CSP vs Hyatt vs Marriott

[longtimelurker]

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@Cdnewmanpac wrote:

I have both a hyatt card and csp. I only use the hyatt card for hyatt stays. The free night offsets the annual fee and I've gotten better rooms reliably as a platinum, especially through the mgm partership. But hyatt points are only valuable for hyatt stays. There are fairly large cities with no hyatt. The beauty of csp is that there are multiple partners and points transfer pretty quickly. So I can use the points to reflect my actual needs. Sometimes that's a hyatt hotel. But sometimes its getting a 3rd ticket for my 18mo son on southwest. Other times, it's a short haul aa flight with avios. Sometimes it's getting a 3rd seat to honolulu. I have never used points for a ticket I wouldn't have paid cash for. Do I always get the "best" redemption? No. I have no need to fly international premium cabins. But I consistently get 1.5-2.5 cpp with my transfers and sometimes get a great deal (park hyatt beaver creek I got a saturday night ski season at 7 cents/point). I don't travel excessively, but use the UR mall a lot. 

Point being: csp is a very flexible card that can consistently work for modest travelers who can do a bit of planning.

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It CAN work for modest travelers but I would question if it is the best choice for such people.   Getting 1.5-2.5 cpp isn't all that great with the limited categories where CSP gives more than 1 point, again Fid Amex/Arrival, where all purchases earn at least 2 c,  might be better.    UR Mall, if not getting at least 2cpp, is often inferior to cashback malls such as TopCashBack (and probably shopdiscover).  Of course, if you can get 5-7cpp often enough, then the story is different.

But my belief still is that though it can be made to work, so can other solutions which offer more value for this class of modest travel.

[mongstradamus]

Thanks for all the replies people have had in this thread. I have learned many things about CSP and travel cards in general. I am probably going to stick with pure cash back cards for now. I believe it just has an lot more value for me. I don't really travel enough to make it worthwhile to switch to an travel card. Thanks for all the good information though!!

[Anonymous]

Great thread. Learned a lot!

[Cdnewmanpac]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

... Getting 1.5-2.5 cpp isn't all that great with the limited categories where CSP gives more than 1 point, again Fid Amex/Arrival, where all purchases earn at least 2 c,  might be better.    UR Mall, if not getting at least 2cpp, is often inferior to cashback malls such as TopCashBack (and probably shopdiscover).  Of course, if you can get 5-7cpp often enough, then the story is different.

But my belief still is that though it can be made to work, so can other solutions which offer more value for this class of modest travel.

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There are so many variables for each individual that we are both probably over-generalizing. But I would dispute several things: restaurants/travel are pretty valuable categories for many people. Even a modest traveler (10-12 trips/year) can use these categories enough to accumulate points.

And if you were to add the freedom (which I think OP had), you expand the categories. If you add an ink classic, you also add office supplies and gas.

But even just using the CSP, I think you underestimate the value of UR mall. I've never gotten less than 3 points/dollar and only on items I would have purchased anyway. If you aren't someone who routinely shops online, maybe not so useful.

I pulled up last year's year end summary and >50% of my spend earned 2 points/dollar or better. So even if I only get 1.5cpp, if I average 1.5 points/dollar, I'm getting an effective 3 cents/dollar, which is better than either the arrival or fidelity amex. I know you then have to subtract the AF, but if I remember from a previous spreadsheet, the break even point is only around 7k of spend.

To be clear, I think most Americans would be better off with a straight 2% cash back card for monthly spend and a straight low-interest card for the occasional balance. But I think that is because of the work involved in maximizing rewards through something like UR or MR, not because you need to be a heavy traveler.

[longtimelurker]

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@Cdnewmanpac wrote:

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@longtimelurker wrote:

... Getting 1.5-2.5 cpp isn't all that great with the limited categories where CSP gives more than 1 point, again Fid Amex/Arrival, where all purchases earn at least 2 c,  might be better.    UR Mall, if not getting at least 2cpp, is often inferior to cashback malls such as TopCashBack (and probably shopdiscover).  Of course, if you can get 5-7cpp often enough, then the story is different.

But my belief still is that though it can be made to work, so can other solutions which offer more value for this class of modest travel.

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There are so many variables for each individual that we are both probably over-generalizing. But I would dispute several things: restaurants/travel are pretty valuable categories for many people. Even a modest traveler (10-12 trips/year) can use these categories enough to accumulate points.

And if you were to add the freedom (which I think OP had), you expand the categories. If you add an ink classic, you also add office supplies and gas.

But even just using the CSP, I think you underestimate the value of UR mall. I've never gotten less than 3 points/dollar and only on items I would have purchased anyway. If you aren't someone who routinely shops online, maybe not so useful.

