Tired of figuring out what card to pull at the POS?

[mdd0214]

I cannot be bothered with choosing different cards for different categories. I've moved most of my spending back to my Platinum card, which was always the backbone of my recurring subscriptions, except when I was doing a lot more churning and moved some of these monthly expenses from card to card to meet MSRs.  I still pay "cash" for most of my travel and expenses. I just use points here and there to feel like I'm getting part of it for "free". If others enjoy maximizing their points earned or getting as much value as possible from different card combos, or transfer partners, or whatever, more power to them.

[Broke_Triathlete]

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@mdd0214 wrote:

I cannot be bothered with choosing different cards for different categories. I've moved most of my spending back to my Platinum card, which was always the backbone of my recurring subscriptions, except when I was doing a lot more churning and moved some of these monthly expenses from card to card to meet MSRs.  I still pay "cash" for most of my travel and expenses. I just use points here and there to feel like I'm getting part of it for "free". If others enjoy maximizing their points earned or getting as much value as possible from different card combos, or transfer partners, or whatever, more power to them.

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@mdd0214 wrote:

I cannot be bothered with choosing different cards for different categories. I've moved most of my spending back to my Platinum card, which was always the backbone of my recurring subscriptions, except when I was doing a lot more churning and moved some of these monthly expenses from card to card to meet MSRs.  I still pay "cash" for most of my travel and expenses. I just use points here and there to feel like I'm getting part of it for "free". If others enjoy maximizing their points earned or getting as much value as possible from different card combos, or transfer partners, or whatever, more power to them.

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That's sorta what I was thinking. Keep the lines open but make the spend through one card.

[Pikaboo-icu]

We need an APP FOR THAT!

An app that will allow us to enter all of our cards and it will suggest which card has max rewards for that purchase. LOL

[longtimelurker]

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@Pikaboo-icu wrote:

We need an APP FOR THAT!

An app that will allow us to enter all of our cards and it will suggest which card has max rewards for that purchase. LOL

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Wallaby tries to do that

[K-in-Boston]

@longtimelurker good call.  I used to have that installed, but it was missing some important cards and categories at the time.  One thing that's great about it is that you can set the values of the rewards, so if you valued MRs at 2.5 cents for example, it would always tell you to use PRG for 5% on the 2 MR categories.

[imaximous]

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@K-in-Boston wrote:

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@imaximous wrote:

You get any bonus points charged on the credit card, but you already know you don't get the points for the stays. I too have family working at marriott/spg and the employee rate is great except not getting any points for staying at their properties. One thing I noticed recently at a Marriott in France is that I didn't even get credit for extra charges, like restaurant meals charged to my room. When I used to stay at SPG only because that's where family is, they always gave me the points for restaurant charges and parking, at least. 

Anyway, sorry for the thread hijack.

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You should get points (plus any elite status multiplier) for any@ charges made to the room outside of the room rate (unless it's one of the brands that didn't earn non-room-rate points prior to the big changes in August 2018).  Shoot an email to the front desk to request the points or contact @MarriottRewards on Twitter.  I had a similar issue with points not automatically posting for cash upgrade and other charges made to our room in Paris this year.  The Twitter team took a day to get back to me, then they forwarded my request to the hotel.  The hotel got back to me with an apology and stated that they should have been credited automatically and said they would put them through again.  I still didn't see the points a few weeks later and followed up; the 20k or so points were in my account the following day!

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Thanks for the info. I’ll shoot them an email and inquire about the credit. I didn’t bother to do that because I thought it was a Marriott policy not to offer any credits for employee family stays including incidentals. I’ve only been familiar with SPG (Sheraton & their other brands only at first) for a very long time — Never stayed at Marriotts before the merger. 

I also figured that since we get a voucher discount for meals as well, I wasn’t entitled to those credits. With SPG, we used to receive 50% off meals at qualifying properties. That was an awesome extra benefit. I forget what the discount was this last time at Marriott but it wasn’t that high. However, neither was I expecting it at check-in so it was a nice surprise. 

[kdm31091]

There's no rule or law that says you have to maximize rewards. If it's stressing you out or annoying you, don't do it. I don't see a need to open a new card. Just consolidate what you have, choose a daily driver, reap whichever rewards you get, and go from there. You don't have to maximize every transaction.

[Broke_Triathlete]

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@kdm31091 wrote:

There's no rule or law that says you have to maximize rewards. If it's stressing you out or annoying you, don't do it. I don't see a need to open a new card. Just consolidate what you have, choose a daily driver, reap whichever rewards you get, and go from there. You don't have to maximize every transaction.

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Hey KDM I didn't mean it from a maximizing rewards standpoint. I meant from an activity standpoint. "Which one haven't I used lately." kind of thing.

[Anonymous]

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@longtimelurker wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@Shadowfactor wrote:
But if you have a Samsung phone, the Altitude Reserve is hard to beat if you truly want to carry only one card. (4.5%) on mobile pay.

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Works with Apple Pay too.  Points are worth 3% in cash or 4.5% in travel.

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Right, but Apple Pay only works where there are NFC terminals.   Samsung Pay works (almost) everywhere as it can simulate a physical swipe.

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+1 on this card. Just got it and works for 90% of my spend with the Samsung Pay. I am a little surprised that it is not more popular considering the the high rewards and ease of use.