AAdvantage vs. Marriott Rewards
 

I'm a newbie posting this on both Marriott and AA forums to get advice on a dilemma I have. I have had my Citibank AAdvantage card for a long time, paying the $85 annual fee but accumulating signifcant miles (have close to 200,000) on AA through this and other programs. My wife and I just purchased a timeshare through Marriott (about 200,000 points incentive) and signed up for the Marriott Rewards card. So the question is which are more valuable/versatile, AA miles or Marriott Rewards? Should we keep both credit cards or cancel one? Thanks in advance for the advice.

Ed

Welcome to FT.

The general thought, though opinions differ, is that airline miles are worth about $.02 per mile, and Marriott Rewards points about half that. However airline miles become more valuable if used towards 1st class/business class upgrades or tickets than if used to obtain coach tickets. Marriott Rewards points also become more or less valuable depending on how you use them. Most folks here feel the most valuable usage of Marriott Rewards points is to obtain a "travel package". These packages are listed on the Marriott website. Generally, the travel packages provide 7 days at a Marriott property plus a certain amount of frequent flyer points on your choice of airline (including American). The amount of frequent flyer miles you receive depends on the number of Marriott Rewards points you spend for the travel package. One of the advantages of the travel package is that as you increase the Marriott points you are spending for the package, you get a one to one value of Marriott point to frequent flyer mile rather than the common perception that the airline mile is worth twice the Marriott point.

As to credit cards, you may want to carry both. The Marriott Visa is free the first year, inexpensive after that, and provides significant bonus miles if used at Marriott properties. However, the Marriott Visa would be inferior to use for other than Marriott purchases because spending a dollar only provides one point, while spending a dollar on an airline card provides one mile, which is worth more than one Marriott point.

Another alternative might be to consider the new Diners Club Master Card which, for $95 per year, gives you one mile per dollar on any airline, including American. If you want to start collecting British Air miles, you are likely to be provided bonus opportunites to get 1.5 miles per dollar. The Diners card also provides primary car rental insurance (rather than the secondary insurance provided by many other cards) and purchase protection/extended warranty, etc. You can see the Diners Club board for various opinions as to that. This new Diners Club card will come out in the next month or so, and I would guess Diners will provide a significant bonus for successful application.

AAdvantage vs. Marriott Rewards
 

I'm pretty much in line with what OHMARK said. To his point about Marriot Packages, here is an example. For 200,000 MR Points, you get 7 nights in a Cat 6 hotel and 70,000 FF miles. Using Hawaii in this example, you can get the same 7 nights in the JW Ihilani, a Cat 6, (nicest hotel in all of Hawaii in my opinion) for 130,000. Flying to Hawaii on AA points is 35,000 for a coach class reward (book early, they go fast). So, for your 200,000 points on a package deal, you get the 7 nights in a cat 6 (130,000 pts), and 2 round trip tickets to Hawaii with the 70,000 pts. A much better value than converting MR points straight into miles.

I have carried a MR card for about 8 years and have carried a AA Advantage card for about 2 years. At this time, I use each card of different things. For the most part, I use the MR card to pay for hotels when I stay at Marriot properties because the points are better and use my AA card for almost everything else. I have a corporate card my company makes me carry (a GE MasterCard, which is really a bad deal), but I only use it for company car rentals because of some insurance issues if I don't.

There may be some better deals for some hotel reward programs, but I am loyal to Marriott because they have treated me more than fair over the years. I have had them give me as many as 10,000 points just for being a little inconvenienced during a stay. I can't say the same of some other programs which I belong to.

OK, I do a slight variant of the previous posters. AA is my primary airline, so I have a UA MP VISA to have points for upgrades on my alternate airline which I fly 1-3 times/year and usually have no status. I use all my MILES for upgrades whether it be AA or UA as I feel that is the best bang for my mile, plus I hate coach. UA MP VISA is my everyday CC. I also have MR VISA which I use stictly for Marriott stays and Marriott related purchases.

Great feedback guys. It looks like I'll keep both. I will also look into the Diner's club mastercard when it comes out, too.

Thanks, Ed

Don't forget to check the FT forum of Diners, it will give you tons of insight on the new MC branded DC.. its not all good.. I have one and the debate is whether to keep it or not right now..
I haven't decided..

I will, thanks.

Ed

The gist of the debate is as follows: The current Diners Club card allows 60 days to pay the bill. The new Diners Club Master Card allows the normal 30 days to pay. The 60 day perc was a popular feature of the card, and its withdrawal as part of the new card has made some members very unhappy. Others, while bemoaning the loss of the 60 day perc, believe that the new card preserves much of what made Diners Club good, such as primary rental insurance and miles on any airline, and adds to that acceptability at any place Master Card is accepted, along with standard premium card features such as extended purchase warranty. As in respect to any issue that people care about, the debate on the Diners Club forum has become a little overheated, but interesting.

Here's another $0.02... You'll see that opinions vary widely. :)

(1) Step 1 - pick up all three major hotel cards. You can't lose with those. MR Visa, HH Amex, SPG Amex. MR Visa and SPG Amex have low annual fees and upfront bonuses that more than pay for several years' worth of fees. HH Amex is free and includes bonuses like perpetual Silver status and some upfront points. Worst case: you'll come away with it with a few free hotel nights and some low-elite statuses with little or no cost to you.

