@staticvoidmain wrote:
This makes a lot of sense to me. I was actually planning on going towards this goal.
Amex Plat for all airfare/hotel
CSR for all other travel and dining.
Amex for hotels is very situational, and more often than not, a bad plan. I've done a bit of testing in the last two months with this and I've found that prepaying for the hotel on AmEx only makes sense when you're staying at an off-brand hotel or a chain you have no affilitation/membership with. Among my notes:
1. Amex Travel often prices out higher than booking direct. I checked this with several hotels, most notably Marriotts, and the Marriott rate on their app is consistently lower than Amex Travel.
2. Reservations with Amex Travel are not credited as stays/paid nights with Marriott (and I presume a few other chains as well). That is, you get 0 Marriott points, 0 night credits, nada. It codes as a discount/travel agent booking and thus doesn't qualify.
Because of these two factors, I would still lean toward standard bookings with CSR instead. Taking Marriott as an example, you're getting 3 points per dollar PLUS 10-15 Marriott points per dollar, depending on status. You're also paying around 5% less. 3 UR + 15 Marriott points are almost always going to be more value than 5 MR.
