Category: Starwood

March 26, 2017 Update - Chase Marriott Visa 107.5K, Amex Hilton Surpass 100K, Amex Hilton 80K, etc.

3/26/2017

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We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site. Here are some highlights.

Chase has brought to us the best signup bonus on its Marriott Visa personal card. You will receive 107,500 Marriott Rewards points after you spend $5,000 and add an authorized user within 3 months of new account opening. As the Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) programs are on the way to integrate and allow points transfer between linked accounts at a ratio of 3:1, our valuation of Marriott Rewards points is now 0.75 cent per point, exactly a third of that of SPG points. The $85 annual fee is not waived, so this signup bonus is worth ~$720 in our book. 107,500 Marriott points can be transferred to 35,833 SPG points, and this offer is similar in value to Amex SPG which offers 35,000 SPG points with an annual fee waiver.
Amex has upped signup bonus of its Amex Hilton Surpass (annual fee $75) and regular Amex Hilton (no annual fee): Surpass offers 100K points upon signup plus a free weekend night at select Hilton Worldwide hotels after you pay the second annual fee; the regular Hilton Amex offers 80K points on signup. As our valuation of Hilton points is 0.4 cent per point, the signup bonus is worth $325 for Surpass and $320 for regular Hilton Amex, respectively. For the second year after paying the $75 annual fee, Surpass also gives a free night, which can invaluable. Both signup offers are the best in history.

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Amex SPG up to 70,000 Starpoints OR 210,000 Marriott / Ritz-Carlton Rewards points

2/22/2017

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Amex SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest), the No.3 Best Credit Card by Dr. Credit Card, has come back to give the 35K offer once again. This is the best signup bonus on this card in terms of total points; however, the spending requirement is a little higher than the similar offer that came out about a year ago. If you open both personal and business SPG Card, you will receive a total of 70,000 points. Keep in mind that you can only get the signup bonus when you have never received bonus on the specific card before. For example, if you received bonus on the personal SPG Card before you are not eligible for the 35K on the personal card, but if you never received bonus on the business card then you are still eligible for the 35K on the business card.

With the merger between Marriott and Starwood, you can now link your SPG account to your Marriott / Ritz-Carlton Rewards account and transfer SPG points to Marriott / Ritz-Carlton Rewards points at a ratio of 1:3. Thus the signup bonus of 35,000 SPG points equals to 105,000 Marriott points. If you open both personal and business cards, you can transfer 70,000 SPG points to 210,000 Marriott points. As we expect at some point, Amex SPG Card will be gone, it is your best chance of getting a boatload of SPG/Marriott points if you have never had SPG Card before.

Personal Amex SPG Landing Page: you will receive 25,000 points after spending $3,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and another 10,000 points after spending an additional $2,000 within 6 months, thus a total of 35,000 points with $5,000 spent.

Business Amex SPG Landing Page: You will receive 25,000 points after spending $5,000 within 3 months of new account opening, and another 10,000 points after spending an additional $3,000 within 6 months, thus a total of 35,000 points with $8,000 spent.

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October 21, 2016 Updates - Wyndham Visa devaluated & 2x points at small businesses on Amex cards through 2016

10/21/2016

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We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site. Here we would like to highlight a few important ones:

Wyndham Rewards Visa has been revamped. The no-fee version offers 3x points on Wyndham, 2x on gas, utility, grocery stores, 1x everywhere else, and automatic Gold status. The $75 version offers 5x points on Wyndham, 2x on gas, utility, grocery stores, 1x everywhere else, 6,000 annual bonus points, and automatic Platinum status. Compared to the old Wyndham Visa, the new cards reduce points earning on general spending from 2x to 1x, but add automatic elite status as well as waived foreign transaction fees. As we value Wyndham points at around 1 cent per point, the old cards offer great rewards for general spending and thus rated #6 Best Card for Rewards. We had concern about uncertainty in the rewards program before and it is very sad to see Wyndham/Barclays simply decides to slash the rewards for general spending in half. Now the new cards won't make it to Top 10. Even though the new perks such elite status may attractive some customers, we won't recommend the new cards for general spending at all. It is interesting that you may still sign up the old cards through the old landing page. We think the existing cardholders have to be grandfathered in for 2x points on general spending, but we have no info at this point and probably won't know how long it will last even if it is indeed the case.
JetBlue's frequent flyer program TrueBlue has been added as a transfer partner of Citi ThankYou. You can now transfer ThankYou points to TrueBlue points at a 1.25:1 rate, if you have either ThankYou Premier or Citi Prestige. TrueBlue points are mostly fixed at value of 1.4 cents per point, so if you use this option, the value of ThankYou points will be 1.12 cents per point - not a very good way of using ThankYou points. A better way would be using ThankYou to book a revenue JetBlue flight through Citi at fixed value of 1.33 cents per point, instead of transferring the points to JetBlue and then booking an award ticket. Our value for ThankYou points is 1.4 for ThankYou Premier considering other valuable transfer partners, and 1.6 for Citi Prestige considering the fixed value for booking an American Airlines flight through Citi.
JP Morgan Ritz-Carlton Visa Infinite offers $100 companion discount per trip for 2-5 domestic round-trip coach class tickets on your reservation. Even though the terms say that primary cardholder must be one of the ticketed passengers, there are reports confirming that authorized users also enjoy this benefit for free. This may potentially increase the value of this card quite a bit.
Marriott and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) offer reciprocal earnings on their credit cards. Chase Marriott Visa and JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa will start earning 5x points on SPG hotels; while Amex SPG will start earning 2x points on Marriott/Ritz-Carlton hotels. The two loyalty programs will eventually merge in 2018, but before that customers can take advantage of the best of both programs. Details about the future of these credit cards still remain uncertain. We suspect that Marriott or Ritz-Carlton cards probably won't change much, while Amex SPG will probably convert to a Chase product at some point in 2018.

