bgriff

uppereastsider

I'm in the exact same scenario - CSR, Freedom and SPG Amex for everyday spend. I converted an old CSP into a Freedom Unlimited a while ago. On August 1, my Freedom Unlimited will become the default card for every day spend in the US. The .5x less earnings on Marriott are easily by the more flexible transfer options... and since you said you use SPG points for hotels, Hyatt will add some interesting redemption opportunities.

If you haven't signed up for it, and are under 5/24, there's a promo where you can get 3x on everything on the Freedom Unlimited for the first year.

damon88

I wonder if American Express realizes how badly this will hurt them? For over 10 years I pretty much used our SPG cards for all of our spending (for every place that would take Amex). Then I discovered the CSR and moved my dining and travel charges there. I will of course get the new Luxury card to use on my Starriott stays and will probably get the new Biz card as well, although it won't be my primary business card.

I noticed when Amex reported earnings last week that customer spending was way up, especially in the premium sector. Amex credited that increase to their investment in rewards: "they spent a record $2.35 billion in customer rewards during the first three months of the year, seeking to woo more high-spending customers and counter competition from major U.S. banks"

Credit card customers are more sophisticated today than in the past. I am sure there will be lots of card holders who are fooled into thinking they are earning double points on the new cards instead of the actual 33% devaluation. But are those the premium cardholders Amex is so proud of?

bgriff

Customers who don't pay enough attention to maximize their own value at the cost of the company are always customers that any company is most proud of. Amex puts pictures on their refrigerator of the many people (and they do exist) who put all their spend on the Platinum card and until recently earned exactly 1 MR points per dollar on everything.

Amex can't really win here. For a long time the SPG Amex was *the* card to have. I used it for all my spend for many years and recommended many friends do the same, and doing so was probably the value-maximizing decision at the time. But that started to erode with the CSP, and then the CSR and Citi's premium cards, all of which have created an arms race for the credit card companies to give away more and more value to customers. To really steal share they'd have to make a card more appealing than other alternatives, which may well mean giving away losing money on the rewards being offered to customers.

surfmonkey89

So what's YOUR plan? You seem to know a ton about all of this; I'd love to hear your opinion.

bgriff

I sometimes have a lot of travel spend that I get reimbursed for, so I use the Amex Platinum for airfare spending and the CSR for other travel and dining. Then my non-bonus spend goes onto the Delta Platinum Amex up to $25K/year to get the MQM bonus and MQD waiver and the SPG Amex after that, and I use the Chase Freedom for its rotating bonus categories.

I don't usually have a ton more non-bonus spend beyond $25K so things aren't really changing too much for me, though if I ever decide to move away from the Delta card then the landscape is definitely getting trickier. (I suppose this change to the SPG Amex is actually reducing my opportunity cost of putting so much spend on a Delta card, so in a perverse way this is almost good for me?) If I did stop using the Delta card I would definitely pick up the CFU and am very tempted by the 3pts/dollar for a year bonus offer, though I have this going on right now so I'm probably not going to look to pick up another Chase card for at least a couple of months. Hopefully the CFU offer will still be around by then.

Once the CFU first year offer is over I think it's still a good card for non-bonus spend. But, personally I may actually continue to just use one of the SPG/Marriott cards at 2 points per dollar, because:

