DasTurtle

Hello everyone,

First post for me

Overall i'm new to this credit card churring idea, I've been on the sideline watching mainly. Recently my overall spends have increased to a point where i might be able to take advantage of bonuses. I have a solid score 777+ on all reports ever pulled. I dont have any major cards, I have been going after cashback cards. BOA cashback~> Chase Freedom ~> Barclay Uber (my now go to, 4% on restaurants and no foreign fees.). Just opened a chase unlimited freedom only for wedding expenses for the 0%. I'm under the 5/24 rule w/o any issues.

There will be a honeymoon in store for us sometime in 2019, have not determined the location. Thinking an Asian country or two. So i figured this would be an ideal time to grab a travel card, take in a bonus and try to cover some of the trip.

I'm thinking of two different cards, I might get both in the end but right now i would like to start with one.
-Citi Prestige - seems to be a natural upgrade from the Uber card. My main spending is all on restaurants. So i'll be moving from 4x to 5x getting this card. I average 2-3 plane tickets a year so that 5x will help in that. 4th night free MIGHT not be used all too often, I'm more of 3-day weekend person. Getting the sign-up bonus and the travel credits would be cash flow positive for the first year. Not sure about the following years.
- CSR/CSP - I'm one card away from the "trifecta" of chase. 3x dining doesn't beat 4x from uber right away but transferring points might. I'm thinking to get the CSP 1st year, since its $0 AF, get the bonus, sit on it. Wait til year 2, get the CSR, get the travel crediting making the AF like $150.

Some what in the air, i would like to pull the trigger on getting one card in March/April. Are there any cards other cards i should consider. I thought of the AMEX platinum, i'm thinking right now i dont align with that. I dont uber or uber eats much and some of the other perks dont benefit me.

I was really excited about Priority pass, then i found out my local airport (ORD-Chicago) they have two lounges but ONLY in the international termination. So that somewhat lost some value to me as well.

Thanks for the help guys.

mia

Welcome to Flyertalk.

Don't be distracted by numbers, look at value. 4 cents is not necessarily more than 3 points. For example, Sapphire Reserve points can be used to purchase travel through Chase's portal at $0.015/point. This makes 3 points worth 4.5 cents, potentially more if you transfer to airline or hotel programs.

You'll need to do a similar analysis to compare ThankYou points to Ultimate Rewards points.

baroqen

It comes down to what transfer partners will be usable for you. With 5x points and useful transfer partners for me to fly to Asia plus the 4th night free benefit, Citi has become a no brainer top of wallet for me. Add the occasional transfer bonus, and it's just about perfect. CSR used to be my top of wallet, but they need to up their game.

But if you can't maximize value from Citi's transfer partners, then CSR is still a great card.

Visconti

If you have Citigold, or willing to get it, opt for the Prestige, if your next trip is to Asia (assuming SE Asia). If it were me, I'd get both, since UR points would be very helpful for any potential Hyatt stays in Asia. Can't really go wrong with either, in my view.

PS - on the new Prestige, looks like the 4th night free is limited to (1) booking on the TY site, and (2) twice per year. Curious to see if utilizing the 4th night confers hotel Elite benefits.

akr1970akr

If you book through the portal, it'll be like any other OTA type of booking. up to the property if they want to confer anything.

if you book through the concierge, available til sep 2019, it looks like a usual full service TA booking, so usually you get loyalty benefits. personally i'm finding getting the 4NF rebate to be more painful at the moment, which is how the concierge system works. maybe they just don't care/focus on it that much since its going away pretty soon.

DasTurtle

I'll probably do some points analysis but honestly, i'm such a rookie at using the portals and etc. I'll be spending more time reading into this. Somewhat seems the CSR/CSP makes the most logical sense and then move on to the next card.

I've "wasted" some of the points in the past. Prior to me learning about transfer partners and etc, i cashed out of 80,000 points just for $800 cash. I'm kicking myself as it could have been $1000 worth of points via the UR portal.

I

baroqen

Oh, and I know it wasn't in your original post but... since you're a 3 day weekend kinda guy, I'd say the Capital One Venture is pretty good in that regard with 10x points on hotels.com. Coupled with the inherent hotels.com loyalty program and you're getting 20% back (or more depending on your transfer value now that Capital One has airline partners). It's definitely a good card to add to your stable now.

heymile

I recently posted a newbie thread too (can't post link as i have <5 posts). In the end I'm going for the Prestige as my biggest expenses are for air travel. But I might quickly get CSR right after.