In addition, you may find the following news interesting.

Amex offers 2x points for select small business purchases through 12/31/16. That is an additional 1x points you can earn through this "Shop Small" promotion. You have to enroll your Amex at https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/shop-small-offer/ to take advantage of this promotion. They also have a useful search tool for you to find the participating small businesses in your area. The following cards are eligible: Membership Rewards cards (such as Amex Platinum, Amex Premier Rewards Gold, Amex EveryDay Preferred), Delta SkyMiles cards, SPG cards, Blue Sky cards, Blue Cash cards, Hilton HHonors cards, Plenti Card, and Schwab Investor Card.
Per Bloomberg, Chase will introduce a new business card product called "Ink Preferred", which features a 80K points signup bonus, a $95 annual fee (waived for the first year), 3x points for the first $150K spent on travel, telecommunications, shipping and advertising on social-media and search engines, and 1x points on other purchases. Chase already has a $95 business card Ink Plus, which offers 5x points on office supplies, wireless services, landline communications and cable services (up to $50K spent annually), 2x on gas and lodging (up to $50K spent), and 1x on other purchases. At this point, we don't know whether Ink Plus will continue to be offered alongside with Ink Preferred or be converted to the new card in the future.

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Weekly Update (May 30 - June 3, 2016)

6/3/2016

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Please check out our Promotions page for currently the best offers including four new offers: 60,000 miles on Citi AA Executive WEMC, 60,000 miles + 10,000 MQMs + $100 credit on Amex Delta Platinum SkyMiles (personal or business), 50,000 miles + $50 credit on Amex Gold Delta SkyMiles (personal or business), and 30,000 miles + $100 credit + a $99 companion certificate on BofA Alaska Visa.

Our Points page has been updated to reflect our revised recommendations for the Best Two-Card Combos, which we copy below:

Best Rewards Credit Card Combos
Theoretically you need way too many cards to maximize rewards - one for gas, one for groceries, one for dining, one for airfare, one for hotels, one for general spending, and so on. In real life, most of us can't manager that. That is why here we will recommend the best two-card combos that will hand you much bigger rewards than a single card while still keeping things manageable.

Fidelity Visa | Citi Double Cash + one category bonus cashback card: This combo is for people who love cash back! As presented before, Fidelity Visa and Citi Double Cash, both with no annual fees and offer a straightforward unlimited 2% cashback, are extremely hard to beat. Of course, you may also consider Barclays Arrival Plus for 2.11% travel rewards and other added benefits come with the $89 annual fee. No doubt you will put most of your spending on one of these three cards. However, adding a 5% category bonus card will certainly get you more cash. You need to do your math to figure out which category you spend the most and how much you can earn by carrying an extra card. Say if you spend $500 each month on a 5% category, every year you will earn $500 x 12 x (5-3)% = $180 beyond your normal 2% cash back by carrying this extra card. Some people may say "$180 is awesome! I am in." but some may say "For the hassle of remembering which card to use, I will pass." So it is totally up to you. Now let's look into the most popular bonus categories to give you some ideas: (a) Groceries: Amex Blue Cash Preferred ($75 annual fee, 6% on groceries for up to $6,000 spent each year) - to maximize cashback, you will spend $6,000 a year on groceries and the extra cashback you earn beyond 2% is $6,000 x 4% - $75 = $165; (b) Gas: PenFed Platinum Rewards Visa Signature ($0 annual fee, 5x points on gas) - if you monthly gas expense is $600, the extra cashback beyond 2% is $600 x 12 x 2.25% = $162; (c) Airfare: PenFed Premium Travel Rewards Amex ($0 annual fee, 5x points on airfare) - if your annual airfare expense is $8,000, the extra cashback beyond 2% is $8,000 x 2.25% = $180; (d) Chase Freedom or Discover it ($0 annual fee, 5% on quarterly rotating categories, up to $1,500 spent each quarter) - the annual maximum extra cashback beyond 2% is $1,500 x 4 x 3% = $180; (e) US Bank Cash+ ($0 annual fee, 5% on two categories you select, up to $2,000 spent each quarter) - the annual maximum extra cashback beyond 2% is $2,000 x 4 x 3% = $240.
Amex SPG + Amex Premier Rewards Gold | Citi ThankYou Premier: This powerful combo is for people who prefer miles/points to cashback. Amex SPG will be the card for most general spending, as it has the highest return rate (=2.25%) among all four programs that allow points transfer to frequent traveler miles/points. Then, you may choose between PR Gold and ThankYou Premier as the second card. Both offer very powerful bonus categories: PR Gold covers airfare (3x) and gas & groceries & dining (2x); ThankYou Premier covers gas & travel (3x) and dining & entertainment (2x). While Amex MR points and Citi ThankYou points are worth pretty much the same in our book, which card to pick eventually depends on your spending patterns and the frequent traveler programs you have in mind for transfer. Finally, you may also consider Sapphire Preferred, Amex EDP, or Citi Prestige as the bonus category card.
Amex EveryDay Preferred + Citi Prestige: We highly recommend this combo as an alternative to the previous one, for the simple reason that the two cards complement each other in the bonus categories almost too perfectly. With 30 transactions per month, EDP offers highest return for groceries (4.5x, up to $6,000 spent each year) and gas (3x), while Prestige covers airfare & hotels & travel agencies (3x) and dining & entertainment (2x). So with this combo, you can easily cover the five most important bonus categories: grocery, gas, dining, airfare, and non-air travel, with only two cards - that is an incredible deal! As for general spending, EDP returns higher rewards at 1.5x (=2.25%) and will be ideal for most purchases. However, we recommend using Citi Prestige for items that may have price drop within 60 days such as electronics for the Citi Price Rewind benefit, and when traveling abroad for the waived foreign transaction fees and embedded EMV chip.
Chase Freedom Unlimited + Chase Sapphire Preferred: Even though Chase Freedom Unlimited is branded as a cashback card, it actually earn UR points at 1.5x for all purchases without an annual fee. Normally you won't be able to transfer UR points earned through Freedom Unlimited to frequent traveler miles/points since it is a lower tier UR product, limiting the value of a point at 1 cent. However, the secret here is that if you have a premium UR card such as Sapphire Preferred, you can transfer the UR points earned from Freedom Unlimited to Sapphire Preferred account so all of sudden these points become transferable to miles/points. This hugely increases the value of Freedom Unlimited, making it returning an impressive 2.25% cashback equivalent for general spending based on our current valuation of UR points. Obviously, Sapphire Preferred will be the card to charge to for travel & dining (2x). In addition, we recommend using Sapphire Preferred for foreign travel and items that may have price drop within 90 days. Lastly, if you don't mind having three cards in your wallet, adding Chase Freedom, which returns 5x on quarterly rotating categories, will make amazing Chase UR triplets. UR points earned through Freedom are also transferrable to frequent traveler miles/points when you have Sapphire Preferred, and then Freedom returns an incredible 7.5% on 5x categories. Bear in mind there is a quarterly $1,500 spending cap for the 5x categories on Freedom, so if you do everything exactly right, you will be earning an extra 21,000 UR points a year (1,500 x 4 x (5 - 1.5) = 24,000) by adding this non-fee card to your wallet.

