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Lets talk about alternatives to the SPG Amex after the massive Marriott devaluation

Lets talk about alternatives to the SPG Amex after the massive Marriott devaluation

Old Oct 24, 2018, 1:51 pm
  #661  
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Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
Posts: 5,043
Originally Posted by sikorloa
Ah I see - since you can use that free night in any hotel worldwide correct? So even if the hotel costs $1000 a night, you can still stay a night there free?

Also, how do you redeem the free nights? When you book does it automatically deduct, or do you have to specially request it?

Also, do the free nights add up if you don't use them?
Free nights have to be used each year.

It can be used for a night of up to 35K Marriott points. Not any hotel. But it is not hard to find a 35K night worth more than $89.

When you go to book on points on Marriott.com, you can use it in lieu of some points. It will pop up as an option. Doesn't show up right now for legacy SPG properties, but will as those transfer over to Marriott booking systems by end of year, and you can call to book at SPG properties now. Should show up for all legacy Marriott properties.

The Marriott booking interface for awards is actually really great, one thing about their site which is unambiguously better than SPG.com. You can choose for each night of the stay whether to use cash or points (so if there's one cheap cash night you can pay for it and save points for better-value nights), and can sub the certificate in for one of your points nights. It's all pretty smooth and easy for hotels that are on the Marriott booking engine.
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Old Oct 24, 2018, 3:00 pm
  #662  
 
Join Date: Mar 2007
Location: SJC/SFO
Programs: WN A+ CP, UA 1MM/*A Gold, Mar LT Tit, IHG Plat, HH Dia
Posts: 6,282
When the Amex SPG was earning 2x/1x SPG points I was willing to use it for everyday spend because the value to me was easily over 2%. When it switched to 6x/2x MR points I was disappointed but not ready to cancel. It's still worth it for MR spend, just not anything else. A 2% cash back card is superior for general spend now.

And actually, instead of cancelling I've sort of done the opposite: I've taken the upgrade to the SPG Luxury card. The 100k/$5k bonus is really sweet, and the 3x earning rate on restaurants puts it back in the hunt for at least some of my everyday spend.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 10:29 am
  #663  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Posts: 397
I'm thinking about applying for the Luxury card. Any reason I should still keep the regular SPG Amex? Will the extended warranty benefit on purchases made with the regular SPG Amex carry over to the Luxury card if I cancel the regular card? Is it worth keeping it/renewing it for the free night on my anniversary?
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 11:45 am
  #664  
 
Join Date: Jun 2005
Programs: Former UA 1K, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 576
Originally Posted by thor17
I'm thinking about applying for the Luxury card. Any reason I should still keep the regular SPG Amex? Will the extended warranty benefit on purchases made with the regular SPG Amex carry over to the Luxury card if I cancel the regular card? Is it worth keeping it/renewing it for the free night on my anniversary?
The annual free night is worth the annual fee.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 1:37 pm
  #665  
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: MCI
Programs: Bonvoy Titanium
Posts: 27
while i think that is true for some, it's important to note that you don't get your first annual free night until you pay two annual fees.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 1:39 pm
  #666  
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
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Posts: 4,648
Originally Posted by stromile
while i think that is true for some, it's important to note that you don't get your first annual free night until you pay two annual fees.
For anyone that holds the old card that is not necessarily true! Mine renews next month and will get the free night.
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Old Oct 27, 2018, 3:04 pm
  #667  
 
Join Date: May 2002
Programs: WN F9 HA UA AA IHG HH MR
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Originally Posted by christianj
For anyone that holds the old card that is not necessarily true! Mine renews next month and will get the free night.
.
I have the old card and the AF hit two weeks ago, but no free night. Do you know how long it will take?
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Old Oct 30, 2018, 2:33 am
  #668  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 1,179
Originally Posted by abk


I received this yesterday. Looks like they are realizing that they have lost some major spend. I would do this but 60 days is to tight a window but for 90 I would be all in.

Will Simon spend qualify for this? I got the same offer but not sure I can do $10k spend unless Simon is included.
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Old Oct 30, 2018, 5:34 am
  #669  
 
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 48
Originally Posted by Tanic
.
I have the old card and the AF hit two weeks ago, but no free night. Do you know how long it will take?
I was told a couple months. My renewal was in Sept and I still have not seen it.
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Old Oct 30, 2018, 6:53 pm
  #670  
 
Join Date: Apr 2002
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I didn't get any "spend and get this offer" amount - but that would be amazing (although 20k points [6k SPG legacy] for $10k spend is a bit rich)
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Old Nov 1, 2018, 6:23 am
  #671  
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Location: Brooklyn
Programs: Delta Diamond, Bonvoy something good; sometimes other things too
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Just got a bonus offer today -- 15K points for $6500 in spend by Christmas Eve. Should be achievable and I can even manage a fair amount of it on SPG spend so makes for a nice bonus.

