@Anonymous wrote:
So I’m debating on wether or not I should get the cards listed in the title to keep as my “hotel” keeper card. I currently have a Amex BCE for groceries, Chase Freedom for categories, Capital One unsecured platinum(upgrading to quicksilver). I’m planning on applying for the freedom unlimited in 3 months for everyday spend and the sapphire preferred about 3-5 months after the unlimited for travel/airline transfers.
But the reason why I’m interested in the Venture is because they have pretty good point redemptions on your average hotels for domestic travel stays (I’m not planning on traveling internationally for the next 3-4 years). Though the SPG does have the annual free night just by keeping the card.
I’m debating because my salary is about 30k, unmarried. Both have the same annual fee. Also, I know the ventures waived for the first year. It has to be a keeper card as well. So I’m asking if either card is better for my budget point redemption and cost of hotel nights for future vacations.
Do you stay at marriott properties when you travel or you just stay wherever? How many nights are you really booking into hotels in a year?
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Neither if the intent is these are keepers.
Your current income leads me to question what your annual spend will be on all these cards. You are building out a Chase Trifecta and once you have that the Freedom Unlimited is going to be your Everything Else card, with a return close to 2%. The CSP should have the ability to book your hotel stays for using points benefits that way.
SPG only earns two points, and you will find it challenging to find affordable hotels with a 1cpp redemption rate. The free night is very nice to have, but it is only one night a year. If you want to spend two or three nights in the same place as a mini vacation, you will need either 35,000 points each night or $200 to $300 cash each night. To have the 35,000 points times two available, you have to spend $35,000 on the card each year. In the case of the SPG, the free night is a very nice reward for the AF. It also gets you a bit of status if you stay at Marriott/SPG a few times a year for work travel.
The Venture earns a straight 2% on spend, but it has an AF of $95. A plain 1.5% Quicksilver has better earnings, because you have to spend about $7,000 on the Venture just to earn out of the $95 AF. QS can be “redeemed” on more types of charges than Venture.
You may decide you want to apply for each, get the SUB and enjoy the cards for a year or two, set up the TSA Precheck from Venture, but long term I suspect you will find they are diluting your Chase UR points gathering. The Venture in particular is a difficult card to justify. There is nothing wrong with getting the cards for this purpose, to see how they work for you, I am just suggesting you don’t tell yourself they are keepers until you have a chance to measure the real value of the rewards.
@Anonymous wrote:
Thanks for the detailed reply. I think I’m gonna stick with the CSP for hotel redemptions too. Even if reviewers say that it’s point redemption on hotel is subpar compared to its travel redemptions. Reason why I would’ve wanted a dedicated hotel card was because I wanted to get the most out of my points ( or the best bang for my buck). When I reserve hotel stays while I’m on vacations. Typically I would stay in locations within the US for about two nights or three days. But ideally, it would be a 7 day trip.
You get 2 UR on those stays, regardless of brand. A co-brand hotel card accelerates earnings only on that brand, which is nice if you use that brand a lot.
After Venture drops the 10x on Hotels dot com later this year, it reverts to 2% everywhere earnings.
It doesn't sound like either of these would be keeper cards for you. You can get the cards for the SUB or whatever but beyond the signups I don't see AF cards working for you.
If you're not traveling or staying Marriott properties a lot then the SPG card is not very useful at all. I also don't care much for the Venture (even with their announcement of airline partners). Like it has been mentioned, it will take some spend on the Venture to match the $95 annual fee.
As for their 10x at Hotels.com, that's nice as long as the promo is running but just a quick check shows that the promo ends in about a year meaning unless something is renewed then no more love via that route. With that you've mentioned I don't believe either of these cards with benefit you that much.
