FT

2/3rd of my and my family's aggregate spend is non bonused. The other 1/3rd is bonused at Marriott direct, air on Plat, restaurants and grocery spend on Gold.

Even if Marriott revalued everyday spend at 3x instead of 2x, there is minimal difference with putting this spend on Platinum or Gold anyway due to 3:1 redemption.

With my Marriott spend, I'm good using those points for hotel nights and not so much for airline transfers other than a top off when needed. I use AMEX MR for free flight redemptions w/ pay with points.

So EPC gets me 1.5x and Blue Business gets 2x on the non bonus spend... equivalent to 4.5x and 6x with Marriott which is better than the Marriott non spend offering.

For every $1 with AMEX MR, I'm earning a 2% return rate using pay with points and will probably get the Business Platinum to increase the redemption rate to 3% (again, based on my actual spend.

But spending almost $2k a year with AMEX even with the rebates and offers that knock it down closer to $800/yr still seems excessive.

Boraxo

Concur 100%. I am usually pretty flush with airline points earned through BIS travel and we have loads of Chase UR points. But we never have enough hotel points and don't earn what we require through paid stays.

In the past SPG Amex was a great way to refill the account purely through everyday non-bonus spend. Much less so now with increase award prices not to mention even higher peak pricing. The current 25k bonus keeps this card in the wallet for now as we still need those hotel points and we can't transfer Chase UR at a 1:3 ratio. As for Marriott spend I would agree that theoretically I would value 3 Chase points higher than 6 MR points, but I will continue to use to Bonvoy cards for hotel charges as I desperately need hotel points. Chase points are too valuable to transfer to any hotel program.

That being said the Bonvoy fka SPG Amex card may go in the sock drawer next year depending on the peak/offpeak award pricing (or a non-renewal of the 25k bonus for $25k everyday spend). For anyone who doesn't desperately need hotel points I don't see why you would keep this card even for the free night.

friedablass

Because the annual fee is only $95 and the free night can be used at a hotel that can cost up to $300+. I personally used it at a pretty "low" redemption for a room that was $150 plus tax but that's where I needed to be and it saved me $45 plus whatever the tax would be; otherwise I would have paid for the room with cash or points (35k points I value at far greater than $150). And I know people who have gotten far greater value out of their free night so no reason to close it if you're actually going to use that free night cert.

abk

I just completed the 25k bonus but as soon as I did I got the BofA premium rewards card. I am in there top bonus category so I get 2.62% which is the best deal I have seen for everyday spending. Restaurants and travel go on the CSR so that is 4.5%. Is there a better solution?

Boraxo

friedablass

That's why it's a personal choice depending on what works for each person - I had 4 certs of 35k@ (personal and biz for both self and spouse) and used it for 2 rooms x 2 nights for a short family getaway not far from home. For me it was obviously worth it. For others this may not be the case.

Not sure if I'm allowed to say this here, but I know there are places where you can sell your free 35k night certs for $140+ depending on your status (up to $160). So if someone finds themselves not being able to use their cert they can still sell it and will cover the annual fee+.

gmt4

Bonvoy card has largely gone in the sock drawer, kept open only for the fact it makes up a decent chunk of my AAOA since I had the SPG card since its inception, and the account opening date was backdated to my first Amex card back in the late 90's. Also, I have about a 33k CL on it. It gets infrequent use now with 1 or 2 Bonvoy stays every other month charged to it. I've largely moved away from Marriott/Bonvoy and over to about 95% Hilton, 4% other unbranded non-chain hotels and maybe that 1% Marriott. IMHO the Hilton Aspire is king of the hotel cards right now for me. I suppose I'm also a little bit bitter at how Marriott took an a top notch loyalty program and gutted it, and then followed up with misstep after misstep on the Bonvoy rollout....so I've happily moved on. I like to keep and earn at least some Marriott points for diversity though. Never want to have ALL your eggs in one basket, and don't want to miss out if a sweet-spot redemption comes along in a program you don't have covered down.

Boraxo

Agree 100%. Congrats on being able to find good use for your 35k certs! Alas that is not the case for many of us coastal elites who don't vacation in China or flyover country (I generally avoid airport hotels too).

Personally I would never sell a cert as I still value my Marriott relationship (I'm one year away from lifetime Plat) but of course YMMV

friedablass

Used them in PA. Happened to have worked out this year but not sure what will be going forward. When we go away just as a couple we practically only stay in luxury hotels which these certs obviously are no good for. But on the occasion that we take the whole family, luxury hotels are not what we're looking for so it works perfectly.

I wouldn't either but I'm guessing you don't exactly tell them you did that , just say you booked for family member or close friend.

Kacee

I don't know about Marriott, but AA and UA both run sting operations on the various online fora to catch program members who are attempting to monetize program benefits. If you're caught selling miles, upgrades, travel certificates, etc., the usual consequence is account termination and forfeiture of miles.

fastflyer

I received my new Bonvoy Amex card last week. This thing looks trashy -- rendered in cheap, lightweight plastic with printed numbers unlike the old SPG Amex much heavier (partly metal?) with engraved numbers

Also, the graphics and color scheme embody the word tacky. The dark purple SPG Amex was nice -- not quite black, but distinctive (also happened to be the color of my alma mater).

This thing is embarrassing to take out of my wallet.

friedablass

I agree that the purple SPG cards were way nicer than the replacements I recently received but my old ones were definitely not partly metal. They were also plastic but had the numbers imprinted which all credit cards are moving away from and switching to just having them printed on the back side.

gardengirl

The new card is a problem because the old SPG business card was purple and easy to pick out of the wallet. The new one is the same gray that the Chase Bonvoy Boundless card is. I was explaining to DH that he's to use the Bonvoy Business card at the P.O. and for shipping and not to confuse it with the Bonvoy Boundless card from Chase.

Kacee

It's also the same color (and material) as the Chase Hyatt Visa.

FT

FWIW, and in the spirit of the original post, I've shifted my spend from SPG to AMEX MR and am achieving a return of between 4 and 5% depending on how much one values a MR point.

SPG had been my go to and I used the changes over the past year to re-evaluate the situation. I did upgrade from SPG to Brilliant and am using that for Marriott stays as well as my personal and work related restaurant transactions.

For the remainder of my personal, my work, and my family's spend, I've doubled down on MR:
-Platinum for airfare (5x) and my personal and work spend (non-bonused at 1x)
-Gold for restaurants and groceries (4x)
-Business Blue for my family's spend (2x up to $50k)

For every $100 I spend with AMEX, I earn 2.36 points (based on my spend patterns). If you value MR points at 1.7¢, then the return is just over 4%; if you value MR points at 2¢, then the return is around 4.75%.

Transferring points for reward tickets unfortunately doesn't work for me right now as getting a family's worth of award tickets through MR on a somewhat direct flight on the days that work for everyone can be too costly as airline's move to value based redemption.

For me, this means booking airfare through amextravel and using Pay w/ Points. I will more than likely open up the Business Platinum for the 35% rebate on the preferred airline AMEX asks you to choose. In that scenario, spending $100k w/ AMEX will result in $3,600 in purchase power for my family's annual airfare. I can work with that.

I've had SPG since 2002 and used it exclusively for my spend since 2004. Many years of habits to change, but my wife and I decided to maximize our earnings and leverage one of two family vacations a year for no cost and with no changes to our actual spend.