(2) Step 2 - Since one of your stated goals is AA miles, make SPG Amex your primary spend card. It's the best yield you can get on a credit card for AA miles. Worst case - small batches - you get true 1:1 with no transaction fees. Best case - what you'll hear a lot of FTers talk about, is that you get 1.25 AA per $1 spent when you convert 20,000 SPG at a time. And you have flexibility to convert to any number of other airline partners. Or...best yet...you keep the points for free hotel stays, where it's easy to get $0.03 in real value per point.

(3) Step 3 - Junk the Citibank AA card. Too much money to be spending on a card that has poor yield and little flexibility. Only exception would be they offer you a retention bonus (e.g., 5,000 AA miles) and you really need the miles more than you need the $85. FF miles might be worth two cents each if you're getting on an airplane tomorrow using the last FF award at your disposal. But if you have 200k sitting there and no imminent plan to redeem them, don't take cash out of your investments and burn it on FF miles.

(4) Step 4 - If you rent a bunch of cars every year - get Diner's. The rewards are far inferior to SPG Amex, but they do hook you up with primary rental insurance. SPG Amex (and most other cards) gives you secondary insurance - they require you to make a claim against your own policy first, then Amex will pay 2nd if needed. With Diner's, your first call is to them - your own insurance company is not involved. To some folks, that is worth $95. It was to me for a few years, but I don't rent quite like I used to, so I dropped Diner's Club.

At this point, the only three credit cards in my wallet are the three hotel cards. 95+% of my spending goes through SPG Amex, with MR Visa getting the rare purchase that wouldn't take Amex. (Always very small mom&pop type purchases - everybody else takes Amex these days.) MR Visa is suboptimal as a general-purchase rewards card goes, but we're talking very small-time volume, so it's not worth the time & effort of getting a gasoline rebate card to stuff in there.

If one collects BA miles, the Diner's BA air mile reward (with 50% bonus) would be the same as, or better than SPG, even with the SPG bonus, would it not?

As to miscellaneous spending, the landscape has changed. There is now more than one Master Card or Visa that provides 5% cash back on many purchases including at gasoline stations, supermarkets, and drug stores. With some exceptions, this is probably better than one can do with any hotel or airline card. Just my $.02.

That's a promotion. Right now, through August 31, you get a 1:1.37 conversion rate for BA. That's nice, if you happen to need BA miles exactly right now. I think I'd rather have 1:1.25 anytime, but for those whose redemption needs align perfectly with the promo, you get a nice bonus with Diner's Club.

Usually those cards give 1% on everything else, so your total yield ends up being 1.05% or whatever. But I agree: if you find one that gives true credits on your next statement without any action on your part (I think Chase Perfectcard does this), then it's a worthwhile card to have as a backup to SPG Amex.

[QUOTE=pinniped]That's a promotion. Right now, through August 31, you get a 1:1.37 conversion rate for BA. That's nice, if you happen to need BA miles exactly right now. I think I'd rather have 1:1.25 anytime, but for those whose redemption needs align perfectly with the promo, you get a nice bonus with Diner's Club.
QUOTE]

While it's true it's a promotion, it's a promotion that has occurred each year for as many years as I can remember. (Actually, at one point it was even more lucrative with a double bonus). To me, giving me 1500 BA miles for 1000 DC points is a 50% bonus. In other words 1:1.5. Not sure where you got your figures, but math was never my strong suit.

As to the no fee cards that give you a 5% cash rebate on gas station, supermarket, and drug stores, that adds up to a lot more than you indicate. So, my strategy is: 5% rebate card on gas, groceries and drug store items, Marriott Rewards on Marriott purchases, and Diner's Club for everything else. All these choices; it's what makes America great.

http://www.citibank.com/dinersus/clu...2mls.htm#0956f

The current promotion is your choice of 1095 DC->1500 BA or 1000 DC + Cash -> 1500 BA.

If you go with a points-to-points transfer, which is apples-to-apples with SPG Amex, it's 1 DC = 1.37 BA.

Hate to keep this going; but using your logic, the normal conversion rate is 1000 DC + cash = 1000 BA. Since the offer provides 500 extra miles for the same 1000 DC + cash, that amounts to a 50% bonus.

Not sure if you did this or not, but, in the future, run your interval purchases through the MR card. Quick way to pick up 100K points. Also, IMO, pay everything Marriott-related with that card, like MF's, interval rentals and incidentals. Also, since the MR card gives Silver status, you'll get a 20% bonus on many stay-related items. Also, be advised you can surrender your interval for points, at a rate and interval determined by resort purchased, and use the points to round out a travel package, or any other reward purchase other than a timeshare award stay.

We own multiple intervals with Marriott...

Don't forget to watch out for the good promos on the MR business card, and be sure to get your spouse/s-o one of each too. All-told, worth about 60K points usually. You can always cancel the ones you don't want when the fees come due after the first year.

I'll leave all the fancy math to others... :D

FWIW, I have two MR cards, the SPG AMEX and the UA MP card. YMMV.....

Pat