Originally Posted by COLINDAD

If they do -- and I am not saying they won't -- and they could hike it to $125/year, then they would have to add some extra benefit to it -- otherwise it will be too costly as is.

After all, the personal Hyatt credit card gives you a Category 1 - 4 free night for your $95 which always pays for itself and the Chase and AMEX Marriott cards also give you a free night @ 35K points, I believe.

Unlike the dire warnings concerning Marriott's decision dispensing with award charts, I think that there are a number of hotels that can still be had for that amount of points -- moreover, the ability to add up to 15K points to those certificates expands their use immeasurably.

Therefore, I just can't see AMEX raising the Surpass annual fee without giving something else -- after all, only the most invested Hilton fan will go for the Surpass when the alternative to that annual fee is a credit card that gives you a free night up to a certain category level that is hawked by its competitors.

Originally Posted by COLINDAD

Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't that $100 credit for a specific rate plan and thus, as you indicated, was not a good value?

I do see where your spending $250 in 1 shot at a resort is beneficial, but not everyone has decent resorts to use that dough at easily.

Sure, if you reside in sunbelt states it is easier, but not so for the rest of us who don't.

Remember, airfares and car rentals have been hiked, as well, so that idyllic resort vacation comes with a much higher cost for many of us, as opposed to those who can jump in their car and drive to a resort.

As I have noted above, the only resorts with a drive of Bos-Wash are the Doubletree Lancaster and the Ocean City Md, resorts, and one could stretch the resort in VA Beach, as well, I guess, but these hardly constitute the most desirable resorts one would want to spend $$ and/or uncapped free nights at.

On the other hand, spending your $100 credit (and not $50 credit) at a nice upper echelon Hilton hotel in an urban area, or wherever, is pretty easily utilizable what with the breakfast credit being curtailed for all members.

So, in the end, the downgrade of the credit in your eyes makes it that much more utilizable in mine -- thus, it will depend on one's circumstances, but I can tell you this, there is a heck of a lot of population in the Bos-Wash region, not to mention other regions without nearby resorts.

Heck, if you take out the Myrtle Beach resorts and the golf resorts -- admittedly not everyone's cup or tea -- the entire Eastern Seaboard is bereft of such resorts until you hit the Florida state line, save for the Grand Vacations Club on Hilton Head -- and even that may not often be available at reasonable points cost, if at all!

That's a whole lot of people who can't simply jump in their car to spend a long weekend at a resort while still keeping an eye on their costs.