Originally Posted by prettyflyforaflyguy

Agreed on that front! After doing the math I had this disappointed feeling like I blew it, and that's why I created the thread in the first place.
I originally got the SPG/Bonvoy b/c of the good things I read about it, but for my first time spending points, I must say the experience has left me quite unimpressed. Mostly it's due to my own ignorance, but also the Marriott backend was sorely, sorely lacking.
I tried to xfer the points myself using the Marriott website, but it was broken in a confusing way - the button would click but nothing would happen. (I checked Chrome dev tools and very slowly these weird errors would appear, I also tried multiple browsers). Didn't want to accidentally transfer points twice, so I called Marriott.
There the incompetence over the phone was comically bad, 3 reps and 1.5 hours later all saying variants of 'the system might be down but I don't know', finally the last guy also said 'hm, i tried but not sure, don't want to transfer twice, let me check another way' and luckily he managed to avoid double xferring.

I'm obviously a noob to the Bonvoy points game - if you could take the opportunity to explain what you'd consider a stellar example of squeezing value out of your points, I'd much appreciate it!

Everyone values things differently, that's fine - it's starting to sound like people in the know might lean towards Sapphire for flights, and Bonvoy for fancy hotels. Is that fair to say is a general consensus?



This in particular is intriguing - the YR fees were a dreadful surprise! How does Chase manage this? Seems too good to be true, would appreciate your insight.