At the same time, the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card from American Express is rebranded as the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card. The only thing that changes other than the name is the annual fee - increased from $95 to $125 and NOT waived for the first year any more. However, if you apply before 3/28/19, you will continue to receive the first annual fee waiver and your annual fee after the first year will be grandfathered in at $95. You will also receive 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months. If you have been thinking about applying for this card, you probably want to do it before March 28.
With the new name for the world's largest loyalty program unveiled, the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Luxury Card is finally rebranded as the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant American Express Card. Everything remains the same but the name - including (1) the $450 annual fee, (2) 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy bonus points after you spend $5,000 within the first 3 months of new account opening, (3) annual $300 credits at any Marriott portfolio hotels worldwide, (4) an annual free night at Marriott portfolio hotels or resorts with a redemption level of 50,000 points or less, (5) annual 15 night credits towards Marriott elite status, (6) free Marriott Gold status and upgrade to Marriott Platinum status after $75K annual spending, and (7) Priority Pass Select membership with unlimited airport lounge access for you plus two guests.
At the same time, the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card from American Express is rebranded as the Marriott Bonvoy Business American Express Card. The only thing that changes other than the name is the annual fee - increased from $95 to $125 and NOT waived for the first year any more. However, if you apply before 3/28/19, you will continue to receive the first annual fee waiver and your annual fee after the first year will be grandfathered in at $95. You will also receive 100,000 Marriott Bonvoy points after spending $5,000 within the first 3 months. If you have been thinking about applying for this card, you probably want to do it before March 28.
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American Express Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Luxury Card is finally here, with a 100K signup bonus. Our review is now alive. The card is totally worth keeping after the first year thanks to the annual $300 Marriott credits and the free night capped at 50K points level. For your information, the new Marriott program has 8 redemption categories, and 50K points are required for a Category 6 standard awards night. We have also updated the High-end Credit Card Comparison, as well as quite a few related reviews.
The Facts
The Math First of all, the effective annual fee of Amex SPG Luxury Card is very reasonable at $150 after considering the easy-to-use $300 annual Marriott credits. With that, you receive several valuable perks including the 50k-point free night, 15 elite qualifying night credits, and Priority Pass Select membership. Even though Marriott points are probably our favorite frequent traveler currency (thanks to Marriott's decision of keeping SPG's best feature), the earning rate of 2x points in the general spending category offered by this card (as well as any other Marriott credit cards) is not that impressive, especially compared to the old Amex SPG which technically returned 3x Marriott points for general spending. Our current valuation of Marriott points is 0.75 cent a piece, which means that this card returns 1.5%, 2.3%, 4.5% travel rewards for the 2x, 3x, and 6x categories, respectively. For general spending, you might want to consider a 2% cashback card without annual fees (such as Citi Double Cash) or a miles credit card with potential higher return such as Amex EveryDay Preferred (which returns 2.25% travel rewards when you have at least 30 transactions per month) and Chase Freedom Unlimited (which returns 2.25% travel rewards when you pair it with Chase Sapphire Reserve or similar premium UR cards). The bottom line is that we won't recommend this card for spending, probably except for purchases at Marriott hotels. In this way, this card is considered a great "drawer card". How about spending $75K to get the lucrative Marriott Platinum status? Let's use 2% cashback as the benchmark - your "complimentary" Marriott Platinum essentially costs you $75,000 x (2% -1.5%), i.e., $375 per year. This may be reasonable for some travelers but probably not for most. Amex SPG Luxury vs. Amex SPG: the effective annual fee on the SPG Luxury Card is only $55 more than the lower-tier SPG Card. With that, you get a 50K-point free night instead of a 35K-point free night, Marriott Gold for free instead of spending $35K, the potential Marriott Platinum after $75K spending, as well as Priority Pass Select membership, Premium Roadside Assistance, etc. It is almost a no-brainer to pick the more expensive card as long as you stay at least a few nights at Marriott portfolio hotels. Amex SPG Luxury vs. Amex Hilton Aspire: As the flagship credit card in each of their program, each card carries a $450 annual fee and offers complimentary Priority Pass Select membership with unlimited access for you plus two. How do they compete with each other? Let's first compare the annual statement credits - SPG Luxury offers $300 for any Marriott portfolio hotel purchases, while Hilton Aspire offers $250 for airline incidentals plus $250 for Hilton portfolio resorts; obviously, SPG's credits are easier to use, but Hilton's total credits are $200 more - considering both the absolute value and how easy to use, we call it a draw. Secondly, let's look at the annual free nights - Hilton Aspire wins this one as the annual free weekend night can be redeemed at any Hilton portfolio hotels, while SPG Luxury's free night is capped at 50K-point properties (a top-tier hotel requires 70K-100K). Thirdly, Hilton Aspire's complimentary Diamond status again blows SPG Luxury's complimentary Gold status out of water. Marriott Platinum status will be a good match of Hilton Diamond status, but it does require a whooping $75K annual spending on the card. Lastly, while we don't recommend either card for general spending, charging the hotel purchases to either card does make sense and the value actually compares well - Hilton Aspire's 14x points (5.6% cash equivalent return in our book) vs. SPG Luxury 6x points (4.5% in our book and offering more flexibility due to the valuable airline miles transfer). In general, Amex Hilton Aspire packs more value in our opinion, but which to pick actually heavily depends on which frequent guest program you are more loyal to. To see how Amex SPG Luxury Card competes with other cards with similar annual fees, please check out our featured review Comparing High-end Cards covering Amex Platinum Card, Amex Delta Reserve, Amex Hilton Aspire, Amex SPG Luxury, Chase Sapphire Reserve, Chase United MP Club, Citi Prestige, Citi AA Executive, U.S. Bank Altitude Reserve, CNB Crystal, and MasterCard Black Card. The Conclusion Amex SPG Luxury, with the annual $300 Marriott credits and the anniversary free night, is such a great card to keep without ever spending a dime on, even for travelers that only stay at Marriott portfolio hotels just a few times a year. For travelers that frequent Marriott, this card's 6x points on Marriott purchases, 15 elite qualifying night credits, and the potential Marriott Platinum after $75K spending, are all worth looking into. It is currently rated as one of Best Credit Cards for Perks. With the final integration of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) programs, we have updated our Featured Review: Marriott Rewards vs. Membership Rewards (MR) vs. Ultimate Rewards (UR) vs. ThankYou (TY) vs. Club Rewards (CR).
