rbAA

I don't see anyone reporting success with those cards, so doubt it. I don't carry any of those, so no personal experience.

digimon

Is there a way to verify if I am getting the 3% promotion? I called twice to ask to different agents to see whether the promotion was active on my card and both of them said that they had never heard of a 3% cash back promo.

osotoc

I agree with this method going forward 8/1. I use my SPG stash for Alaska transfers mainly. I stay almost exclusively at Marriott/SPG properties, and that will continue post 8/1, so I'll have a healthy return on hotel stays.

FYI: I'm based out of Germanys, so all the Chase and AMEX cards with foreign transaction fees are not usable. So that eliminates almost all groceries stores and other common "US-based" bonus categories--so no Chase FU or AMEX BBP for me.

Post 8/1:
Airline: AMEX Platinum (J tickets) or CSR (Y tickets) or BoA Alaska Biz (for AS tickets--but not too many of those)
Hotels: AMEX SPG or CSR (for not Marriott/SPG properties)
Other travel: CSR
Dining: CSR
Internet/Phone/etc: IPB
Non-bonus: BoA Alaska Biz (to answer the point of this entire thread! )

Again, as I value SPG points for its airline transfer ability to Alaska, using my Alaska Biz card would give me a $1 to 1 AS mile without any hassle or conversion or devaluation issues.
(And yes, if Alaska were to devalue their partnership charts, then I'd be screwed, but I don't plan to clear out my full Marriott account anytime soon. I'm just putting my non-bonus spend into Alaska without the Marriott middle-man.)

That's my strategy going forward, which I'll re-evalute once I return to the US or Alaska craps on its partnership charts. haha.

I also have the Marriott/Marriott Biz and SPG/SPG Biz. I still have to figure out what to do with those.
However, like some, the 35000pt valued "free night" does seem to be worth it. Strung together, that's a long weekend somewhere.
I may upgrade the Marriott to the new Marriott Plus (my AF just posted as did my CAT1-5 cert).
I'll try for an SPG personal retention offer as that's up next and probably asked about the SPG Biz card as well.

My strategy going forward...for what it's worth.

surfmonkey89

digimon

THANK YOU!

Zone1

I will probably begrudgingly keep my current SPG Amex. I have the old Chase United Platinum card that gets double MP points at gas, grocery, home improvement, and restaurants. I probably get 2+ cpm on UA. The other constraint I have is that I'd still want to keep an Amex card because we frequently use the Amex Deals that pop up in emails. I don't think Hilton or Membership Reward points can beat even the devalued Marriott points, so I probably won't cancel it.

gfunkdave

FWIW, I am staying at the Sheraton Tribeca for 12,000 points/night this weekend. I booked a couple weeks ago.

abk

My amex statement closes on the 2nd of the month and I called today to ask if charges incurred before August 1 (in July) would earn under the old system or whether they would earn under the new system since my statement posts after August 1. The representative said that it would be the date of the charge for benefits and not statement date and seemed very clear on that.

Does anyone have a feel for whether that is correct or would another agent give me a different answer.

schley

What do you guys think of the new amex comign in august? The luxury card? Or will MR have a better offering?

sdflyer04

I've been looking more closely at ultimate rewards for actual spend. I think the BofA visa return of 2.62% on non-bonus spend still beats the other alternatives. But, I can now see that with a CSR and 3 times the dollar on travel/dining, that could beat the 3.5% cash back from the BofA visa. However, I wouldn't use UR points to transfer to Marriott and I don't want to use them for international airlines for fear of not getting rewards seats on partner US airlines if the US airline isn't offering the lowest level seat. So, my transfer options are focused on United, Southwest, and Hyatt.

Southwest is now pretty easy to monetize with 1.5 cents per mile. So, if I have the math right, I could charge $10,000 travel/dining on CSR and get 30,000 points that I could then transfer to Southwest. Those Southwest miles should be worth 30K times 1.5 cents or $450. That beats the $350 I would earn with the BofA Visa. I might do better on United or not. I don't often use United miles for premium international awards (although, I am considering just such a ticket now). Hyatt would be a great use of the points. But, with lifetime status on Marriott/Starwood, I question the wisdom in racking up a bunch of Hyatt points/stays.

With that as background, I'm now considering whether it is worth the $450 annual fee, etc. for just my travel/dining spend on the CSR if I just use it for Southwest/United. I can see the benefit. But, I'm not sure it is worth the expense/effort.

abk

The fee is really only $150 after the $300 travel credit which works on almost anything and I see the value in primary rental car coverage and trip delay/interruption coverage and cancellation coverage.

stromile

the new amex card is probably worth having in a vacuum for anyone who spends a lot on marriott/SPG each year, but the value proposition gets murky for me when compared to other alternatives for wallet space, including the marriott cards. i think we need to know more about the differences between a 50k certificate and a 35k certificate, for example, which will continue to be a tough projection to make when the card is initially offered since marriott will have a whole year to screw with valuations / peak vs. off-peak / award availability before any anniversary certificates show up.

the $300 credit offsets all but $50 of the $350 extra AF over the current purple cards, in exchange for the same earnings rate on SPG/marriott spend (2x SPG/6x Marriott) and airfare/dining (1x SPG/3x marriott) but a 33% nerf to non-category spend (1x SPG to .67x SPG). the 50k certificate offsets the $100 extra AF if you do keep the card for a second year, and the value per 50k cert needed to break even goes down each year you renew ($100 per cert at AF #2 ; $75 at AF #3 , $67 at AF #4 ...). but for me the problem is that the vast majority of the value of the ~$100 AF for the SPG cards every year was the non-category spend. i don't see any value in 1x SPG for air/dining or 0.67x SPG for non-category spend. taking that value proposition out, the 50k certificate break-even point would have to be closer to $150 * 2 = $300 per cert year 1; $225 year 2; $200 year 3...

it's hard to tell how much value there will be at those levels. so i think i need to see what the sign-up bonus looks like. hopefully it at least opens with the 100k bonus from the premier plus, which i think would probably make the card worth getting and then keeping for at least the first two years.

Explore SE Asia

As a lower limit, I am calculating 1.5 cents using the Chase travel portal with the CSR. If you purchased the Southwest flight thru the portal you would earn miles.

I just aquired the CSR, so I have no real world experience with the portal.

PS I am looking for another card for the bonus and earning potential. After August, my primary cards will be CSR and CFU (Chase Freedom Unlimited). Actually, I might be better off with a good cash back card. I tend to hoard points/miles.

xooz

Yep.. done that myself, as well as Sheraton Timers Square. Just unsure that these hotels will stay at ~35K Starriott points going forward. I hope I am proven wrong.

3Cforme

I see people here writing about using seven different cards and it just makes my head hurt.

Marriott/Starwood is probably going to lose me as a Platinum. I'm a Stays guy, not a Nights guy, and the new qualification criteria don't work for me. (If you want to dismiss me as not a high-hotel-spending guy, that is true.) I can do nothing and keep gold benefits - which seem pretty worthless, frankly. 2PM late check-out based on availability vs. 4PM guaranteed; enhanced room vs. suite. Blah.

Anything Hyatt is simply a non-starter. Their footprint is too small by far.

Using Chase points on Southwest, best to monetize value? Ugh. I fly WN now and then but always without joy - and they have a pretty limited network from my home airport. I'm getting Million Miler benefits on Delta and AA so they're the better choice if fare is anywhere competitive.

I fled Hilton (returning to Starwood) after some serial devaluations had particular bite for my travel patterns. At this point I'm making the best of a bad situation. Amex Hilton Aspire looks to be my path.