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Five Years of Earning and Redeeming Miles/Points with Credit Cards - My Personal Story

3/10/2016

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Hello, this is Sean aka Dr. Credit Card. This is probably the most interesting post I have written since I started this website and blog in 2011. Most previous posts were about credit card offers, and a few were my analysis of value (and changes) of miles/points. I never really talked about how to use miles/points, since I figure that is really up to each individual to decide. What works for me might not work for you. However, I have been debating about that approach a lot. I was already touching on the value of miles/points quite a few times as it is inevitable, and each time I tried to make it clear that it was our valuation and “your mileage may vary”. Basically the value comes down to how much I would pay for an airline ticket or a hotel night if I don’t have miles/points, rather than how much the airline/hotel charges. For example, if a round trip long haul business class ticket retails at $6,000 but will cost 120,000 miles to redeem, my miles value is not 5 cents per mile ($6,000/120,000 miles), but rather 1.8 cents per miles since I am willing to pay ~$2,200 for that ticket. I have realized many of you got confused about that part, and I think sharing some personal experience may help you understand it better and also showcase how credit card offers could be extremely lucrative.

Note that many of the programs I used in the examples have devaluated or were even discontinued after our trips, but I think the moral of the story is how credit cards enabled me and my family to have some amazing experience that we wouldn’t have afforded otherwise.

Earning: 38 cards, 2.5M miles/points, and 12 free night certificates in five years

In the past five years, between my wife and I we opened 38 new credit card accounts, and earned about 2,500,000 miles/points in 18 different programs, plus 12 free night certificates. These miles/points were all from signup bonuses and did not include the miles/points we earned through spending or other program promotions. Since 4 of the cards offered free nights in lieu of miles/points as signup bonus, we earned an average of ~74K miles/points per card for the remaining 34 cards. All these may seem a lot, we are not considered aggressive at all - we each opened about 2 cards every 6 months to ensure our credit scores stayed excellent - in fact our credit scores gradually improved over these years. There are many people out there, including some of our readers, opened much more cards per year. If you visit our Deals page, you will see that all offers we recommended have at least 40K miles/points bonus, and over the years there have been quite a few offers in the 75K-100K range. What I am trying to say here is that if we could do it, you can do it.

Experience: long haul first class/business class flights, luxury hotel rooms/suites, and many amazing memories

I will use some of our most amazing miles/points redemptions as case studies. They are not in order of time/card/program, but rather random.