I pulled up last year's year end summary and >50% of my spend earned 2 points/dollar or better. So even if I only get 1.5cpp, if I average 1.5 points/dollar, I'm getting an effective 3 cents/dollar, which is better than either the arrival or fidelity amex. I know you then have to subtract the AF, but if I remember from a previous spreadsheet, the break even point is only around 7k of spend.

To be clear, I think most Americans would be better off with a straight 2% cash back card for monthly spend and a straight low-interest card for the occasional balance. But I think that is because of the work involved in maximizing rewards through something like UR or MR, not because you need to be a heavy traveler.

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Yes, we might be overgeneralizing.   But I don't understand some of your post.

UR mall:   Yes, you can get 3 points per $.   But, just comparing stuff I was looking on other malls, you can usually do much better.   So I just bought from drugstore.com for example.  UR mall gives 4 points per $, Topcashback gives 8%, so you need to value UR at 2c to breakeven, and at 1.5 per UR, TCB is better.   If you use a site like

http://www.cashbackmonitor.com/

this is far from the exception.

I also didn't realize that for you a "modest" traveler is 10-12 trips a year!  And yes, if you add other UR cards, of course things start adding up, but then you also have to take into account that you are then excluding spend on the better 5% cashback cards which can even the balance.

I don't think we are yet in general agreement, I was focussing more on if total spend is low, this card isn't the best choice, but as you say, there may be enough exceptions to that as well.

[Josh2942]

Agreed. What exactly do you mean by trips? Is that hotels, tr transit, or actual travel. Because my trips a year is around 2 lol. If you have even the smallest business start up, the ink would be better than the CSP because it has more categories for the same 95 dollar annual fee

[nachoslibres]

This is why if you are really looking for the best redemption for your $'s you are likely going to need to have several cards.  With the spend we do it is worth it to us to use the Arrival, Ink Bold, and Freedom (for a total of $184 in annual fees).  We put all 5% categories on the Freedom and Bold, Gas on the Bold (at 2%) when it isn't a bonus on the Freedom, and everything else on the Arrival.

[dearppl]

Back to the OP... They are both great cards to have, and it's really about your own preference. I know I stay at Marriott quite a lot, and the signing bonus seems a lot more attractive for the Marriott card. Stick with the card and soon you will find yourself staying for free on your next vacation

[bch238]

Responding to OP:

I don't think it should be CSP vs. Marriott [or Hyatt].  Rather, it should be CSP & Marriott vs. CSP & Hyatt.

If you have the Freedom, then you are already invested the UR system.  The CSP is a no-brainer due to transferability.

Do you prefer Hyatt or Marriott?  Go with that whichever card your prefer. 

With the Chase Marriott Rewards Premier, I rack up 17 Marriott points per dollar spent (10 standard points per dollar, plus 2 Silver Elite points which comes with the card, and 5 more for spending on the card) for every stay.  It adds up fast and pays for the AF many times over.  Four or five stays per year give me about 125,000 Marriott points annually, which is easily three free nights valued at $250 each, not including the annual free night certificate. 

[takeshi74]

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@Josh2942 wrote:
What's so amazing about the CSP other than the initial bonus and 7% dividend? The fee for the Hyatt is 75 Marriott 85 and CSP 95. What's in your wallet? And why do you think one is better than the other?

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Amazing and better are always subjective matters.  If the CSP doesn't suit you it doesn't suit you.  The CSP suits me better but I'm focused on accumulating UR points and have 3 UR cards that feed into one UR account.  I don't use Hyatt or Marriott often enough to really benefit from them.  YMMV.

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@mongstradamus wrote:

Do most people use their csp as their every day card?

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Again, it's a matter of what suits the individual and not what most do or don't do.  The CSP is my default card if there are no other cards with higher rewards.  The generalization that the CSP is better suited for higher spend has been made above but, again, one needs to look at one's specific situaiton and compare to the card to see if there is a good fit versus relying on generalizations.

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@Josh2942 wrote:

If you have to rack up tends 1000s of points to pay for a ticket you would pay less for in cash, whats the point in the annual fee? Even with the 7% divdend.

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Again, subjective.  Could still be a gain for many even in such circumstances.  Plus there's the previously metioned versatility of UR points.  Despite that you have to do what works for you.  Spend, preferences, priorities, etc all vary from person to person so what works best for one isn't necessarily best for the next.  Run the numbers to help you determine what suits you and your situation best.  My UR points pay for my CSP AF many times over.  YMMV depending on your spend and how you might use UR points.

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@Cdnewmanpac wrote:

Even a modest traveler (10-12 trips/year) 

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Stick to numbers.  10-12 trips isn't modest for many.  I wish I could take half that number of trips a year.