DasTurtle

That venture card was something that caught my eye. Mainly because I'm not attached to any hotel chain, I like to just book the cheapest. I don't travel for business at all. So as a pleasure traveler, staying in the nice/big room is pointless. As long as I dont get robbed or sick from the place i'm good to go.

I'm still trying to read up on how points are valued differently. I really do need to start logging when i get cards and etc.


I read your post. If you travel for business it might be a different angle then myself. Looks like we both need to read up more. But I think both cards are solid cards. My spends will be barely enough to cover one min spend so i would have to wait a little bit to get the second card.

AbyssalLoris

A few thoughts based on your questions and comments:

The idea of getting the CSP now and CSR next year may be possible, but won't let you earn a bonus on the 2nd app. Look into Chase's 48-month restriction for more clarity. This was a bummer for me, but if your inherent spending is high enough, you could always forgo the 2nd bonus and upgrade, while it still being worth your while.

As a general rule, I think the extra value you can squeeze out of these points/miles over cashback is amplified if you choose a certain amount of luxury in your travel. If you go basic (and nothing wrong with that), you will still get a little better than cashback, but not a whole lot.

Regarding the Prestige, I was looking into this too and am feeling that it is rather uncompelling. It seems to me that your major attractors for any of these cards is the points earning potential. If I were you, I'd definitely run some numbers to see if what you earn will be worth the fees and headaches. Relatively easy to do if you don't already use tons of cards. Just pull up your year-end summary from last year (or two) and note down totals vs. rough categories. Use that with your new card's bonus multipliers and project. These are only going to be seriously motivating if your spending is relatively high, with the value being difficult to quantify. With the Prestige, after credits and such, you are still paying >$200 fees. You say you're not likely to use the 4th night benefit (and if you do, it's probably not at expensive properties). Keep in mind that even if you did, post-devaluation (under new rules), your base hotel rate through the ThankYou portal is probably higher than you can get elsewhere, and you won't earn any hotel points either. I think rather than a 25% cost reduction, it will be a 5-10% savings. We should call it a 10th night free at best. So, do you spend enough to easily make up for those fees?

More importantly, have you considered the Premier instead? Equal or bigger bonus, but doesn't do as much for dining. With a combination of Premier & the Uber card, you'd have to do a lot of dining out to benefit from the Prestige, after considering fees.

DasTurtle

Thank you for your input, this actually makes a lot of sense. I did look at the chase rules and etc. I just went into to a chase branch last friday and got approved for a CSR. I figure i'll start with that since i'm well under 5/24, hit my min spends and then look into other cards.

I just pulled up my uber charges for the last year ( only had the card about 9 months but most of my charges were a little inflated) $37k in spends with 40% in dining and 31% in travel. Getting the CSR made the most logical sense.

1readyset2go

I have been wanting to get this card and the big draw is the 4th night free. I understand you can now only use that twice in a year. In the fine print it mentions you can not use it for a number of things like Yacht's and "villa's".

I am looking at an Aman stay and the while they do have Villa's the cat below their villa's is what I was specifically looking at staying in. Aman calls it a "Casita" which goes for about $1400 in season. I was wondering if anyone knew if this would be a room that Citi would allow as a 4th night free. If so this would be a no brainer for my next card. Thanks!

moe8555

Just keep in mind starting September, you can only use the benefit via the ThankYou portal, and unless portal rates change for the better once that transition occurs, it won't be nearly as worthwhile in terms of point use vs. other card programs.

hyperbling

considering your main spend is in restaurants, you definitely need to add the AMEX gold for its 4x MR earning rate to your list for consideration.

however, don't discount the simplicity of cashback!

i'm struggling with this right now, as i recently switched from the CSR to amex gold as my main card for dining (which is my highest category spend after housing) because 4x MR > 3x UR. however, once you start earning points, there's always the "i must get at least XXX cents per point" kicking around in your head. UR points make this much easier to deal with because they have a floor of 1.5cpp. i recently had to fly somewhere, and transferring points to airlines all yielded 1cpp. if i only had MR points, i'd likely buy the flight with cash instead and hoard more points over time. (and yes, you could cash out MR points at 1.25cpp with a schwab plat but that's another $550 annual fee which can be hard to swallow).

akr1970akr

Also I thought Aman doesn't distribute their rooms through OTA, but maybe I'm confused on that.