FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - Looking for some Guidance on PLAT
View Single Post
Old Aug 6, 2018, 4:51 pm
  #5  
acarney
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Posts: 998
I'm not sure how much use you would get out of it...

To earn the 5x MR points for hotels you must book the hotels using Amex Travel, in which case you don't get hotel status perks (most the time). Maybe that's worth it for you, but if you stick to one hotel chain and earn decent status with them, then maybe it's more worth getting your elite nights and hotel points. The other big point earning area is airfare, which does earn 5x when booked directly OR with AmexTravel, but since you don't book the airfare you would be missing out on those MR points... You only get Sky Club access if you're holding a Delta ticket, so it sounds like you wouldn't make use of that unless you shifting your flying to Delta. Amex does usually have good bonus offers (Spend X amount at Hilton by such and such date and earn 10k bonus MR points) that are probably good for an extra 20 to 30k MR points a year if you can make use of them, but it requires you to be a bit flexible in which hotel chain you're staying at, and to be honest I feel like I've seen more Hilton offers then Marriott...

With all that said, I do value MR points more then hotel points. Redemptions with airlines usually seems to make the points worth more then hotel stays. I usually don't get huge redemption value out of them since I mostly use them on domestic F tickets, but still, getting $0.015/MR point isn't terrible and represents ~7.5% back as long as I can earn 5X on the transaction. That's better then my CSR. I don't know what your average yearly spend on hotels is, but if you gave up the elite night earning and hotel status and were able to book them all via the AmexTravel portal for 5X you might be able to score a lot of points every year.

That said, if you're willing to give up a little bit of the bonus earning you could get the Chase Sapphire Reserve, earn 3x by booking direct with the hotel AND get your hotel status and earn 3X for any dining you do while on your travels, which might be really nice if there is a per diem you get... CSR points are minimum 4.5% when earning 3X (points are worth at least $0.015 when spent for travel) and could be worth much more if transferring over to an airline for redemption.... though CSR has less transfer options compared to Amex. Also, as mentioned before, the $300 Chase travel credit is MUCH easier to use, basically charge any travel; hotel, airfare, change fee, upgrades, rental car, parking at the airport, etc and you get the statement credit.
acarney is offline