All my favorite SPG hotels have gone up (including the Swan and Dolphin), and the earn per dollar general spend on my SPG AMEX have gone down. Interesting combination. I think I will still keep the SPG AMEX for another year to see how things turn out in actual practice, mainly because of the new free night award cert that will offset some pain. However, I will move most of my gen spend to elsewhere that is more rewarding.
One of my most frequented Cat 4 SPG hotel is now at 35,000, so the free night award cert cannot be used there during "Peak" period. I really need to see how they assign peak periods in 2019.