In this review we will compare five most popular and versatile rewards programs in the market. They are similar in that their points can be transferred into miles/points of a number of frequent traveler programs (airlines/hotels). Marriott Rewards Marriott Rewards is the frequent guest program of Marriott International whose hotel portfolio includes Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, Luxury Collection, JW Marriott, EDITION, W Hotels, Marriott, Renaissance, Delta, Gaylord, Autograph Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels, Courtyard, AC Hotels, Fairfield, SpringHill Suites, Protea, Moxy, Four Points, element, aloft, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites, Marriott Executive Apartments, and Marriott Vacation Club. Marriott points can be valuable when redeemed for hotel stays in Marriott portfolio hotels. Here we don't want to go into details of hotel redemption, please visit marriott.com for more information. Marriott points can be extremely valuable when transferred into miles of 40+ frequent flyer programs, mostly at 3:1 ratio. This ratio may seem low compared to other programs, but you have to understand this essentially represents the same value as the old Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) points which transfer to airline miles at 1:1 and to Marriott points at 1:3 before the final integration of Marriott Rewards and SPG programs. In fact, with the merger, the number of airline partners actually further increased from 34 to 44. As Marriott points are generally obtained more easily than the points in the other programs in this review, they do continue to represent great value.
Most importantly, if you transfer 60,000 points you receive a bonus of 15,000 points, i.e., 60K Marriott points = 25K miles, or 2.4 Marriott points = 1 mile of most partners. You can transfer your Marriott points to a household member's Marriott account but there is paperwork you will have to do and sign. However, you can only transfer your Marriott points to a frequent flyer account under your name. In addition, you might redeem Marriott points for the Travel Packages (Hotel + Air Packages): your points will be converted to a certain number of frequent flyer miles plus a seven-night hotel certificate at a certain redemption level. Marriott revamped the Hotel + Air charts in August 2018, with major devaluation. The new travel packages do not represent good value compared to the simple miles transfer without the hotel certificate; for example, you might redeem 330K Marriott points for 100K miles plus a 7-night certificate at Category 1-4 hotels - you essentially only save 60K points for the hassle of finding a single hotel to stay for 7 consecutive nights. Membership Rewards (MR) from American Express On the earning side, you earn one extra point for each dollar spent on travel booked through MR (American Express Travel); however, Amex charges a booking fee on airfare or air-hotel packages ($6.99 per domestic ticket; $10.99 per international ticket) so most likely it is not a good deal. Effective May 2015, Amex waives the booking fee for Platinum and Centurion cardmembers. Amex used to have a shopping portal that allowed you to earn up to 10X bonus points; however, it was closed in 2013. On the redemption side, MR points can be redeemed for merchandise, gift cards, travel (Pay with Points), and so on, at up to 1 cent per point. However, some cards are eligible for a transfer feature that allows points to be transferred to over 20 frequent traveler programs. Let's look at these two groups:
MR points can be transferred into miles or points of the following programs: Airline Partners
Compared to airline miles transfer, hotel points transfer does not represent good value. Even though MR does not have the built-in 25% transfer bonus like Marriott, Amex runs limited-time transfer promotions on certain partners several times a year, so the value of MR points can be higher. Another huge advantage of MR over Marriott is that the transfer to most partners is instantaneous rather than days or weeks. This can be very useful when you find a particular award ticket available and want to grab it immediately before it is taken. The downside of MR is that Amex charges 0.06 cent per point up to $99 for transfer to domestic airlines. For example, if you transfer 100K points to 100K Delta miles, you will be charged $60 for the transaction. You can not transfer your MR points to someone else's MR account. However, you can transfer your MR points to your authorized user's frequent traveler accounts. Three Ways of Using MR points for Airfare: In addition to the aforementioned two options to redeem MR points for airfare - Pay with Points (fixed value, 1 cent per point) and the transfer feature, Amex also offers certificates for economy tickets for the following airlines: Cathay Pacific, Swiss, Qantas, and South African Airways. Note that they (except Swiss) are not transfer partners: you can't transfer MR points to their miles but you rather use a bulk of points in exchange for certificates that can be used for economy tickets (or companion tickets). The use of certificates is not subject to capacity control and you can actually earn miles on them. There is no certificates for business or first class tickets. For example, using the certificate a round-trip economy ticket on Swiss from SFO/LAX to Europe costs 65K points no matter how much the revenue ticket actually costs. If you use Pay with Points feature and the revenue ticket costs $1,000, you will need 100K points. For comparison, if you want to use Swiss' own