Where to concentrate spending?
 

After a few App-O-Ramas over the past year or so and some difficulty getting my wife to remember which card, I'd like to only use one or a few cards going forward.

My wife and I travel 2-3x a year within the US and rarely travel for work, so not much on the end of reimbursable expenses and nights/stays toward elite status.

My thought process is that earnings points in Hilton, while less valuable on a per point basis, makes more sense because I can get Gold status with my Reserve and this gets me free breakfast and internet at most properties. This is quite a bit of savings for us. I'm not as interested in aspiration stays/properties as I am in just having free travel to US places we would like to visit. No Maldives for us, at least not right now.

I stayed at the W New Orleans recently and didn't even use the in-room internet ($15/day) and breakfast was on the expensive side too (read:budget travelers/newlyweds). I also wasn't overly impressed with my stay.

All that being said, I have the following cards:

Chase Freedom (w/ Chase Checking Account/Exclusives)
Chase Sapphire Preferred
Chase Ink Classic
Club Carlson Premier (me)
Club Carlson Premier (wife)
Citi Forward
AMEX Starwood
AMEX Delta Gold (me)
AMEX Delta Gold (wife)
AMEX Blue Cash Preferred (6% cashback on groceries)
Citi Hilton HHonors Reserve

Really just wondering where I should concentrate my point earning efforts for a budget traveler that isn't going to ever get elite status right now.

Welcome to FT!!

The CITI Hilton Hhonors card is churnable every 60+ days. Get it now and reapply after 60+ days. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/miles...l#post16456259

Among those, I personally would keep the spg, forward, blue cash, and freedom and dump everything else though I would be hesitant to drop the sapphire. Starwood has worked for me almost everywhere that I go and I have had success with category 2 Redemptions which is around 3k/4k pts or 4000 in spending. Hilton just takes me so much longer to build an award and I haven't found much redemption success lower than 30k, which is minimum 10k spend with the reserve card. Sapphire is useful for me to transfer to United miles as I have a huge stack of mp miles there with ewr so close by. O, I am also a budget traveler but for a different reason: my parents generally travel with me so I always need two rooms so those low points redemption really help me. We can always go out for breakfast and those award spend requirement difference mean extra room or couple hundred dollars of cash back using forward or freedom card.

At the end of the day, it is what works best for you that matters.

Where are you traveling from? For hotels on budget travel, you are likely better off using Priceline, getting an apartment, or using SPG cash and points if available. Chase Sapphire (or dare I suggest a MR card) gives you flexibility. If you aren't doing aspirational travel, then really watch your redemptions and check out Priceline, VRBO and consider the incidentals as part of the total cost. Don't be afraid to leave points on the table, as you will likely be doing aspirational at some point, or at least be in an expensive city.

To answer the spend question:
- what are your immediate plans, and considering the above do you want to use points or would cash back be better? Or, do you need airline?
-can you absorb another credit hit and drop some current cards (yes, this is flyer talk)
- if you can't answer the above, consider the most flexible points possible (Sapphire or SPG)

I do feel your pain. I had a recent $2k purchase on BA and spent a good 5 minutes figuring out whether to use my BA card, AmEx PRG or to meet my DH's Citi AA spend!

To answer the spend question:
- what are your immediate plans, and considering the above do you want to use points or would cash back be better? Or, do you need airline?
-can you absorb another credit hit and drop some current cards (yes, this is flyer talk)
- if you can't answer the above, consider the most flexible points possible (Sapphire or SPG)

I do feel your pain. I had a recent $2k purchase on BA and spent a good 5 minutes figuring out whether to use my BA card, AmEx PRG or to meet my DH's Citi AA spend!

I honestly have no immediate plans. The one place my wife and I have targeted for a summer trip is Chicago.

I live in Auburn, AL so I would either fly out of Birmingham or Atlanta, just depends on what is cheapest. Atlanta is obviously Delta, but Birmingham usually has good Southwest options.

I could take another credit hit, although it would probably need to be a few months since I just got the Club Carlson and Chase Ink.

I'm thinking I drop the Sapphire Preferred as I don't spend very much on travel/restaurants on a regular basis. The only problem with dropping this is that I lose my transfer ability for points earned on Ink Classic and Freedom.

I also tend to agree that even though the HHonors card provides gold status (free internet and breakfast), it takes $10k to get a decent room redemption.

I'm thinking if I cancel the Sapphire Preferred that I use the AMEX Blue Cash Preferred for groceries (500/mo spend) and gas (200/mo spend) and Freedom for 5% where available. All other generic spend goes on AMEX Starwood or Club Carlson (bogo night goes a long way).

I've also been thinking about this a lot recently. It will be interesting to hear what the seasoned FTers have to say on this but here is my 2 cents.

Points aren't liquid until they reach redemption thresholds so it is sometimes counterproductive to put spending on a card earning category bonuses. You don't want to pay multiple annual fees just to maximize categories.

I put spending on my cards on this order:
1. min spend requirements to meet sign up/retention bonuses
2a. cards that will get me to redemption threshold
2b. cards that have better value than 2% (include effects of category mutipliers)
3. 2% cashback cards

After reading your post, I suggest focusing on Hyatt/Southwest (Chase UR), Hilton & Club Carlson. Here's why:

Hyatt and SPG are better programs for US hotel awards than Hilton, Marriott or Priority club. Concentrate on maximizing Chase UR for Hyatt program. Last year I averaged 2.5x with these cards (I'm sure you are already doing it). I've had great success with the Southwest program for domestic travel. So CSP may be worth keeping. You can probably get 4% value with the cards you have.

SPG points would work well for you as well so accumulate SPG points before the anniversary. Dump it when the AF comes due so you start the clock on churning.

Hilton card is worth keeping only if you are able to put 10-15k on it. If you can spend enough to get another award night at the free night hotel (most likely 50k points). It's a pain to change hotels every night on vacations, so this will be a good way to maximize the Hilton card benefits (3-4% value for ~15k spend plus breakfast). It will not be productive to rack up more Hilton points as they are less valuable without Axon awards (available with Amex Hilton cards) at aspirational properties. HHonors is also skewed towards higher point redemptions. Their value within US is even more limited.

For your Chicago trip the Club Carlson card will be handy at the aqua blu hotel. That card is worth keeping for 40k and bogo but I'd not use it without a redemption in mind.

Amex BCP & Citi forward are nice. Think of possibly adding another cash back card. Good no fee candidates are US Bank Cash+ and Barclays Priceline (excellent for 5x on bidding rental cars and hotels).

I'm just thinking that for as little as I probably end up traveling (2-3x a year) that I would be better off earning a flex point.

I am having a hard time justifying the $95 fee for the CSP though just to utilize it as a transfer option since very little of my spend would actually go on it due to category bonuses.

I'm thinking I use Ink Classic for 5x on cable and cell phone, AMEX BCP for 6x on groceries and 3x on gas/dept stores, Freedom for 5% bonuses, Citi HHonors for rent ($800/mo so $9600/yr which would put me close enough to 10k threshold for reward night), and all other spend on AMEX SPG. I just think the SPG points take me farther with C&P stays than the transfers out to partner programs with the CSP.

I think I'm going to downgrade my CSP to the no-fee version (next month fee hits) and maybe in a few months I will sign my wife up for it. I'm assuming she should be able to get her own if she is just an AU on mine?

Looks like you found a perfect solution! Yes, your wife can sign up for CSP even if she is an AU now. You will avoid the AF without losing ability to transfer!!