craigthemif

I thought that everybody was screaming about the "massive devaluation" of the SPG credit cards.

yrs

The only positive about keeping the cards is the free night certificate. The annual fees are a drag. Better to cancel them.

I am in the same boat, and I am actually thinking of canceling both SPG cards, and maybe the MR business card.

kaizen7

I wish i could get one of those ... 15 eqn is quite good
unfortunately its not available in where i live

christianj

I would think that most people are on "hold" in deciding what to do with their current cards until we know exactly what is coming from Amex and Chase and what the sign-up bonuses are. If the new Amex Luxury card has a similar sign-up bonus to the details they released yesterday on the "regular" card (max $200 statement credit) then I think there isn't going to be a big rush to sign up for anything Amex branded. Rumor is Luxury and Chase will offer good bonuses but we just have to wait.

tods27

I don't see any reason to keep two personal cards. I have the MR Premier Visa and the SPG Amex. It looks like the MR Premier Visa (5x/1x, Free night - up to 25,000 points[listed as Cat 1-5]) will have slightly lower benefits for the $85 annual fee than the SPG Amex. The SPG Amex will continue to have a $95 annual fee and will have the same benefits as the new MR Premier Plus Visa (6x/2x Points, wifi access and Free night - up to to 35,000 points) . Probably worth it to pay the $10 extra per year to get the extra benefits. I will likely ditch the MR Premier Visa as i have other Visa cards.

Of course, my main reason for having the MR Visa was to bolster my points towards MR LT status and that goes away in the new program. I used the SPG Amex to rack up some points to transfer to LH for use in upgrades. I'm not sure the transfer option will make sense in the new program. Maybe I'll ditch both credit cards.

tods27

The benefits are already shown in the pages for the new program (Select MR or SPG, then scroll down to the Credit Card section). The sign-up bonuses are the only thing that is unknown at this time.

Vulcan

For someone who values lounge access as paramount, my current plan is to cancel the SPG Business card (and maybe the SPG Personal), keep the MR Visa, and open a Hilton Aspire card that gives Diamond Status, which means lounge access. Still looking, but this is the best I have been able to come up with presently.

surfmonkey89

Are you saying 1 UR > 1 MR point, or vice-versa?

Sorry for my naïvete - just getting started trying to figure all this out after using SPG all these years.

pesos

Wow a lot to absorb!

I had started putting everyday spend on CSR instead of SPG biz amex (somewhat foolishly as I'm realizing UR points are not nearly as useful to me from what I've seen so far) and racked up 700k UR pretty quickly between CSR dining and Ink Biz for travel and other bonus spend.

Also do a ton of business spend on Amazon with the 5% card.

Trying to figure out if I should shift airfare to Amex Plat (keep hoping 100k bonus will come around again but I guess it never will) and do away with *wood cards altogether or what... I guess I should keep one for spg/marriott spend... or consider replacing CSR with SPG Luxury for dining/non-airfare-travel...

TravelinSperry

After copious research I decided to apply for Hilton Aspire today. This is my first luxury card ($450 af, wowsers!). But, for me it is worth it. I value Hilton points at .624 cents each. I have had 6 redemptions over the past 2 years and this was the result. Others value at .6 which also makes perfect sense based on my experience.

