Help pick a Travel Card

[notmyrealname23]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Aspire - Hilton spend

Gold - Restaurant & Grocery

NFCU MR - Gas & Transit

Any suggestions on where i should travel spend

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Be aware that Aspire offers 4.2% back in Hilton points for airline spend AND offers Platimum-level travel insurance.  Also 4.2% on car rentals.

Gold offers 5% to 6% back in MR points for airline spend AND offers lesser travel insurance.  

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That's assigning a value Hilton of .6 cpp and using those particular 7x categorie on the Aspire, right? And assigning 1.67-2 cents per MR and using a 3x category for the Gold?

(FWIW, AMEX Green has identical 3x multipliers for Gold for flights, but for all travel, not just flights.)

[K-in-Boston]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@K-in-Boston Thanks again for your help! I didn't realize when i looked through amex travel that they also had the Hotel Collection that showed more than just the fine booking ones and the pricing was identical to anywhere else that really affects my thought process.

How useful do you find the 4th night free on the citi card, would you rather utilize that or the platinum in most cases. I know after looking at the pointguy breakdown it seems back and forth on if it actually comes out ahead. 

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I don't have Prestige.  The 4NF used to be awesome with the workaround of calling the concierge to book so it doesn't code as an OTA.  As far as I know, that is no longer the case.  I only book hotels in ways that credit my Marriott account, otherwise I give up elite night credits, elite benefits, and lots of points which are 17.5 points per dollar for having Marriott Titanium, a welcome gift of 1000 points, and any promotional bonuses valid at the time of stay.  I use my Amex Marriott card for an additional 6 points per dollar unless I have a better offer on another card (like spend $300+ at Marriott and get $75 statement credit or similar).

[Citylights18]

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@Anonymous wrote:

@K-in-Boston Thanks again for your help! I didn't realize when i looked through amex travel that they also had the Hotel Collection that showed more than just the fine booking ones and the pricing was identical to anywhere else that really affects my thought process.

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FWIW, many of those Hotel Collection properties can be booked on Hyatt for a lower advertised price. Then you can get 2x, 3x even 4x ccp redemptions on Hyatt.

Since you already have priority pass covered with the Aspire I would look into the CSP since it offers a bigger SUB (I've read as high as 80,000 possibly in branch) and transfers to Hyatt just the same way as a CSR. Yes you get a 33% discount on hotel redemption over 20% with the CSP but that isn't too big of a deal in most situatons or the higher 3x earn rate if you aren't planning to stick 100% of your dining/travel on Chase anyways. The doordash benefit alone on the CSP is worth a few hundred dollars a year.

[Anonymous]

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@notmyrealname23 wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

Aspire - Hilton spend

Gold - Restaurant & Grocery

NFCU MR - Gas & Transit

Any suggestions on where i should travel spend

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Be aware that Aspire offers 4.2% back in Hilton points for airline spend AND offers Platimum-level travel insurance.  Also 4.2% on car rentals.

Gold offers 5% to 6% back in MR points for airline spend AND offers lesser travel insurance.  

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That's assigning a value Hilton of .6 cpp and using those particular 7x categorie on the Aspire, right? And assigning 1.67-2 cents per MR and using a 3x category for the Gold?

(FWIW, AMEX Green has identical 3x multipliers for Gold for flights, but for all travel, not just flights.)

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Those were my assumptions.  Since he already has 3x on flights with the Gold card, he'd be paying the Green annual fee for the non-flight travel and transit points.

[notmyrealname23]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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Those were my assumptions.  Since he already has 3x on flights with the Gold card, he'd be paying the Green annual fee for the non-flight travel and transit points.

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Thanks. OP did point out they wanted a card that would earn well outside the Hilton universe for hotels, and Green and CSR (one of his suggestions) have pretty overlapping earn structures, plus if OP is nervous about a new bank... OP already has AMEX Gold, presumably Green isn't a terrible stretch.

OP's needs are actually pretty close to mine: I don't value AMEX Plat/CSR's lounge access very highly. I get some access with Hilton Aspire Priority Pass + Green's $100 Loungebuddy credit, but it's very much a "meh" for me- nice to have but I'd probably trade that lounge access for some extra points on earn if AMEX let you do that Zync-style , I did pick up the Hilton Aspire because the benefits more than equal the AF (and that SUB is going to be noooice), but I wanted an "all-rounder" travel card that covers me when I am outside the Hilton universe, renting cars, taking carshares, whatever. I just got Green before Gold (and if you made me pick I'd probably choose Green over Gold).

That Citi Expedia Voyager card looks swell if you're a committed Expedia user and don't mind passing up status benefits... I unfortunately use Expedia's sister program, hotels.com, so nada for me. (I wonder if hotels.com is going to do a cobrand, now that they dumped Capital One Venture. That could seriously tempt me to pay an AF with earning @ 10x like the Venture, if they could add some benefits like the Voyager.)

[Anonymous]

Just for some closure i decided to go with the platinum because i can book the hotels i wanted through the hotel collection portal and it helps advance my overall goal without dealing with multiple rewards systems. I'm sure i'll look to adjust as time goes on and i find some attractive subs, once i find a 75K+ offer i'll app it.

Thanks everyone for your help!

[Anonymous]

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@Citylights18 wrote:

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The doordash benefit alone on the CSP is worth a few hundred dollars a year.

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With some assumptions!   

[Anonymous]

One last thing! Since the charge card limit is dictated by previous spend how does using it only for travel effect the limit i can put on and what kind of starting limit on a new account do they usually allow. I know it can vary pretty dramatically just looking for your expertise or what you've seen as searching the forum proved difficult for this question. If i only put <$500 most months since most spend goes on the gold is a 4-5k vacation spent going to get declined or are they pretty lenient since I would imagine most people use it similarly. That's my only real worry with the platinum is that vacation spend is spread out but usually large but charge cards rely on previous spend for the limit.