Cathay Pacific Business Class Los Angeles-Hong Kong-Denpasar (Bali) round trip - 100,000 British Airways (BA) miles + $450 in fuel surcharges and taxes per ticket. Retail value: $6,150 per ticket. Our value: $2,250 per ticket at 1.8 cents per mile. How did we get the miles? Chase BA Visa Signature always have had great signup offers and back then we each received 100K miles upon opening new accounts. BA is also a transfer partner of Amex Membership Rewards (MR), Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR), and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), we transferred about 100K MR points to BA miles to complete three bookings that required 300K BA miles. Needless to say, that was great value, but note that it was before the major devaluation of BA miles and now the same trip will cost much much more. The trip allowed my wife, me and our 2.5 years old to go back to China, to spend time with families and to visit the amazing tropical island Bali in Indonesia. The 15-hour transpacific flight is pretty tough in economy class - we have been there several times. In comparison, Cathay Pacific offers one of the best business class products out there, and its flatbed equipped mini-suite makes a complete different experience. We rested well and enjoyed decent food and champagne along the way. A BA award ticket allows two stopovers in a round trip, so we actually took the Hong Kong-Denpasar flight two weeks later, which lasted 4.5 hours and for the first time in my life I wished that I stayed on the plane longer. It was interesting that on this relatively short route Cathay actually operated a three-cabin Boeing 747, just as the one on a transpacific route. After we were seated in the business class cabin, the purser Eva came over to introduce herself and politely asked if we would like to be upgraded to first class for free since the cabin was quite empty. Of course we took her offer! Not only the first class suites were more spacious and better padded, the service we received from Eva and other flight attendants were so attentive that we were totally not used to it! I immediately understood why Cathay Pacific has constantly been rated as one of the world’s best airlines.

Welcome Drink "Cathay Delight" on Cathay Pacific Business Class

Shanghai-Los Angeles-Salt Lake City-Los Angeles on United Airlines Business Class + Los Angeles-Seoul-Shanghai on Asiana Business Class - 90,000 US Airways (US) miles + $100 in taxes and fees. Retail value: $6,400 per ticket. Our value: $1,900 per ticket at 2 cents per mile. It was for my inlaws - they came over to the U.S. to help with our kids several times and the 13-hour flights in economy class surely weren’t much fun and that is why I thought if I could find availability we should use our miles to put them in business class once in awhile. Obviously that was before the American-US merger and 90K in business class between continental U.S. and East Asia was a great bargain. How did we get the miles? Both my wife and I signed up Barclays US Airways MasterCard and each received 40,000 miles. That gave us a good head start, and we also earned tens of thousand of US miles through various promotions (through the program or credit card) including acquiring miles at 1.1 a piece through US Airways’ amazing transfer promotions. So it wasn’t hard to have a total of 180,000 miles to get two awards tickets booked. My inlaws were amazed by the flights, and even though both airlines have flatbeds in long haul business class, both my inlaws agreed that Asiana offered better seats and food than United did and it was totally worth an extra stop in Seoul. It isn’t surprising, since Asiana has constantly been rated as one of the best airlines when it comes to in-flight dining and its business products are highly regarded by travelers.
Xiamen-Hong Kong-Shanghai-Los Angeles-Hong Kong-Xiamen on American Airlines and Cathay Pacific First Class - 120,000 US Airways miles + $100 in taxes and fees. Retail value: $16,000 per ticket. Our value: $2,500 per ticket at 2 cents per mile. The only segment on American was from Shanghai to Los Angeles, and short haul segments were in business class since first class was not offered. For a short period time before US Airways frequent flyer program merged into American’s, US miles were particularly valuable since they could be used not only on Star Alliance partners (such as United and Asiana in the previous example) but also on oneworld partners (such as Cathay Pacific). The awards tickets were for my parents - it is the same thinking as in the previous example - we couldn’t be more thankful to them and always feel guilty that they need to travel this long distance at their ages. Since I couldn’t find availability in business class, I just went one step further to put them in first class. Only on the return leg I could find two first class seats on Cathay so I used American on the outbound leg, understanding that their first class products were pretty mediocre. How did we get the miles? We did it again with US miles - as explained previously we had a decent size balance of US miles even after burning 180K for my inlaws and at the time of booking, we were short of 70K miles. I thought it wasn’t a big deal since US Airways is a SPG partner and I could easily transfer some SPG points. However, I made a huge mistake that I transferred my SPG points to my wife’s US Airways account, which isn’t allowed. I almost kicked myself when I found out - even though I knew I would get those miles back I just didn’t have time to hold the awards which were hard to come by. Luckily there was a promotion going on allowing me to purchase US miles directly at 1.88 cents per mile and I immediately purchased 70K miles. Then I finally had the 240,000 US miles to complete the bookings. My parents were very excited to take the flights and agreed that Cathay Pacific’s first class products blew American’s out of the water. My mom also enjoyed the Krug champagne on Cathay Pacific so much that she drank a little too much. When asked how she liked her first experience of caviar, she thought it was salty and not very impressive. :)
Tokyo-Los Angeles one way on Singapore Airlines Suite Class - 74,000 Singapore Airlines (SQ) miles + $130 in taxes and fees. Retail value: not available since the revenue ticket is sold in round trip and it costs $14,000 per round trip. Our value: $1,300 per ticket at 1.6 cents per mile. This is actually a flight my wife and I will take in June, so I don’t have the first hand experience yet. However, these awards are highly sought after since this product is considered one of the best first class products in today’s sky. Suite class is nothing but a glorified first class product exclusively available on A380 and obviously much nicer than Singapore’s regular first class found on other aircrafts. Each suite has a sliding door, and the two middle seats can be transformed into a full size bed if the couple occupy them elect so. We reserve two middle seats and are very excited to see how it all turns out. Unlike its regular first class products, Singapore won’t release any suite class seats to its partners so you can’t book them using AA or BA miles, and that is why we booked using SQ miles. How did we get the miles? It is actually not hard at all to collect SQ miles, since SQ is a partner of four major programs that allow points-to-miles transfer: SPG, UR, MR, and Citi ThankYou (TY). I transferred 130K TY points, accumulated from signup and spending on my Citi Prestige, and 20K UR points to get enough SQ miles for our bookings.

