding an SPG Amex and that lead to Hyatt being squeezed out for the most part and SPG taking them over.
Though I'm a Canadian Cent with Hilton Diamond via the card, I rarely stay at Hiltons just because the program seems to be of no value to me (I convert SPG and MR points to Aeroplan and redeem for mini-RTW). Even with the double dip, though I should probably crunch some numbers.
Used to be that almost any Starwood hotel though I stayed at I could find a 2 for 3 or 4 for 6, including St. Regis but that has dried up. But basically wherever I have a choice still of say a St. Regis vs. Mandarin Oriental, St. Regis wins because I am in this MR / SPG / Aeroplan axis... should they devalue this in some way I will go. The sideline is the SPG / Delta relationship where my revenue fares now go to Delta and the cross rewards get me some Aeroplan points via SPG as a result of flying Delta (which seems crazy but there you have it).
I'm obviously a group 2 person because I look at the benefit the card gives me. 2 times in my life did someone notice what it was and one of those was a US Airways lounge staffer and don't have to worry about that anymore I guess. So the wallet candy thing doesn't quite apply and I'll never rent a private jet. Basically the card has to remain to be a useful tool for travel in which case I will spend a lot on it and stick close to the partners.
I used to book more FHR hotels than I do now though, for the most part they started doing the math where:
Base Rate = x
FHR Rate = 1.33x
FHR Promotion = pay 3 nights get 4th complimentary!
*adjusted* FHR rate = 0.9975x
Look at the amenities... $100 spa credit to go towards a $500 massage. Uh no thanks. Continental Breakfast... ah great, a piece of bread and juice, value of one dollar, plus get it anyway with a lot of hotel status. Space-available upgrade is interpreted in an almost meaningless way a lot of the time. Your "preferred" room is 3 sq. ft. larger or something. 4pm checkout, already have it with hotel status. Can get 3pm in a lot of places just by asking anyway with no status. Benefits all vanish into smoke and mirrors. And this is with a "pay 3 stay 4" promotion on. Without the promotion often it can end up paying a lot more.
Look at the advance purchase rate direct on the hotel website, and can pay 0.8x.
Book the APR directly and don't have to call Cent travel and spoon feed the details over the phone. Sigh.
CHP though with St. Regis still has a lot of value if you can find a nice upgrade (though hotels in general have beaten the upgraders for the most part by offering 12 different room types with $20 difference per rate, then deny "specialty rooms" and suites often, or force you to argue at the front desk or check inventory and have a semantic fight over the meaning of the word "available").
The marketing people just in the end, always win by continuing to push the concept of an illusory product. Get people to pay for something that does not exist, but is only perceived to exist. That's very profitable because you don't have to provide a product and you make money for it. As long as suckers buy into it they will sell it. Ultimately enough people just have to cancel their cards for the product to go away.
Until then I'll keep looking for the ways the card is a tool. The travel insurance is very valuable to me, but I guess year over year I'm just moving more to my SPG card and getting more in bed with them. It's become a decision of "should I put this on my Centurion card and lose out on SPG points?" vs. what used to be an automatic spend.
Originally Posted by
tingalex
I'm waiting for Amex Canada to eliminate the free supplementary cent card. With all the cuts to benefits for US cardholders, I'm starting to feel like the Canadian offerings are even better, on the whole. With the free supplemental cent card, we get an extra person with Delta Gold, an extra free night at any fairmont property, extra suite upgrade vouchers at fairmont property, etc. Almost every cent benefit for he primary cardholder extends to the secondary. So, I'm waiting for them to either cut the free secondary card, or increase annual fee to 3,500. Any thoughts?
Yes.
We are doomed.
I have to say though that they did do a good job in adding new benefits to the Canadian cards. Since I got the card along came Delta Gold status which was of real benefit to me. Also to Delta as they got all my revenue spending domestically instead of Air Canada. Cathay Pacific diamond is "nice" but frankly I see almost no value in it. It has gotten me two bottles of water, no upgrades, and just extra baggage. The Delta Gold has been far better so if you want me to give one up I will drop the Cathay and never look back.
Fairmont is particularly nice with their program. I use them a lot when they are available and some of the properties outside North America are spectacular.