• Having the vast majority of spend on CSR and CFU is a heavy exposure to UR points -- which doesn't bother me because of worry about UR points losing value suddenly, but instead just because UR points can't do everything, so it's nice to have some diversity. That said, my annual credit card spend including reimbursed expenses is generally in the six digits, so I have the luxury of having enough volume to build up balances in multiple different programs. If my spending was less, it might not make sense to split spending across multiple programs, because then it could take too long to build up a useful number of points in any one program.
• I am close to SPG Lifetime Platinum and should be able to secure that under the new rules next year, so having SPG/Marriott points is disproportionately more valuable to me than, say, Hyatt points. If I didn't have elite status in any program and wanted to earn hotel stays, I would probably focus more on just racking up UR points and using them at Hyatts, which is probably the best credit-card-spend-for-hotel-stays value proposition currently available, at least assuming there's a satisfactory Hyatt property option at your destination, which is of course not guaranteed.
• I've only transferred SPG points to airlines a couple of times (for 25K miles each time to top up an account for a specific redemption). So I'm not as worried about that angle personally, but I can see why those for whom that was the primary use of SPG points are more vexed about what to do. If your primary use of SPG points is for hotel stays, as long as Marriott doesn't gut the value of their points with the forthcoming new award chart, 2 Marriott points per dollar earned isn't an awful return rate on credit card spend. If your primary use of SPG is airline transfers, it's probably best to make your peace with a smaller set of available transfer partners and choose one of Chase UR, Amex MR, or Citi TYP to invest heavily in, making the choice depending on your most valued transfer partners and favorite bonus spend categories.
• Similarly, I very rarely manage to build up a "beyond immediate needs"-size balance of SPG/Marriott points, so I use them carefully, and often choose to pay cash for hotels instead of using points for personal travel when the value of a particular redemption doesn't meet my hurdle rate. So I could probably manage to make sure that 2 Marriott points per dollar continues to be worth at least 2% back for me (though probably never too much more than 2% back, either). For someone who either can't be bothered to pay that much attention, or who builds up a large balance of points on a lot of regular paid hotel stays and thus tends to use them indiscriminately because they just have so many, even a 2% cash back card like the Citi Double Cash might ultimately offer a better value.

ESpen36

Are we 100% sure that AMEX MR points will be transferable to Marriott after SPG goes away? (currently, SPG is a transfer partner for AMEX, but Marriott is not)

It would change the conversation re: AMEX Plat 5x airfare points if we could not transfer those points into the Marriott/SPG universe anymore starting Aug 1....

DeltaFlyer IntrepidClass

That's a good question. Wondering the same.

surfmonkey89

Thank you for sharing all of this - it really was tremendously helpful. I guess I’ll share a bit about where I am, both to reciprocate and to get opinions from others.

Currently: SPG Amex for 5yrs, Marriott Rewards for going on 3. Gold on both (via linking), and I doubt I’ll ever get close enough or care enough to go for Platinum anything.

Usage: Love Starwood, both for airline miles, offers, and the occasional trip destination. Been using SPG Amex as daily spend with Marriott as Visa backup, but recently switched the to Amazon Prime Visa for the 5% cash back on Amazon & Whole Foods (which is nice, but I’m not wedded to). Got the MR mostly for the free night, which I have a use for every year.

Going forward: I’ve been doing a bit more traveling, and would like to do even more. As a result of that (and this merger craziness) I’m learning a lot about various perks I never knew about or used (even wrt my own cards/accounts). As a result, I’m ready to make the jump to a premium card.

The luxury Amex is interesting for someone coming from SPG basic such as myself. I get to stay in my programs, a $300 credit that I should be able to achieve, Priority Pass access and PreCheck and Global entry. Seems like a pretty nice way to ease into this world. An added bonus is that I can pretty much keep doing what I’ve been doing, and wait and see how everything shakes out next year. New MR card isn’t worth it to me, and my current MR will go in the drawer.

The Amex Platinum has a great airline benefit, but I think I’d have a hard time meeting all of the requirements that everyone just tosses aside to say “It’s really only $150 per year”. But, the Delta and Centurion club access is appealing, as is Starwood Gold Elite. If they keep that, I’d consider it, but unless I’m missing something obvious (let me know), this isn’t as appealing as the Luxury upgrade.

CSR sounds like a great option for my Visa backup. PP, GE, etc are redundant with the Amex, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Tentative plan:
- upgrade to the Luxury Amex, use up the $300 credit on travel and take advantage of 6x on Starriott spend
- After the $300 travel credit gets met, get the CSR. Get the 50K signup bonus, use it until $300 credit on travel is met, then move it to Amex backup and start accumulating different rewards as a hedge
- re-evaluate in a year to see what *actually* happened with this merger

Does that make sense? Am I missing something obvious, especially with the Amex Platinum? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

digimon

So I think I have decided to apply for the CSR card. I kept going back and forth between this card and the Amex Platinum. I really Really want the Amex Platinum for the prestige. There is just something about pulling that platinum card out of your wallet. But if I am being honest with myself, the CSR wins hands down with the 3 points for dining and the $300 credit on travel spend. My cost is going to be pretty much the same since I have to get a card for my wife. It’s a shame that Amex won’t step up. I have been a member for over 20 years and am really anxious about moving to Chase. I will definitely miss the SPG Amex. We had a great run.

kaizen7

I wish I could get that spg amex lux card or even normal card

not available in where I live.

