pinniped

Right now I have a drawer full of cards, debating what to do.

I have:
- 2 Marriott Visas. They sit in drawers, generating 2 annual Cat 5 free nights for $85 each. My instinct is to upgrade them to the $95 versions when I can, simply to get better hotels for my free nights.
- 1 SPG Amex. My general spend card, which I love. Still debating what to do with it: keep it as-is or upgrade to the $450 version?
- 1 Citi Thank You Prestige card. This is my current $450 card, which nets at $200 after a simple travel credit once a year. Its "unique" benefit is 4th Hotel Night Free with some limitations. Usually nets out as pay about 3.5 nights,, get half a night free.
- 1 Hyatt Visa. My card for places that don't take Amex.
- 2 Hilton Amexes (Ascend level). Currently using one to quickly reset my Diamond status through 2019, but will likely drop one.

Main two questions I have now is whether to kill the Prestige card and upgrade the SPG Amex. I use Priority Pass a *lot* (probably 8-10 total person-visits per months if not more), so I need one unlimited PP card with good guest privileges. I find myself struggling to find good applications of the 4th Hotel Night benefit.

I have not been a CSR player yet at all. If I got into the Chase world I'd be eligible for signup bonuses, but I've also been rejected by them in the past because I used to churn the crap out of their products before they cracked down on total cards/applications. They're still tight on credit limits with me, making me think I'm not 100% out of their doghouse.

MikeBOS

Why would you keep the SPG Amex as your general spend card after they drop the points by 1/3? At that point there are many other options in this thread that give you a better return than the ~1.5% that would be worth. CSR is much better because the general spend value is the same (~1.5%) but the high bonus categories are considerably broader than either one of the SPG Amex cards (travel + restaurants vs. Marriott only).

HPN-HRL

Just as a reminder, SPG points are clearly (currently) worth over 2 cents each. 10000 SPG points will easily get you a $200+ room, which seems like a reasonably good return on a $95 AF. Of course, YMMV...

ESpen36

Is Chase likely to keep Marriott as a transfer partner for UR?

christianj

surfmonkey89

Update: Just got the card in the mail, and all of the materials promote 1.5% cash back, not 3%. I called support before I even activated the card. They claim that the materials are wrong, I'm set up at 3%, and they're going to mail me a letter confirming that. I'm going to activate the card, because even if they send me a letter there's now way I can confirmed 1.5% v 3.0% until I actually use it.

Needless to say, my first experience has not been positive. We'll see how it goes from here.

ckelly14

Looking into CSR. I don't see American as a partner, but I guess that I can transfer to Marriott then to American? Is UR to MR 1:1?

christianj

AA has always had a strong association with Citi so them not being a transfer option on a Chase product is understandable.

Yes...UR to MR is 1:1.

TravelinSperry

What about the Hilton Aspire card instead of your Ascend cards? At $450 it grants Diamond without spend req of Ascend and gives you unlimited PP. Easily can get $450 back with their credits at resorts/air. Plus their spend for air/restaurant is 7x, amazing return on those categories and in-hotel as well.

Need

I think the Hilton Aspire is a great card, but 7x HH points on air/restaurant is not "amazing return". Since they devalued HH points, it is pretty much a fixed value at about $0.045 per points. I don't think anyone with CSR or Amex Plat will go purchase airfare with Hilton Aspire.

TravelinSperry

I value Hilton at .6 cents per - making 7x 4.2%. No other card can beat that except CSR. Obviously if you value HH points at .45 cents per that would change the calc significantly.

A quick perusal in Paris France shows a redemption in June available well over .6 cents per. Not sure why you are saying it is a fixed value. Although I do see many poor redemptions as well. But clearly it's not a fixed value when you can find some redemptions over .6.

xooz

Quote:

Originally Posted by HPN-HRL

Just as a reminder, SPG points are clearly (currently) worth over 2 cents each. 10000 SPG points will easily get you a $200+ room, which seems like a reasonably good return on a $95 AF. Of course, YMMV...

Maybe.. Let's assume I booked using points right now. 35K Marriott points used in Manhattan gets me a couple of Fairfield Inns, one Courtyard and one Residence Inn, almost all near the WTC end of the island. That point value at current Starwood rates (less than 12K) gets me no hotel on Manhattan. A weekend night at a Hilton gets me a night at virtually every property in Manhattan. London would be a worse deal again for getting a Starriott property compared to Hilton. These are where I usually spend my points... in large expensive cities.

Thus I think a Hilton free weekend night has a good likelihood of holding value past Aug 1, and I do not yet have confidence that there will be some revaluation at Starriott that will cause hotels currently out of reach to somehow drift down into the 35K point range. And a hotel in the $200 range I would likely pay for with cash rather than use points. All a crap shoot at this point however....

digimon

It looks like Amex must be getting worried about losing customers. I just got an offer from SPG Amex that gives me $150 for every $10k I spend up to $250. Ironically the offer expires in August. Maybe SPG is buying some time to tweak their offering. All it would take for me to stay would be for them to change their everyday spend points from 2 back to 3. otherwise the program is worthless.

TravelinSperry

How was this offer delivered to you? Email, snail mail, within Amex Offers?

digimon

I received and email from [email protected]. com. So make sure to check your spam box. Here are the offer details...
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