I figured the net negative annual fee on the Aspire wouldn't last ...
.
On top of the killed travel credit, Amex is also killing the Priority Pass later this year (selectively removing all restaurants/etc and only keeping the lounges). Which I can see on their cards that also give Amex Lounge access, but the Aspire only gives the Priority Pass.
Guess I continue keeping my Chase Sapphire Reserve around (had been considering dropping it and keeping Aspire instead).
Devalued hilton points already pushes the 14 points/$ at Hilton to very near what I get on chase anyways. 3 Chase points = 4.5%. 14 hilton points at <0.4 (it's now generally 0.4 or
even lower compared to AAA/MVP rates without even considering "lost" 20% by not earning rewards on reward stays. I find even 5 day stays now come out near 0.4 when considering the "unearned" rewards on reward stays.) = 14*0.4 = 5.6%. And by the time I get around to using all my Hilton Points, I'm sure they'll devalue them further.
Much more difficult proposition to pull out 450 of value now, IMO comes down to the Diamond status for keeping the card.