Originally Posted by
graemeblake
I'm in Canada. We have limited credit card options compared to the US. I travel abroad a fair bit; and not always with the same airline. Direct flight options vary widely based on destination, so a rewards program with many redemption options is best.
I spend on business and personal in CAD, and also spend a fair bit on a USD card. After research, I *thought* the SPG amex was perfect: I could get a card for each use case, and redeem the points for a variety of flights.
But, then I read about the Marriot merger, and resulting uncertainty. This makes me hesitate to trade in all three of my credit cards for SPG amexes.
1. Do you think it makes sense to nonetheless fully dive into the SPG program, at least to get the signup bonuses?
2. If SPG becomes more like Marriot points, how is Marriot for my scenario of needing flight redemptions with a variety of airlines?
I don't care much about hotel rewards differences. Apart from the occasional airport hotel stay, I mostly stay in Airbnbs when I travel.
Thanks! Apologies if this was answered in a more recent thread. I went several pages back through the forum, but couldn't find any recent merger talk. At least, not related to flights.
AMEX & Chase will be duo partners of the new merged program that is coming sometime in 2018. In Canada, Chase Canada sold their credit card portfolio to ScotiaBank so I assume the contract agreement would have been transferred. I imagine AMEX and Scotiabank will be the partners of the merged program in Canada.
Hotel cards has better value for hotel use. If you only plan to use it for Airline miles, the corresponding airlines credit card would earn you more miles per dollar spent. Every time you convert from one program to another (without promotions), there is a small loss in the transaction in the best of circumstances. Doesn't make much sense to get a SPG AMEX if you're not staying in a SPG hotel and use Airbnb - especially when first year is NOT free with the Canadian SPG AMEX card. The out of country/out of province insurance is non-exsistance for SPG AMEX for your travels. So you're better off getting the AMEX Gold charge card. The AMEX Gold charge card has travel insurance and allow you to transfer to SPG or Aeroplan. Furthermore, Canada's main airlines Air Canada uses Aeroplan until 2020, there isn't a lot of "good deal" earning possibility for other airlines through credit card. If you fly Cathay Pacific or British Airlines, then Royal Bank has a card for those.
Furthermore, there is a 2.5% fee on foreign purchases. There is only a rare handful of card in Canada that doesn't have this - Rogers Bank, yes the cellphone company, have two of their cards (Rogers Mastercard or Fido Mastercard) that doesn't have foreign transaction fees. That's an instant 2.5% savings on top of their cashback feature. That's a much better value than you can get with SPG AMEX or AMEX Gold.