Amex is clearly hurting. They had already sent me a $100 for $5000 spend up to 2x offer earlier this year.
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Old Sep 5, 2019, 8:57 am
  #672  
FT
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Posts: 385
It's been a while since the last post, and I'm curious to see what some of you ended up deciding on? I'm going through this exercise now as I wanted to wait and see how things started to shake out as Marriott worked, and continues to work, their way through the integration.

I'm committed to my Platinum and just upgraded my SPG to Brilliant so I don't see Chase being a viable alternative for this and a few other reasons (although I don't want to discount their offering as it seems really strong, but it doesn't make as much sense for me). My wife and I are also adding the Gold card for the grocery and restaurant multipliers. So for every day, non-bonused spend, it seems like the two available options would be the Everday Preferred Card or the Blue Business.

Each have their pros and cons of course... BB has no annual fee and 2x up to $50k; EPC has an annual fee, has additional category spending, and nets 1.5x if 30+ transactions a month.

Are these two cards still a "toss up" or has one differentiated itself against the other in practical usage?
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Old Sep 5, 2019, 9:11 am
  #673  
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Arguably the "bonus 25K Bonvoy points for every $25K spent" promotion going on this year puts the Amex cards back at their original 3 Bonvoy points/1 SPG point per $ value proposition, if you can hit the $25K or multiples thereof. Which is a decent enough return. In theory there are other cards that do better, depending what you value Bonvoy points at and what you value other points currencies at. But my personal answer is, with that bonus, I am back to using the Bonvoy Amex for non-bonus spend, aiming at $25k.

For me a big part of it is, there just aren't many lucrative ways to earn free hotel stays on credit card spend right now. With various bonus category cards I tend to earn a pretty steady flow of UR & MR points so between that and balances already held in airline programs, I'm comfortable that I have enough points for any airline bookings I may want to make, but I'm relatively scarce on hotel points. So I'm willing to sacrifice the "perfect" return strategy a bit to balance my points portfolio. (And I do occasionally use UR points for Hyatt stays, but there aren't a lot of Hyatts and I have better elite status with Marriott, so I don't consider that option a real solution to my relative shortage of hotel points.)
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Old Sep 5, 2019, 9:54 am
  #674  
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Hotlanta.
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Originally Posted by bgriff
For me a big part of it is, there just aren't many lucrative ways to earn free hotel stays on credit card spend right now. With various bonus category cards I tend to earn a pretty steady flow of UR & MR points so between that and balances already held in airline programs, I'm comfortable that I have enough points for any airline bookings I may want to make, but I'm relatively scarce on hotel points. So I'm willing to sacrifice the "perfect" return strategy a bit to balance my points portfolio. (And I do occasionally use UR points for Hyatt stays, but there aren't a lot of Hyatts and I have better elite status with Marriott, so I don't consider that option a real solution to my relative shortage of hotel points.)
Considering Amex MR and Chase will transfer to Bonvoy, theres no benefit of using a hotel-specific card just to earn points unless you factor in the various card bonuses and do the points valuation calculation comparison.
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Old Sep 5, 2019, 10:04 am
  #675  
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Originally Posted by emma dog


Considering Amex MR and Chase will transfer to Bonvoy, theres no benefit of using a hotel-specific card just to earn points unless you factor in the various card bonuses and do the points valuation calculation comparison.
Well, except for that non-bonus spend earns 3 Bonvoy points (once you account for the $25K bonus) on the Bonvoy Amex or at best 1.5-2 UR/MR points, and thus 1.5-2 Bonvoy points, on various other cards.

I have cards that earn 3-5 UR/MR points per dollar on various categories including travel, dining, and groceries, so I agree it would make no sense to put those categories of spend on the Bonvoy Amex*. But unless I was really desperate for Bonvoy points and incredibly flush with airline points, I probably wouldn't convert those 3-5 UR/MR points to 3-5 Bonvoy points, either, because there are usually higher-value options for using UR/MR points.

*Personally I still put Bonvoy hotel spend on the Bonvoy Amex, again mainly driven by my scarcity-of-hotel-points viewpoint, though many take the view that 3 UR points on the Chase Sapphire Reserve is worth more than 6 Bonvoy points. At least, assuming you're going to use the UR points for something other than transferring to Bonvoy.
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