I've stayed in rooms on the card and no problems on reimbursement. Did not even think about trying to get a GC for the $300. That's the new strategy, it seems. I'd rather hold GCs that don't expire than the 80+k points that could presumably be taken away.

I'm curious why everyone thinks the Aspire is the better deal. I wish that was true, because I'm probably going to have 3 Aspires, but the Airline Credit is pretty difficult to take advantage of, now that the GCs are out. The Resort credit is even harder to take advantage of, unless I create trips/expenses I would not already have. The Free weekend night is nice, but it doesn't beat the free any time night up to 50k points (~$350 value to me) for the Bonvoy (SPG Lux). So, I see $650 of easily obtainable value for the Bonvoy. For the Aspire, I *might* get that 250 airline credit, and will probably get the free weekend night. I probably will not get the resort credit.