IMO that's easy. CSR + WoH card. You don't need anything else. You put unbonused spend on the Hyatt card. It helps you get to Globalist, and then once you get Globalist the 2 qual nights per $5k spent works out to 1.4pts/$ ($25k spent = 25kpts + 10k bonus pts). And you are earning Hyatt points, and UR pts that can be transferred to Hyatt.

For retail purchases you may want to forego the Hyatt card and just use the CSR for its superior purchase protection. A friend of mine dropped his new iphone earbuds and one of them fell down an elevator shaft (lol) and they replaced them. It's up to you whether you prefer the insurance or the Hyatt qual nights.

Yes, there are cards that give you 1.5 pts/$ on unbonused spend but if you are trying to keep it simple, it's not worth adding another card for an extra 0.1pts/$. And you would probably want to put the spend on the Hyatt card until you reach globalist anyway.

If you travel international premium cabin (PE or higher) you could add Amex Plat for IAP, but you take a huge downgrade in travel insurance. It's worth it for the savings though (you can just buy travel insurance and still come out ahead). And of course 5x pts is nice.

No matter how you slice it, there is still a lot of effort on those other cards to "break even", with the Platinum being the king of that. While my scenario isn't the same for everyone, my home airport doesn't have a Centurion, but a Priority Pass restaurant. Big swing.

I agree with you on the Ritz card to a degree. I believe if you travel a lot and spend a lot at hotels, the premium hotel cards are a solid value that you likely won't lose on. However, I have an Aspire to complement my CSR, not replace it. Getting one to marginally break even doesn't make it king of the wallet. They have poor everyday spending returns, even in their bonus categories. Their value is to enhance your hotel stays and returns. This is another reason I find the American Express hotel status to be a weak benefit.

CIP is the only Chase card I have canceled in a long time. It is a solid card if you spend a lot of travel and use transfer partners. No dining bonus and 3.75% travel redemption rate through Chase didn't give it a home in my wallet.

Do you just carry one card?

Sorry that you missed the great value of Ritz Carlton card from Chase. It is still one of the best CCs even after the removal of the unlimited $100 discount air travel credit.

You mean the one where you have to buy 2 tickets? I wouldn't have used it once last year. Completely useless to me as I travel solo. I have companion passes on AS that will expire unused.

You are 100% correct to say that "Benefits where you have to change your behavior have reduced value". That is exactly Chase made a lot people to sign up the Lyft and DoorStopDash otherwise they would not use.

I would not say CSR is any flexible.

AmEx Centurion does not matter what airlines you fly. And it is much better. Travelers are not limited by the $28 for meal, tax and tip. That comes up like $20 to $23 for the entire meal. Not even worth the trip to PP.

I showed the lists of PP location in EWR, LGA, ORD, ATL, PHL, all major US hubs. How many PP places that we can do?? PP is a complete joke in US.

Also, I get the same PP as you do from Ritz. So CSR does not add anything extra to PP.

The $60 doordash benefit does not require you to spend any additional money with doordash. It's $60 in free food. Obviously the dashpassmembership is useless if you don't use the service, but you can still make use of the $60 credit. You can make a pickup order when you are on your way in the door for a restaurant you would go to anyway.

Amex does not have Centurion Lounges in most of the places you mentioned. There are FAR more PP restaurants than there are Centurion Lounges. Many terminals have more than one. If you consider PP restaurant coverage to be bad, Centurion lounge coverage is much much worse, and you don't get arrival access.

If you don't think a free meal is worth a "trip" to the restaurant (usually you have to walk by them anyway to get to the gate area; but I guess lazinessknows no bounds) that's fine. That benefit alone (ignoring lounges) is worth about $400/year to me. I've never not been able to get a full meal and a drink under the allowance; at some airports a full meal will only use up half the allowance. You are also confused about how the whole tip/tax thing works -- you've made 2 different statements about it; both are wrong.

The Ritz is a co-branded card. It's goodif you are a customer of that chain. If you have no desire to stay at Marriott it's useless. The CSR is not co-branded -- it's useful regardless of what airline you fly and what hotel you stay in. I have a co-branded hotel card too (WoH) but I still need a generic travel card for when I stay at other hotels. I am obviously not going to get a co-branded card for a chain that I use once every few years. Also, Marriott points are worth, maybe, 1/3 the value of Hyatt pts (probably less), and UR pts can be transferred to Hyatt. Obviously I'd rather earn flexible, valuable UR pts on my purchases than worthless pts for a chain that I don't stay at. Enjoy redeeming 80k pts for a night at a hotel thanks to your "valuable" card though.

A lot of us, including me, have never heard DoorStopDash. Lyft is fine, but I think it is trailing Uber with the ride-share. So they are just second tier vendors. This product update is clearly a marketing thing, nothing else. Not real benefits. If Chase ever wants to add benefits to CSR cardholders, add airline or hotel status. Chase is greedy to protect its own co-brand cards. This will probably never happen. Now you get a generic card to work with.