UA-NYC

TBH I don't think that Plat AmEx has really been that "premium" for a few years now, even going to all metal. That went out the window once a lot more people started to get it (after Centurions started popping up), but even more so now that there are like a dozen $450 cards out there.

AmEx as a company has really been struggling the past few years...glory days are over.

christianj

+1...maybe 20 years ago the sighting of an Amex Platinum was rare but today I don't think it carries much of a prestige feeling with it. It's like that in the US and Europe at least but maybe it's still different in other countries.

bgriff

I've had the Platinum card for a decade and it doesn't even sit in my wallet -- it sits in my travel bag so I can pull it out when needed to get into an airport lounge, but that's about the only time it sees the light of day outside of pulling it out for the digits when booking an airfare online. It's not a good card for everyday purchases.

Plus if you want a flashy card that looks impressive when you use it at dinner with friends or whatever, I'm not sure that the Platinum card is really it. The design is kind of stodgy, even with the metal card, and so many much-less-premium cards have called themselves "platinum" for so long now ("Visa Platinum" is a mid-level card category) that most people don't realize the Amex Platinum is anything special unless they themselves already have it.

When I first got the CSP 3-4 years ago, people were so impressed with the metal card ... many friends, cashiers and waiters commented on it. With the CSR now, no one does, I think part because the CSR has become insanely common in New York; having a metal card definitely does not make you stand out any more. That said I do think the CSR is a sharper-looking card than the Platinum.

bgriff

If you're not 100% sold on the CSR annual fee, you could also just go for the CFU 3% for a year bonus offer and accumulate points on that card. It will be just as good as the CSR for travel and dining for that first year, and much better for everything else. The only downside is you can't transfer direct to airlines/hotel points from the CFU, but you can build up miles, and when the year is up or you're ready to transfer, whichever comes first, you can then apply to the CSR and it's easy to transfer your miles within Chase from the CFU card to the CSR card.

On the Amex Platinum:

• Have a look at the airline credit threads in the Amex FT forum to see some examples of how easy (or not) the $200 airline credit is to claim. For example if you choose Delta as your airline, the credit will post if you buy $50 gift cards. (That's not what the T&Cs intend, but Amex's systems give you the credit for those purchases anyway.) So if you fly Delta regularly and don't mind a bit of extra hassle, the airline credit isn't too hard to claim.
• For the Uber credit, even if you don't use Uber much, if you live somewhere that has Uber Eats and you order delivery at least once a month, that's another way to claim that $200 credit.

So it potentially really isn't that hard to achieve the theoretical $150 net annual fee. But then what that gets you:

• The lounge access is most valuable if you fly Delta regularly. If you're not airline loyal, Centurion Lounges are also nice if you pass by their locations regularly, but some of them also get obnoxiously crowded.
• The 5x points on airfare is potentially very lucrative, but if you only spend a few thousand dollars or less on airfare every year and don't have any other Membership Rewards cards, you're not necessarily going to build up points fast enough to have enough to do anything with them, even at that lucrative earning rate (especially since there isn't a clean and easy "1.5 cents per point" redemption option like there is on the CSR).
• SPG Gold is nice enough but isn't worth that much (other than temporarily right now with the match to old Marriott Gold, which is going away). Hilton Gold has more benefits, but I still wouldn't put a big cash value on it.

So, it sounds like maybe the Platinum is not really worth it, or at best only marginally worth it, for you. Given the temptation that it might create to do irrational things like pay extra to fly Delta just to use a lounge, it might be best to stay away.