mia

Have you quantified the inconsistency?

yugi

But then you forgo cashback portal, and I would rather use Prestige for OTA purchases, cause it's 5x.

jags86

EverGreen7230

Admittedly I have not run the math, but most of the reports I've seen indicate that smaller coffee shops and cafes, along with restaurants that share space with a market e.g. a fish market that operates a restaurant in the same building. I honestly don't have the time or will to go through statements to see where Amex deigned to give me 4x MR vs 1x, and honestly that shouldn't be my responsibilty to begin with. Hence my preference of Chase's CSR for my dining spend, as it has a less strict filter on what is considered restaurant spend and what isn't. I also appreciate that the CSR still earns that 3x on dining spend outside the US, where Amex limits this to US only. At the end of the day, the CSR is a better point earner and has better benefits than the Gold for an identical net annual fee.

mia

For this to be accurate in the dining category the American Express misclassification rate would need to 1 out of 3 transactions. I doubt it is that high, and that's why I asked if you had kept track.

EverGreen7230

Except that you aren't taking into account the lack of any extra point earning outside the US in that calculation, where many travelers tend to spend well above what they would on dining back home. I definitely know I do. To give you the benefit of the doubt though, it may be less. However, that comes at the cost of a lot of benefits for an identical net fee, and I honestly find it insulting for a "travel" card's primary bonus category to only apply in my home country. If it works for you, great, but I don't find the 4x US-only category compelling for a $150 net fee.

Adelphos

I find this argument interesting (it is a common one)

1) You gotta eat. If you are not spending money on dining in the US, you are probably spending money on groceries. The Gold card gets 4x MR on groceries while none of the Sapphire cards have grocery bonus categories

2) Unless you travel internationally 1/3 or 1/2 of your days, I find it odd that this is a huge deal. Don't get me wrong, I use my Chase Sapphire Preferred for international dining, but I would imagine most US residents spend more of their dining dollars in the US. I spend tens of thousands on dining annually, with the vast majority in the US...

EverGreen7230

For point 1, many people buy groceries at wholesalers like Sam's or Costco, where the Amex Gold earns only 1 point per dollar spent. Similarly for stores like Target and Walmart. I personally don't. For grocery I currently use a CapOne Savor, and will eventually go to a BB+ once I close out credit card slots. I don't intend to keep the Gold, and I'll explain in a second.

For point 2, while it does add up to a decent amount of spend for me, you are correct. In a 3 week period, I can usually spend the equivalent of 2-3 months worth of restaurant spend when overseas. However, my options to earn more than 1% cashback for those purchases are: CapOne SavorOne, one of several 95$ fee cards, CSR/Prestige/Other high AF luxury card. Here is the crux of the issue. You're paying a $150 annual fee for great point earning in the US alone, and nearly nothing else. If you want points for overseas dining spend, you need at least another $95~ fee card, bringing the yearly outlay to $245~. If you want trip delay, cancellation, and other such coverages, you need a $450+ fee card either in addition to or instead of the 95$ card. Some of those cards overlap in dining with the Amex Gold, meaning you are paying extra for reduced benefit.

For my personal situation, I have a CSR. I have no intent to get rid of it. I pay a net $150 annual fee. I also have an Amex Gold. It will earn me a single point more in dining 2-3 quarters each year, and 2.5 points more for grocery 2-3 quarters out of the year (due to Chase Freedom restaurant and grocery categories). For the remaining, it has to beat a CapitalOne SavorOne/Blue for Business+. To be worth keeping for me, the points earned would need to both cover the net annual fee and the amount I already earn from grocery spend from cards with no annual fee. To use the BB+ for comparison, that's 12k points to cover the annual fee and another 5k~ to cover what I'd earn in a year from the BB+. That's over $4k in annual grocery spend on the Gold to make it worth the fee over a free card, well more than what I currently spend in that category, to provide enough of an increase over my current point earnings to be worth paying the annual fee.

I can see where the card would make sense, and it could work for me if they expanded their restaurant partners so I don't have to go out of my way to use the credit, but at this point the card would add a second $150 net fee to my expenses but wouldn't break even in points earned.

rog92

I don't understand why we must determine a "better" card out of these two. It's different for everyone... If you can't use the dining credit, or the dining and grocery 4X MR from the Gold then just don't hold it...it's not like Amex is forcing this card on anyone is it?
Also I find it interesting that the notion of "complexity" would come up. If you don't like complexity...maybe points and miles in general are just not your thing man. From my experience the greatest values always lies within the "complexity".

rog92

1) For me Gold only has a net AF of $30. If your net AF is $150 then that's already an indicator that this card might not be for you (because you are valuing the 120 dining credit at zero dollar).
2) Every program has its strengths and weaknesses. The MR program is very lucrative in airline transfer partners. If you don't use this feature, then I would advise against any MR card.

At the end of the day, it seems to me that it's just not a good match to you, as simple as that. I think you are getting the order of things backwards. It seems like you got into the game without thinking it through, and kind of blaming Amex for being too restrictive and too complex. However, in my opinion the correct order should always be studying the program first, and then make a wise decision to join or not. (Edit: This is responding to the OP, who I just realize is not you haha)

christianj

For me personally these two cards coexist in my wallet and are both used to maximize the benefits of each. Right now I am using the Gold card more due to the fact that I need to even out my balances between UR and MR after focusing on UR more in recent years. A little effort is required to use some of the benefits on BOTH cards but it's not has difficult as the OP seems to indicate IMHO.

Flights - I put the charge on the CSR due to the travel insurance. If I need AMEX MR points I will swap to the Gold card.
Dining - I put the charge on the Gold card UNLESS I know that the restaurant does not credit at 4x with AMEX...then I put it on the CSR
Groceries - Gold
Rental Cars - I put on the CSR

Benefits:
$100 flight credit on Gold - Easy to use just get it out of the way at the beginning of each year...might be more difficult for me to use in 2020 due to the loss of the AA gift card option.
$120 ($10 monthly) dining credit on Gold - takes a little effort to use but there are plenty of Grubhub delivery places around and I also have 2 Shake Shack's not too far away.
$300 travel credit on CSR - easiest benefit to use period!
Priority Pass on CSR - just sign up
$100 Global Entry TSA PreCheck on CSR - no issues using