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Even though Ritz card is a co-brand card, but almost everyone can benefit from it. That card is no brainer. Surprised a tech genius would miss it. Take out the calculator or spreadsheet to calculate it.

Yes certainly I enjoy my Marriott stay, Hyatt and Hilton too. I do not have blind date or blind marriage.

With Ritz Carlton card or AmEx Platinum, people feel they are treated like elites. But not with CSR. It take a long time to talk to a customer service rep.

Chase does not even consider CSR elite. But its Reserve and Ritz Carlton cardholders are....

Co-branded card will always be a step child and eventually turn into trash. Fact.

AMEX Plat an "elite" card? Maybe if you like to ration $10/Mon for food, Uber ride rations, $50 at Saks clearance rack, $25 737 cheese box, and paying for $30 check bags. CHECKED BAGS? Am I still on Flyer Talk? HHonors and Bonvoy Gold are worth as much as the water they give you in the welcome bag. They used to put that in the room, these days that's hard to come by. Champaign for anniversary is nice, fruits are nice....can't think of any others. Executive lounges have turned into credit card lounges and they were tiny to begin with. There are just better places to be, and they are counting on that.

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And Chase CSR is even worse than that. It is so stingy and thrift. It won't touch any of the co-brand brands, but only throw out the Lyft and DoorStopDash craps. AmEx offers most of its co-brands. Hilton and Marriott Gold glitter, Delta lounge if you on the ride. What CSR offers us?

Getting a status for free through a credit card should give you some ideas of its value. All UA elites get Bonvoy Gold too. Marriott made the status is worthless, and they give it to anyone who does business with any of their partners, hoping that they get tricked into staying at their hotels.

Not a bad idea, to be honest.

To be fair -

HHonor Gold definitely is not useless, especially outside US. At a minimum you get free brekkie. Often you are also being put at Exec lounge floor and therefore gain lounge access. Now if you only travel domestically, then yes, it does not worth much due to domestic properties are very stingy.

BonVoy Gold USED to be very useful - but that was due to Marriott at the time being overly generous to SPG members, to give SPG Gold the same benefit of Marriott Gold in the OLD system. The SPG Gold required less, much less, nights to qualify if not being doled out by Plat comparing to Marriott Gold. Once Marriott did the final merger, it revamped the elite classification, rightfully - so the New Gold is actually the Old Silver, no more lounge access but still provides certain minimum values. Old Gold is now New Plat in the BonVoy chart and it should be, because the nights needed to qualify is the same.

Old SPG Gold being the same as Marriott Gold before merger was really a generous gift from Marriott. I said that from being a fake Marriott Gold (SPG Gold) in the past, and I valued the benefits enough to qualify the real thing by doing a challenge before the merger was finalized. Then I requalified in 2019 thru actual nights.

Therefore the PLAT's free cobrand statuses are better than nothing from CSR. At least for those who occasionally stay at Hilton family of properties, they save the $95 AF on the HH Surpass yet still enjoy the HH Gold.

Moderator Note:

Posts 1-72, including what is now the OP, were originally in this thread: https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/chas...nefits-19.html

Continuity gaps are likely as a result of this peel off.

Which is the best card depends on individual needs.

Some people find Lyft and Doordash credits essentially useless, others find Saks, monthly Uber and incidental fees credits essentially useless, especially compared to a $300 credit on a broad travel category.

I don't find lounge access particularly useful because it almost always comes with the tickets I buy. Others find it very valuable.

I find more value in Virtuoso or the like travel agents than in hotel status or FHR. It depends on where you stay.

MR and UR have different transfer partners and different base values. If you can't find good transfers, at a minimum UR points are worth $0.01 and $0.15 if you can use the portal. I'm not sure what the minimum value of MR points might be. CSR has 3x points in travel and dining, AP 5x in directly booked flights.

CSR seems to have better trip cancellation insurance than AP, due to covering health problems in parents while AP is more limited, if I'm reading correctly.

Primary v secondary car rental insurance and car rental status are no doubt important to many.

IAP would be worth the price of AP admission for, but in extremely limited testing it hasn't provided any lower prices for me than booking directly.

I've probably left out something vital to someone. https://upgradedpoints.com/chase-sap...card-benefits/ and https://upgradedpoints.com/amex-platinum-card-benefits seem good lists, although many might disagree with the valuations. Is there another card we should be comparing?

Just want to point out that Amex has multiple versions of platinum card with additional benefit:

Schwab platinum: cash out at $0.0125/point. rebate on annual fee based on assets at schwab
Morgan Stanley platinum: 1 free authorized user. annual fee waiver possible with spending or relationship requirement
Corporate advantage program: $150 annual fee rebate for certain corporate card holders.

If you take advantage of any of the above benefit then it is a nobrainer

In addition,

If you only rent car infrequently, you can play for primary car rental at ~$20/rental, with easier claim process than Chase.

FHR is a more recognized program by top hotels. You get guaranteed 4 pm checkout and almost always receive upgrade.