sxc234

I know most would want value from transferring to SPG at a rate of 2:1 however with the 5x bonus category it makes the Fixed Points Travel Program kind of interesting.

For example:

- 15K pts for short haul economy flights (max base ticket price of $300) = 10% return as you only have to spend $3K in the 5x category

-100K pts for Long Haul business class in North America (max base ticket price of $1800) = 9% return

-$250K pts for worldwide business class (max base ticket price of $4500) = 9% return

not a bad value prop if you can spend that much in the 5x category

zoqfotpik

delete

yeunganson

Remember, you can't transfer to frequent flyer program. The Ratio to SPG is 2:1. So you're 70,000 points turn to 35000 SPG points.

The SPG AMEX currently yields 25000 welcome and 2 SPG points/$1 spend on SPG/Mariott hotels. So if you spend

$4000 in Starwood/Mariott hotels (and eat restaurants that happen to be inside Marriott or Starwood brands) per year
AND
$2000 in restaurants in general

The above is the equivalent to the Cobalt (500/month eating out) bonus.

Then if you stay in more in hotels or buy more of other stuff not in the bonus catagory, SPG AMEX holds the edge.

Strangely... If you rent a car, does it count as Transport?

Smiley90

yeah but with the SPG->FFP transfer bonus, say 666spend/month is 40'000 MR is 20'000 SPG is 25'000 FFP.

Comparing to e.g. the Amex Gold, where 666spend/month on 2X bonus is 16'000 MR = 16'000 FFP.


For SPG/Marriott spending the SPG card beats it (since 2X earning SPG > 2x earning Cobalt), but for 5X grocery/restaurant spend the Cobalt beats pretty much anything. Even after MR -> SPG (-> FFP) conversions, since it's essentially 2.5x SPG or 3.125x FFP earning on each restaurant/grocery dollar.

teriyaki

So torn, Already have Amex Plat for the lounge benefit and the SPG for everyday spend. Wondering if the cobalt would be better for everyday spend in the long run...

yeunganson

I read the card was design by our Millennial generation in AMEX headquarters. They seem to have hit some areas well and not others.

AMEX team should have taken a page from Chase Sapphire Reserve and make the card a metal card.

The monthly bonus should continue for charter members so there isn't a need to churn. If that is unaffordable, then provide something like half the bonus year 1 monthly bonus after 1st year to make churning less attractive option.

The insurance package is good, especially the out of province medical. Assuming the travel medical terms are as strong as the AMEX gold card, it hit the spot.

The value proposition relies on AMEX holding on to the relationship of merged SPG/Marriott program. Chase has exclusive rights with Marriott and Marriott bought Starwood (not the other way around). The merged SPG/Marriott program is expected to start in 2018. So if AMEX loses SPG, this card's value proposition just drops drastically.

As for the SPG earning value, compared to the SPG AMEX it boil down to this. Groceries/food/resturants vs hotel spending vs everything else.

Colbalt on Groceries/food/resturants earn more than SPG AMEX by 1.5 SPG points/$1 spend

SPG / Mariott hotels stays, SPG AMEX earns more than Colbalt by 2:1.

Transport and such, SPG AMEX and Colbalt earns the same SPG points.

Everything else, SPG AMEX doubles what Colbalt earns.

For those spending over 40,000, the SPG AMEX gives a free weekend night at a SPG hotel.

So it looks like for a typical millennial spender.... Colbalt make sense for spending under $30,000/year - $2500/month. Spending over $30,000, then the SPG AMEX extra benefits starts to kick in - like Gold Status at $30,000 spend and free night at $40,000 spend.

The more we spend each month, the amount of money spent on food/restaurants will become proportionally less I believe. We can only eat so much but a new iphone cost $1000 a pop and plane tickets are at $1000 too. Concert Tickets, Cirque du soleil or movie tickets...etc are all "everything else" category that yields no Cobalt bonus. I think that is the weak point of this card.

mia

It's surprising that the 5X bonus is not capped. I would expect this to change after the first year. Most of the USA-issued cards cap the Supermarket category bonus at $6,000/year spend.

bichoo

I'm in the same boat as you. I did the math and even with a $1000/month grocery/restaurant spending per month, I end up with the same number of SPG points collected in a year, SPG vs Cobalt. If I didn't need the lounge benefit from my Plat, I would have a Cobalt and the SPG to maximize my SPG point accumulation.

jags86

Can’t say I know for sure but it seems to me lurking around here that MS isn’t really viable outside the United States.

Also, if SPG is really going away perhaps AMEX is trying to dump as many of the Starwood Points they have as possible. Would make sense why they’ve limited point transfers.

yosemite1

What an interesting card.

Right now I only have a TD Visa Aeroplan Infinite (for daily spend) and the Amex Plat (for travel bonuses / large spending expenses).

I really want a different card for my daily spend as I'd like to start to get away from Aeroplan and start banking Amex MR instead. I'd have to keep the visa just incase places don't accept Amex, but I'd downgrade to a free TD cash back visa or something similar.

As for the daily spend though, Its hard to go for this cobalt card because it doesn't allow FFP transfers which is why I collect MR anyway... Maybe its better to pick up a gold card again as the annuals are the same?

nli007

Looks like your math is a bit off here.

Cobalt earns 5x MR which is 2.5 SPG pts per dollar vs SPG Amex at 1 SPG pt per dollar. That's an increase of 1.5 SPG/ $1 spend

SPG/Marriott hotels earns more at 2:1 rate vs Cobalt, not 4:1.

alc

GCR is offering $50 rebate:

https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/...s/Amex-Cobalt/

Now, I do want to know if AMEX Refer-a-Friend offer will be better with more sign-up bonus now

yeunganson

Oh yes! I will correct the ratio spend.

nli007

My biggest concern right now is whether or not I will earn 5x MR for restaurant/bar/grocery purchases OUTSIDE of Canada.

Hoping someone will test out the card soon haha

BenSenise

the percentage return is only accurate when you get a ticket at the maximum price allowed. If you get a ticket that had a base fare of let's say $200, then your return is 6.7%

BUT, do you have to pay taxes & fees on these tickets or do the points cover the whole cost? in the latter case the return could potentially be even higher than 10%. i've never used fixed price redemptions of this kind before, like RBC Rewards and Air Miles to name a couple.