Originally Posted by
baroqen
I have to agree with particlemn, despite the fact that I love travel cards and don't use any of my cash back cards anymore. Haha.
However, there are a few additional questions that can really come into play if you're looking to maximize value. I ignored premium cards for FAR too long, because I didn't want to pay the high annual fees. This is something I have come to regret once I finally bit the bullet and got the Prestige.
While $450 a year might seem high and difficult to justify, there are a few additional questions that need to be asked. You might get FAR MORE value and save a lot more money in the long run with a higher AF.
First of all, the net cost of the Prestige is actually $200 after the $250 credit which can be applied to airfare, or any other airline charges. So the questions are, based on your 4 trips a year...
Do you ever stay 4 or more nights on a trip? If you do this at least twice a year at an average hotel rate of $100, you have just made back your $200 AF. If you stay at hotels with a higher average rate or use the benefit more often, that's all gravy. And you get to keep all of your hotel chain perks if you have them (or get perks at certain partnered hotels that you don't have status with, or are non-chain properties).
Do you ever buy food or drink at the airport? While it might not seem like much, airport food and beverage isn't cheap and this can quickly add up. 4 trips is a minimum of 8 airports. If you have Priority Pass lounges in the airports you frequent, this can also add up fast. The food isn't great, especially back in the US where it is just light snacks, but the cost savings can quickly add up resulting in considerable savings. If you travel with others, that's a bonus since you can bring two guests. Lounges are a godsend on long layovers, even if you just need somewhere to charge up your mobile devices.
Add in the trip delay insurance which triggers after only 3 hours (I believe Sapphire doesn't kick in until 12 hours or an overnight), trip interruption/cancellation, rental car insurance, Global Entry reimbursement, travel insurance, lost/delayed baggage insurance, emergency assistance, price rewind, etc....
Ever been stranded at the airport because of a delay, or worse a cancellation? Luggage lost or sent to the wrong place? It doesn't happen often, but when it does you'll be thankful for booking with a card like this.
I've considered the Prestige card pretty extensively, but after running the numbers, I don't think it's a good fit for me. I rarely (actually, almost never) stay more than three nights in a hotel - even if I had the fourth night free, I likely wouldn't be able to extend my trip for a fourth night in a lot of cases (graduate student commitments, mostly). The airports I fly out of most often (Detroit, Philadelphia) both don't have Priority Pass lounges so I wouldn't be getting a lot of value out of that or saving a lot of money on food. Also, since I fly almost exclusively Delta and have their CC, I believe I get some kind of trip insurance that way. In short, not sure I'd actually get $200 of savings out of it given my travel pattern. In the future, if my travel patterns change to longer trips, I would certainly consider the card to get a lot of savings out of the fourth free night, but right now it's not a perk I'd actually use.
Originally Posted by
kdm31091
I agree with your basic premise here. For ongoing, daily spending, less cards are definitely more vs worrying about every extra small gain.
While this might be true, I'd have to say that, given my limited income as a grad student, maximizing my spend is one of the few ways I can actually get to travel in ways that I otherwise wouldn't. I actually sat down and realized how many points/rewards I'd missed out on the past year: paying with the wrong card at restaurants or grocery stores, not having a cc for travel spend or for entertainment purchases, etc... There is a lot of value I could have gotten if I'd diversified my cards even a little.