Sunset over Pool at the Fairmont Kea Lani

Executive Suite at the Fairmont Orchid Hawaii

Maximizing Chase Fairmont Visa Signature - eight free nights in fabulous suites and more. We love this card! Upon opening a new card and meeting the spending requirement, you will receive two free night certificates and four $25 breakfast certificates; the Fairmont Premier status come with the card gives you five additional certificates: one suite upgrade, one room upgrade, one third night free, and two $25 dining/spa. Our first Fairmont experience was at the Fairmont Kea Lani in Maui. Both my wife and I signed up the Chase Visa, so that we enjoyed four nights in a 800 sq. ft Garden View Suite for free, which retailed over $550 per night, and we used the $150 certificates toward breakfasts. Since the basic room type at this resort is a suite, the suite upgrades only got us one category up, which was better than nothing. The resort has three beautiful pools, and the beach in front of the resort has some finest sands on the island. After about a year, I planned another Hawaiian vacation involving using the ongoing benefits of the card. My wife canceled her card but I renewed mine with a $95 annual fee. I also charged $12K on the card during my first year to receive another free night certificate. I booked two nights at $329 each in a basic room at the Fairmont Orchid in Big Island Hawaii through Amex FHR (which will be discussed in more details later) to receive complimentary breakfasts and a $100 spa credit, then applied the Third Night Free and the Visa Free Night certificates to get another two nights, and finally used the suite upgrade to get us in a 1,000 sq. ft Executive Suite which retailed at $799 per night. So our total cost for four nights in this suite, $80 breakfast credits, and a $150 spa credit all came down to a mere $660 plus taxes - amazing value. The resort is beautiful with newly renovated rooms and two pools which we never used, since we spent most time on the beach and in the shallow ocean water in the bay. We also celebrated our five years old’s birthday at Brown’s Beach House. After having great experience with the Chase Fairmont Visa, I had my wife apply for this card again late last year, as soon as I heard that the Grand Del Mar in San Diego, which has been constantly rated as one of best resorts in California and in the entire country, joined the Fairmont chain. Per Chase T&C, you will receive the signup bonus again if you are not a current cardholder and the last time you received the bonus was more than 2 years ago. Needless to say, when we visited the Fairmont Grand Del Mar earlier this year for our anniversary, we enjoyed two nights in a 1,000 sq. ft Prado Suite and $150 breakfast/dining certificates, all complimentary from Chase. The suite retails at $1,000 per night and is beautifully appointed in a classic Italian decor with two bathrooms. Our dining experience at Amaya, their main restaurant, was also amazing.

Prado Suite at the Fairmont Grand Del Mar

Park Hyatt Paris and Park Hyatt Tokyo - two free nights from Chase Hyatt Visa Signature. They are for our upcoming June trip. I wanted to used both free nights at Park Hyatt Paris but I couldn’t find any availability other than one night so I decided to use the other at Park Hyatt Tokyo. Paris hotels are notoriously expensive, let alone one of the most luxurious properties in the city. A basic room at Park Hyatt Paris retails at $1,150 per night at the time of our visit. Park Hyatt Tokyo is a property that defines a new era of luxury Tokyo hotels since 1990s, and a basic room retails at $575 per night at the time of our visit.
JW Marriott Shenzhen - 90,000 Marriott points for 7 nights. This five-star business oriented hotel in Shenzhen was a Category-3 hotel at the time of our visit back in 2012, and is now a Category-5. Retail value: $200 + taxes per night. Our value: $89 per night at 0.8 cent per point. How did we get the points? We signed up Chase Marriott Premier Visa Signature as well as JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa Signature, and it was not hard to pool a lot of Marriott points (Ritz-Carlton points are essentially Marriott points). The hotel totally lived up to the five-star rating in terms of rooms, service, and food & beverage. Thanks to the Marriott/Ritz-Carlton Gold status come with my JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa, we also got complimentary access to the Executive Lounge, which provided meals throughout the day and was much better than most hotel lounges in the U.S.

Executive Lounge at JW Marriott Shenzhen

Eight nights at four Radisson Blu hotels in France - 25,000 to 35,000 Club Carlson points per night. These are also for our upcoming trip in June, and I booked awards nights before the June 2015 devaluation from Club Carlson and the US Bank co-branded credit card. Now the same award night will require double or even triple points. Retail value per night: Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan in Paris $436, Radisson Blu Champs Elysees in Paris $523, Radisson Blu Nice $376, Radisson Blu 1835 Cannes $326. Our value per night: Radisson Blu Le Metropolitan $175, Radisson Blu Champs Elysees $175, Radisson Blu Nice $125, Radisson Blu 1835 Cannes $175, based on 0.5 cent per point value. How did we get the points? We both signed up US Bank Club Carlson Visa Signature, and each received 85,000 points at signup and an additional 40,000 points upon the first anniversary. In addition, we also had some left over points from previous Club Carlson promotions. It was not hard to pool 260,000 points for these bookings. These Radisson Blu are all five-star business oriented hotels, which while not the most luxurious in their cities should be pretty nice I will assume.

