topic Re: Amex SPG PC to ? in Credit Cards

Amex SPG PC to ?

lord_kinbote — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 12:50:18 GMT

Morning. The SPG has no benefits for me now since I only stay at Hilton and Marriott. I have transferred the limits to my Ascend card but was wondering if i should sock drawer or potentially product change to something else? I guess I need to do something vs having to pay the AF.. is there anything that I can produce change to vs closing the account?

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

RicHowe — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 13:09:39 GMT

@lord_kinbote wrote:
Morning. The SPG has no benefits for me now since I only stay at Hilton and Marriott. I have transferred the limits to my Ascend card but was wondering if i should sock drawer or potentially product change to something else? I guess I need to do something vs having to pay the AF.. is there anything that I can produce change to vs closing the account?

If you stay at Marriott, why would you sock drawer the card? SPG points are now Marriott Rewards points.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 15:02:51 GMT

SPG and Marriott are essentially interchangeable brand names at this point. On Thursday, you can PC to SPG Luxury. Otherwise, there are no other product change possibilities. As for benefits, your card still earns 6 Marriott points when staying at Starriott-Carlton properties (2 points for other purchases), and also now comes with an annual free night certificate up to 35,000 points. The certificate alone should easily outweigh the annual fee.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

redpat — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 15:10:59 GMT

Lordy, lordy welcome back from your deep sleep, as mentioned above you now have a Marriott rewards card.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

lord_kinbote — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 15:53:43 GMT

Thanks for the replies peeps. I understand about the merger, but my relationship with a a certain brand is less expensive than the AF of the SPG. However, for 95 dollars a year I guess I will keep the card and expand my opportunities.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

wasCB14 — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 16:04:47 GMT

Have you called to seek retention?

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

lord_kinbote — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 16:38:20 GMT

What do you mean seek retention? No, I have not, to answer your question.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 16:43:46 GMT

Retention offer: You call stating that you would like to close your account. They transfer you to retention, who gives you one or more options of a one-time bonus or statement credit to keep your account open, often with a spend X within Y days requirement. This can also backfire and they could just say, "OK, I've closed your account for you." As the annual certificate should be worth an easy $250+ at your choice of Starriott-Carlton properties, that possibility is something to consider.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

morgacj2004 — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 19:54:30 GMT

Whatever you do dont PC to the new luxury card as you wont get the one time signup bonus anticpated to be 125k pts. I still believe the Hilton Aspire card is a better long term keeper than the new Marriott SPG luxury card. The luxury card is good for the first year to get the bonus but then I will most likely close and continue to use the Aspire card. However once again it depends where you stay more Hilton properties or Marriott properties.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 20:10:19 GMT

@morgacj2004 wrote:
Whatever you do dont PC to the new luxury card as you wont get the one time signup bonus anticpated to be 125k pts. I still believe the Hilton Aspire card is a better long term keeper than the new Marriott SPG luxury card. The luxury card is good for the first year to get the bonus but then I will most likely close and continue to use the Aspire card. However once again it depends where you stay more Hilton properties or Marriott properties.

I would agree about not missing the SUB, although I personally will be upgrading since there's no way on earth that I can do $75,000 in spend between Thursday and December 31st. For me, it's worth keeping my YTD spending to maintain Marriott Platinum status through 2020 since I'll be just short of nights this year but not close enough that a mattress run makes financial sense. (I don't exactly live in an area where I can get $75-100/night rooms without driving nearly halfway across the country.)

I still think it's a keeper; I'll likely have little trouble covering most or all of the $450 AF on the free night certificate alone and that $300 back will just be gravy. I wanted to like Aspire, but I just can't get my head around Hilton redemptions, very bad airline transfer ratios, and limited properties in many locations.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

wasCB14 — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 20:34:14 GMT

Does the card offer some absurd point bonus for $75k spend? Or it's "just" status?

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

morgacj2004 — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 20:41:03 GMT

You will get Plat status with Marriott. You don't however need to spend 75k to get the signup bonus which is what most people are going after. The Aspire on the other hand gives you Diamond status without having to meet such a huge spend.

Re: Amex SPG PC to ?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 21 Aug 2018 20:51:04 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
Does the card offer some absurd point bonus for $75k spend? Or it's "just" status?

"Just" status, which for Marriott can be a pretty big deal with the additional points and perks (keep in mind I always travel as a family of 4; breakfast adds up and there's certainly some monetary value to those upgrades I get). This is likely the only year where it will truly matter for me, though. With the 15 elite night credits starting next year, I should be okay hitting the remaining 35 nights. Because of the massive earnings going 1:3 from SPG to Marriott and my redemption values (2.5 to 2.67 cpp Marriott, or 7.5-8 cpp SPG), it absolutely made sense to put so much spend on the card this year. Plus the targeted offers of Spend X dollars by Y date and earn Z points worked out nicely for me this spring. My offer was the big one (earn a bonus 7500 Starpoints each time you spend $10k, up to 2x); I likely would have had one of the smaller offers without so much spend.