@Skymogul wrote:
@longtimelurker wrote:
Not sure I understand this distinction. If I use the CSP, I get the bonus, and, if I wish to, I can use that as statement credit to partially pay of the trip, in exactly the same way as the Venture, with the multiple added advantage that I could use the credit for anything (not just travel), or, as you say on future trips, could transfer or use the Chase portal. Plus avoiding a triple pull (but maybe a double).
If this is a once off travel, you might also consider the Discover IT Miles, to get 3% back (1.5% now, 1.5% after a year) but not sure if a 700 score is good enough for that
Yes, but you'll be redeeming less. You'll have only earned 2x miles on transactions actually coded as travel, like airfare, hotel, etc. For other trip-related expenses like dining, excursions and so forth, you're only going to earn 1x miles. On Venture, *everything* earns 2x as long as it's *redeemed* toward transactions coded as travel. This makes Venture the better card for redeeming retroactively. Sapphire makes this up with the 1.25x bonus when booking through Chase and the miles transfers to partner rewards programs. That makes it the better card for using rewards toward your *next* trip. It's a subtle but important distinction.
It depends on your spending patterns. If the bulk of your spend is on non-travel coded transactions (and I think that's the case for most people), Venture is the better card. If you have frequent/large travel-coded spend, Sapphire will work out better.
If you are going to recommend the Venture why wouldn't you just recommend the Citi Double Cash? It earns 2% on everything, no annual fee, and you don't have to redeem your rewards against travel charges to get the full 2%, you just cut yourself a check (or deposit in your bank account if you have a checking/savings account with Citi).
OP, if you have a business of some sort and can somehow find another $5k to spend within your first 3 months of account opening I would recommend getting the Amex Business Platinum. It currently has an offer of 75k MR points - 50k MR points for the first $10k in spend and another 25k points for the second $10k spend on the card in the first 3 months. Those points are currently valued at $0.02/per point so that's roughly $1,500 worth of travel if you redeem them right (and honestly worth even more if you utilize the airfare redemption perk on the business card correctly). It does have an annual fee of $450, but it comes with a lot of perks like mid tier status with several hotels (Hilton, Hyatt, SPG/Marriott/Ritz), Centurion (I wish I had this) and PP airport lounge access, Global Entry/TSA Precheck, etc. I'd carry this card myself if the Chase Sapphire Reserve didn't have so many overlapping benefits.
I personally use the Amex SPG card for most of my spending these days - as each SPG point is valued around $0.027. It gives me free Sheraton Club lounge access (business version), I can get Gold status with $30k spend a year, and I plan on getting a lot more value out of my points by utilizing the Nights and Flights - which gives you 5 nights and 50,000 airline miles for 60k or 70k SPG points, depending upon what level SPG property you want to stay at.
I also utilize the Chase Trifecta (or in reality Superfecta) of the Chase Sapphire Reserve / Chase Ink Cash / Chase Freedom / Chase Freedom Unlimited. This allows me to earn 2%, 3%, 5% cash back on most of the purchases put on these cards (except the FU which earns 1.5%) and I can then convert those points to miles at mileage partners which typically doubles and sometime quadruples my original rate of return, depending upon which travel partner I transfer to and how well I maximize the points. This means I'm earning at least 3% base (for the FU) all the way up to 20% back (5% back and then getting $0.04/UR by maximizing those points) yet for some people this seems like work but IMO once you get the hang of it it becomes pretty easy. If you wanted to start doing this I would recommend getting the Chase Sapphire Reserve (or Preferred the you can't justify the $450 annual fee - which is really $150 once you put $300 worth of travel on it a year due to the $300 statement credit).
So, as you can see, you have a lot of options, and there are lots more not mentioned, so it really depends on what you want to do. If I was starting out and could only choose one travel card it would be a toss up between the Chase Sapphire Reserve and the Amex SPG, but I would probably have to go for the CSR since it offers 3x points on all travel and dining and comes with great airport lounge access perk and outstanding trip insurance coverage. If you are looking for strictly travel perks then I would go with the Amex Platinum.