Panorama View Room at Park Hyatt Aviara Resort

View from Terrace Suite at the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, an Autograph Collection Hotel

Above are just some examples of how we used hotel points and credit card free nights for our hotel stays, and we have done much more during the past several years, from luxury to budget hotels. In addition to using points and free nights, we also leveraged Fine Hotels and Resorts (FHR) and other similar programs when paying “cash” for hotel stays. FHR is an Amex program dedicated for its Platinum Card and Centurion Card members. It covers more than 800 luxury hotels and resorts worldwide, including chains such as Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula, St. Regis, Park Hyatt, Waldorf Astoria, Rosewood, Fairmont, Aman Resorts, Six Senses, Banyan Tree, and many individually managed hotels. Through FHR, you pay the same Best Available Rate as you would when booking directly with the hotel or through a third-party agent, but you receive exclusive perks: daily complimentary breakfasts for two, room upgrades upon availability, guaranteed 4pm check-out, and a hotel specific amenity (usually once per stay) such as a $100 dining/spa/hotel credit, a complimentary lunch or dinner for two, or 50-minute massage treatments for two. In addition, many FHR hotels regularly participated in 3rd Night Free or 4th Night Free promotions. There are several similar programs, including Virtuoso (not tied to a bank/credit card, but you need to find a Virtuoso agent to work with you), Signature Travel Network (similar to Virtuoso), Ensemble Travel Group (similar to Virtuoso), Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection (for Visa Signature card members), World Elite Luxury Hotels and Resorts (for World Elite MasterCard members), etc. Now I will give a few examples how we leveraged these benefits for our stays. Park Hyatt Aviara Resort - Panorama View Room retail value $300 per night & our value $70 per night. I booked a basic room for three nights at $250 per night, and the benefits we received included a two-category room upgrade, the third night free, daily buffet breakfasts for two (retailed at $50, our value $30), waived resort fees ($25 per night), a $100 resort credit per stay, a $25 F&B credit per stay, and welcome amenity in the room. You do the math. Highlight of the hotel: friendly staff and impeccable service. The Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, an Autograph Collection Hotel - Terrace Suite retail value $280 & our value $100. The view is the key - if you are in the right side of the hotel you will enjoy the best view of Vegas. I booked a $230 suite that doesn’t have the famous fountain view, but I knew the next category would guarantee a view. In fact, they upgraded us three categories to the Terrace Suite which not only has a gorgeous view but is a larger suite of over 900 sq. ft. We also enjoyed check-in at the VIP lounge (to bypass the long line), buffet breakfasts for two at the Wicked Spoon (retailed at $48, our value $30), a $100 spa credit which my wife used toward manicure and pedicure. Highlight of the hotel: gorgeous Bellagio Fountain and Strip view. Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara - 1BR Residence retail value $595 & our value $120. I booked a basic room at $260, and received a $75 breakfast credit (our value $40), a $100 F&B credit which we used toward dinner, and a one-category upgrade to the beautifully appointed residential suite of over 1,200 sq. ft. Highlight of the hotel: one of best hotel suites I have ever stayed in to date. Taj Campton Place, a member of The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) - Deluxe Room retail value $300 per night & our value $132 per night. I booked a basic room for four nights at $250 per night, and received the fourth night free, a one-category upgrade, daily $60 breakfast credits (our value $30), and a $100 F&B credit which we used toward lunch. While the hardware was probably not up to the five-star or LHW standards in my opinion, the service must have been among the best we have received in a U.S. hotel and could be on par with a good luxury hotel in Asia. If you wonder, yes, Asian hotels are mostly better in service than the U.S. hotels. Hotel Park City, a member of LHW at the time of our visit and now an Autograph Collection Hotel - Luxury Suite retail value $299 & our value $45. I booked a basic suite for $179 and received a three-category upgrade to a huge 1 BR suite of over 1,400 sq. ft, a $16 breakfast credit, and complimentary 50-minute massage treatments for two (retail value $200+, our value $120). Highlight of the hotel: rustic and understated luxury in a beautiful surrounding. Casa Marina Key West, a Waldorf Astoria Resort - Ocean View with Terrace retail value $449 & our value $140. I booked a basic room for $279 and received a three-category upgrade to a recently renovated room in the historical wing with a huge terrace overlooking the resort pools and ocean, a $100 breakfast credit (our value $40), and a $100 resort credit which we used toward dinner. Highlight of the hotel: the resort’s main restaurant Sun Sun, which offers great seasonal food in a open air ambience and an amazing sunset view.

Residence Suite at Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara

Lobby at Hotel Park City

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Amex Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) 35,000 points each (personal & business) & 1st year free

3/9/2016

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Through March 30, 2016, Amex has offered 35,000 points bonus for its Amex SPG, for both personal and business versions. This is by far the best signup bonus we have ever seen on this product. The previous highest bonus was 30K points. You will need to spend $3,000 within 3 months to receive 35K points for the personal card version, and you will need to spend $5,000 within 3 months to receive 35K points for the business card version. The $95 annual fee will be waived for the first year. Our current valuation of Starpoints after March 22, 2016 is 2.1 cents per point, thus the signup bonus for each card will be $735. If you sign up both personal and business cards, you will receive 70,000 points - $1,470 in value.