Reasons:
1. Diamond status: Gives me a chance at suite upgrades and exec lounge access. When I was Diamond previously I did receive suite upgrades sometimes, so it's not a gimmick benefit, although it is surely not guaranteed.
2. Hotel spend (14x) means 8.74 cents per $ for in-hotel stays/incidentals. That is the top rate of any card, anywhere (across air/hotel/UR). Plus I'll get another 2 points as a Hilton Diamond member (over Gold).
3. Statement credits/free nights
a) 1 free weekend night. Not 100% sure value here... figure $200-$250. An add'l free weekend night at $60k annual spend.
b) $250 statement credit at Hilton Resorts. This is a subset of Hilton properties (~201 participating resorts).
c) $250 airline fee credit.
Between a, b, & c, I'll be able to recoup the $450 annual fee. I only need to achieve 2 of the 3 and that shouldn't be much of a stretch.
4. Air/Car/Restaurant Spend (7x) means 4.37 per $ for these locales. This is better than the 2.7 cents per I value Starwood at. And of course the impetus of this application is the upcoming devaluation of Starwood which will bring it down no less than 33%, resulting in 1.8 cents per $ (perhaps more based on the award chart changes). The only card I could find that exceeds this earning level is Chase Sapphire Reserve. That nets you 5.4 cents per $ spent on Air/Car/Restaurant. If you prefer Hyatt over Hilton (or redeem UR for airfare) and do NOT value Hilton Diamond status then you should get that card instead.
5. Everyday Spend (3x) means 1.87 cents per $ earned. Nothing special at this level. Most cards are ~1.8 to 2 cents per everyday spend and it all depends on what you value highest for this category. For example, you could earn 1 UA mile on the United card and if you redeem for a flight that gets you 1.87 cpm you'd equal the Hilton Aspire here. For me I value Hotel points higher than airfare so it wasn't a negative. But if you value airfare higher... another card may make more sense for you.
6. Premium roadside assistance (includes 4 tows of up to 10 miles FREE, winching, flat tire change and up to 2 gallons of fuel). This is a $50-$60 value (as one can cancel AAA if this is their primary reason for having it).
7. Priority Pass membership with unlimited visits for me and 2 guests.
8. And last, but surely not least, 100,000 Hilton points when I spend $4k in 3 months ($624 in value).

So for me, I'm excited to have this new card. For year one the promo easily wipes out the annual fee - and if I can get any of those statement credits (highly likely) I'll even wipe out next years annual fee, this year.

As for other cards... it is clear through my analysis that Chase Sapphire Reserve ($450 af) is the other fantastic choice out there. Unlike having just one redemption partner with Aspire you can redeem for Hyatt and Airlines. Yes, they have other redemption partners (e.g., IHG and Marriott), but those redemptions are not optimal and would result in one earning less than the Hilton Aspire card. If you stick to Hyatt and/or Airlines and redeem at no less than 1.8 cents per - then you will equal or better the earning/redemption of Aspire. There is also a travel portal powered by Connexions where one in theory can garner some good deals. But after perusing that thread on FT I saw too many complaints and issues to trust it (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...ds-points.html). If you go with this card - do it for the transfers to Hyatt or Airlines (and if you do find better redemptions via that portal, consider it gravy).

However for me I prefer to earn Hilton points as Hyatt's footprint is just too small for me to earn/burn miles with them. It limits locales where I can use those points. That leaves Chase Sapphire Reserve as a "souped up" airfare card of United or the foreign airlines (because SWA wouldn't result in the optimal redemption being valued at 1.4 cents per). While possibly an excellent benefit if one values redeeming for biz/first - I find myself desiring many more hotel redemption opptys when I travel and desiring less airline awards. Still - Chase Sapphire Reserve is an excellent card and one that still may make it into my wallet on Aug 1 alongside my new Hilton Aspire. What is surely leaving my wallet is my trusty Starwood Amex which has been there since 2002. 16 years. We had a great run!

CIT85

After ~14-16 years with SPG AMEX as my primary cc, I am going to miss this card. Status from spend and nights are of no value to me since I am SPG LTP. Everyday spend earning 4 new program points per dollar is 1/3 less than today's 1 SPG point per dollar. That is what's driving me away. Too bad I just paid my annual fee in March. I will move my everyday spend over to Hyatt and UAMP Visa.

bgriff

surfmonkey89

Are you talking specifically airline miles? Because it looks like the new program will have the similar transfer rules to what we get with SPG today, i.e. 3:1.

Paulchili

I am not sure what you mean. CSR is THE best card around earning 3 points for each $ spent on food and travel and can be converted into any number of airline and hotel miles & points.
What other card is so rewarding and so versatile in redeeming?
If I pay $12K for my cruise with CSR I get 36K UR points; if I use my SPG card for the same charge I get 12K SPG points. If I repeat this I have over70K UR points - good for a business class ticket to Europe with *A partners (even less needed for UA). Same spend with SPG gets me 24K SPG points - even with the bonus conversion to miles it doesn't get me to Europe in business - not even close.Those SPG points may get me one night in a very nice SPG property but that would cost far less than a business class ticket to Europe. And if you want to convert the UR points to hotels - 70K UR points will give you 4 - 5 nights in very nice Hyatt properties.
Which is a better return?

avja

No one has mentioned the Chase Ink Business Cash card (not the Cash Preferred card). I'm thinking it pays to keep this card for the five percent UR reward points for internet, phone, cable bills and office supply stores and the two percent on gas. Am I missing something?