We will argue that this is the best time to sign up an Amex SPG since we speculate some time beyond 2016, SPG will be folded into Marriott Rewards program and this credit card product will be no more so will be the signup bonus. If you haven't had Amex SPG, one of our favorite cards, sign one up now.

Personal 35K offer landing page
Personal 35K offer application page
Business 35K offer landing page
Business 35K offer application page

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.

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Changes in the travel industry that will have major impact on credit cards - our thoughts on American Airlines, Starwood, and Fairmont

1/14/2016

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We saw several major changes in the travel industry in late 2015, which certainly had and will continue to have major impact on the credit card market. Yes, we are talking about American Airlines’ award chart devaluation, Marriott-Starwood merger, and Accor’s acquisition of FRHI (Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissotel).

1. American Airlines’ Award Chart Changes
On November 17, 2015, American Airlines announced several changes in its 2016 AAdvantage program, including massive devaluation in its award charts, which will kick in for awards booked on March 22, 2016 or later. To be honest, this wasn’t that surprising since in the past several years, American has had more lucrative award charts than its major competitors United and Delta, and we had anticipated that it would devaluate its miles after the merger with U.S. Airways. But the devaluation is still quite bad. The best redemption options under the old charts - longhaul business and first class awards are hit the hardest, as expected. The required miles on some of our favorite routes increase by 4%-27% for longhaul business class awards, and by 20%-63% for longhaul first class awards. Our value for American miles is thus adjusted from 1.8 cents per mile to 1.6 cents per mile, and obviously your mileage may vary. If you have a substantial balance of American miles, remember to book your flights before March 22, 2016.

Let’s see how this affects the credit cards after March 2016. This obviously made Citi or Barclays AAdvantage cards (see Citi Platinum Select / AAdvantage, Citi Executive / AAdvantage, Barclays Aviator Red, Barclays Aviator Silver) less valuable in terms of earning miles; however, our recommendation for earning American miles through credit card spending has always been one of our Top Listers, Amex SPG, which returns 1.25 miles when transferring points to miles in bulks of 20K. Even though SPG still has 30+ other partners to transfer to, such as Alaska Airlines whose miles we still value at 1.8 cents per mile, the value of SPG points certainly take a hit with American’s devaluation. This combined with the fact that the SPG program will be no more within a couple of years (see section 2 for details) makes us adjust the value of SPG points to be 2.1 cents per point, down from 2.25.

2. Marriott-Starwood Merger
On November 16, 2015, Marriott International announced that it would acquire Starwood Hotels and Resorts to create world’s largest hotel chain. This announcement was somewhat a surprise and will have a huge impact on the hotel industry in years to come.

Obviously it will take some time for the two chains to integrate as well as their loyalty programs, and we expect that Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) will continue to run separately at least through 2016 and eventually will merge into one single program sometime beyond 2016. SPG is one of our favorite hotel programs out there not only for its elite benefits but also for its revolutionary redemption options including points transfer to 30+ airline partners at up to 1:1.25 ratio. For travelers who have a large balance, they probably need to start planning ahead to burn these points, since even though Marriott promise it would keep the value of SPG (points), we highly doubt that they will be the same level of value when SPG points eventually turn into Marriott points. For those who are not very sure of their value, our current valuation for these two currencies are: 2.25 cents per point for SPG, and 0.65 cent per point for Marriott. We don’t think when the two programs finally merge, SPG points will be turned into Marriott at 1: 1 ratio, but we expect it won’t be 1:3 either. However, for those who has a SPG points balance less than 150K, we will suggest not worrying about them too much, since it will be plenty of time to put them to good use.

Now let’s look at the merger’s impact on credit cards. Firstly, as mentioned in section 1, our value of SPG points will be adjusted from 2.25 down to 2.1 cents per point considering American Airlines, one of the best transfer partners of SPG, will devaluate after March 2016, and the fact that you probably won’t be stockpiling SPG points as you might used to due to the uncertainty of this program beyond 2016. Secondly, Amex SPG, one of our favorite credit cards, not only returns slightly less value than before but will be completely nonexistent in a few years (it will probably be converted to another Amex product for existing customers). This will leave a huge hole that won’t be filled for a long time, since not only is Amex SPG a well-rounded product but also there will be one less program that allows flexible points transfer to airline miles. Please see our featured review SPG vs. MR. vs. UR. vs. TY vs. CR for this type of programs and you will see why we love them so much. Lastly, the impact on Chase Marriott and J.P. Morgan Ritz-Carlton credit cards will remain unknown. You may expect more hotels (SPG currently has 1,200+ hotels) be available for redeeming points, but we are not sure how SPG hotels will be categorized in Marriott’s system and if Marriott will again devaluate their points after the merger. You may expect the Gold or Platinum status earned through Ritz-Carlton Visa be more beneficial for similar reasons, but again we are not sure if Marriott will adjust the elite benefits after the merger.

3. Accor’s Acquisition of FRHI

On December 9, 2015, AccorHotels announced that it would acquire FRHI, the parent company of Fairmont, Raffles, and Swissotel. Accor, which may be an unfamiliar name to a lot of Americans due to its very limited footprint in North America, is actually a giant in the hotel industry with near 3,800 hotels worldwide, including brands such as Sofitel, Pullman, MGallery, Novotel, Mercure, etc.

Even though we haven’t know the timeline yet, we suspect that some time beyond 2016, Fairmont President’s Club will be integrated into Le Club AccorHotels. At that point, we will be very sad to say goodbye to one of our favorite hotel credit cards, Chase Fairmont Visa, which is also on the list of cards worth paying annual fees without spending. The generous signup bonus (two free nights at a luxury hotel with breakfasts, possibly in a suite), Fairmont Premier status (suite and room upgrades, third night free certificate, $50 dining/spa credit), an annual free night after $12K per year, and Lounge Club membership with two free passes per year, all contribute to this card’s uniqueness. If you haven’t had this card, we definitely recommend getting it before this program gets folded into Accor’s. Even if you had this card before, you may still get the signup bonus if the last time you received the bonus was more than 24 months ago per terms and conditions.

Right now, we don’t know if Accor will partner with a U.S. financial institute to offer a co-branded credit card in the future but we think it is very likely. At that point, we will evaluate it and definitely hope it will be a competitive product.

© 2016 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.

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Amex Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) 30,000 points each (personal and business) & 1st year free

8/12/2015

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Amex has offered increased signup bonus to 30,000 points (from the regular 25,000 points) for its Amex SPG, for several summers in a row. Now it is back through September 14, 2015. This time, you will need to spend $3,000 within 3 months to receive 30K points for the personal card version, and you will need to spend $5,000 within 3 months to receive 30K points for the business card version. Our current valuation of Starpoints is 2.25 cents per point, thus the signup bonus for each card will be $675. If you sign up both personal and business cards, you will receive 60,000 points.

Also note that even though the annual fee is waived for the first year, it has been increased from $65 to $95 effective today. However, Amex does bring a few new perks to justify the increase in annual fees: waived foreign transaction fees, complimentary unlimited Boingo Wi-Fi plan, complimentary premium internet at participating Starwood hotels, and finally access to Sheraton Club Lounges for business cardholders. We have updated our review to reflect these changes.

Landing page for personal card
Application page for personal card
Landing Page for business card
Application page for business card

© 2015 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved.

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Featured reviews got updates - Best Two-Card Combos && SPG vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. CR && All About Airport Lounges && Comparing High-End Cards

10/19/2014

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2014 is an interesting year for those who are interested in the programs that allow points transfer to miles/points of frequent traveler programs (airline or hotel loyalty programs). Before July 2014, we had three excellent programs that had the transfer features - Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), Membership Rewards (MR) from American Express, and Ultimate Rewards (UR) from Chase. In July, Citi finally enhanced its rewards program - ThankYou (TY) to allow miles/points transfer. In September, Diners Club started accepting new applications for personal cards in the U.S., and now we have another program - Club Rewards (CR) with the transfer feature that is widely available to U.S. consumers. Please see our updated featured review SPG vs. UR vs. MR vs. TY vs. CR for details.

In April, Amex introduced the EveryDay Preferred, which we think is the most exciting new product Amex brought to the market in years. In September, Diners Club rebranded Carte Blanche personal card Diners Club Card Elite, which is a great alternative to some of our favorite cards. In October, Citi Prestige did away with the old flight points and 2-1 rewards structure and began the new 3-2-1 rewards structure. All these dramatically changed our recommendations for the best two-card combos. Please see our updated featured review Best Two-Card Combos.

Also updated are two other featured reviews - All About Airport Lounges and Comparing High-end Cards.

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[GONE] Amex SPG up to 60,000 points (one personal, one business, 30K each, 1st year free)

6/4/2014

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[Update 7/3/14] The offers are gone.

[Original Post] Amex and SPG ran this limited time promotion once every year in the pas several years, and now it is back. We have never seen a better deal, so apply before 6/30/14 if you haven't had one of these cards. Open a new Amex SPG Card (personal or business), one of our favorite credit cards, you will earn 10,000 starpoints after the first use and another 20,000 starpoints after spending $5,000 within 6 months. Starpoints are one of most valuable miles/points currencies out there, and not only can be redeemed for Starwood hotels but also can be transferred to 30+ airline partners' miles programs, including American, US Airways, Alaska, Asiana, Singapore, etc. Please see our featured review SPG vs. MR vs. UR for details. As always the $65 annual fee is waived for the first year. If you apply both, you could have a total 60K points. However, since Amex has been more strict about opening two cards on the same day, you'd better open one card first and then wait at least a week before apply the second one.

Landing page
Application link for personal Amex SPG
Application link for business Amex SPG

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March 26, 2017 Update - Chase Marriott Visa 107.5K, Amex Hilton Surpass 100K, Amex Hilton 80K, etc.

Amex SPG up to 70,000 Starpoints OR 210,000 Marriott / Ritz-Carlton Rewards points

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Five Years of Earning and Redeeming Miles/Points with Credit Cards - My Personal Story

Amex Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) 35,000 points each (personal & business) & 1st year free

Changes in the travel industry that will have major impact on credit cards - our thoughts on American Airlines, Starwood, and Fairmont

Amex Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) 30,000 points each (personal and business) & 1st year free

Featured reviews got updates - Best Two-Card Combos && SPG vs. MR vs. UR vs. TY vs. CR && All About Airport Lounges && Comparing High-End Cards

[GONE] Amex SPG up to 60,000 points (one personal, one business, 30K each, 1st year free)

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