frequent flyer program - Miles and More, which by the way is a transfer partner of Marriott, it will cost 50K miles plus fuel surcharge (which can be as high as, say $400) and is subject to capacity control. Ultimate Rewards (UR) from Chase Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) is a knock-off of Amex Membership Rewards. On the earning side, you earn one extra point for one dollar spent on airfare booked through UR, but unlike Amex, Chase does not charge a booking fee. You also earn up to 10x points when shopping through UR. The regular UR program allows redemption for merchandise, gift cards, cash, and travel, at up to 1 cent per point. However, premium UR cards including Sapphire Preferred ($95), Sapphire Reserve ($450), JPM Reserve ($450), and Ink Preferred ($95), have two premium redemption features: one is 25% bonus to travel redemption via UR (1 point = 1.25 cent); the other is to transfer points into miles/points of frequent traveler programs. Just like MR, transfer from UR to miles/points is instantaneous. Also like MR, if you have a regular UR card such as Freedom and another premium UR card such as Sapphire Preferred, you can pool all UR points together and enjoy the premium features. You can transfer your UR points to the UR account or a frequent traveler account belonging to one household member. Points transfer to third parties is prohibited. Currently, UR has the following partners: Airline Partners
ThankYou (TY) from Citi For several years, Citi's ThankYou Rewards (TY) had been lagging behind with only one transfer partner Hilton HHonors (this relationship ended in December 2017), and we were excited to see that Citi finally introduced several airline partners in July 2014. Currently there is no points earning for shopping with Citi. The regular TY program allows redemption for merchandise, gift cards, statement credit, and travel, at up to 1 cent per point. However, premium TY cards including Citi ThankYou Premier ($95), Citi Prestige ($450), and Citi Chairman, have a transfer feature similar to Marriott, MR, and UR, that allows ThankYou points to be transferred to frequent traveler programs. If you have a regular TY cards such as ThankYou Preferred, you may pool all your points together and the points earned through the regular TY cards become eligible for transfer. You may share your TY points with someone else; however, the shared points will expire in 90 days. You can only transfer your TY points to a frequent traveler account under your name. TY partners include the following:
Club Rewards (CR) from Diners Club Club Rewards from Diners Club has always had the transfer feature that allows points to be transferred to miles/points. Club Rewards points earned from Diners Club cards such as Diners Club Premier ($95) and Diners Club Elite ($300), both of which hasn't been accepting new applications since late 2014, can be redeemed for merchandise, gift cards, cash, travel, etc., at up to 1 cent per point. In addition, CR points can be transferred to the following frequent traveler accounts, mostly at 1:1: Airline Partners
For the master comparison chart, please see the updated review. March 26, 2017 Update - Chase Marriott Visa 107.5K, Amex Hilton Surpass 100K, Amex Hilton 80K, etc.3/26/2017 We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site. Here are some highlights.
© 2017 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved. 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. There have been quite some updates throughout the site and these are the highlights for the past week.
We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site. Here are some highlights:
We have been continuing to make updates throughout the site. Here we would like to highlight a few important ones:
In addition, you may find the following news interesting.
© 2016 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved. Over the weekend, the Ritz-Carlton website was updated to reflect an updated Ritz-Carlton Rewards Card. See the Visa Infinite logo? Yes, this is the first Visa Infinite product issued by Chase, and also among the major U.S. financial institutions. Previously, the only known U.S. Visa Infinite product was City National Bank's Crystal Card. Let's take a look at the changes from the Visa Signature version.
© 2016 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved. One of the most asked questions by my friends and readers is "what is in your wallet?" Even though I always think this is a very personal question as you may value a credit card very differently than I do, I think it will be at least interesting to talk about it.
I have quite a few credit cards, and I keep several in the drawer for their perks without even spending a dime on them. However, these four cards are in my wallet most of the time:
Before I discuss them, let me go back a little bit and talk about the three cards I used a lot in the past and why I decided to switch to the current lineup. For years, I used a very powerful rewards combo - Amex SPG and Chase Sapphire Preferred for my daily spending. Please move to our featured review "All About Credit Card Rewards" to see the best rewards credit card combos, and you will see this combo is one of our top recommendations. As I have had a sufficiently large balance of both SPG and Chase Ultimate Rewards (UR) points, I have decided to diversify my points to pick up more Amex Membership Rewards (MR) and Citi ThankYou (TY) points. These four programs have always been our recommendations to people who prefer frequent traveler miles/points to cash back rewards, since they are not tied to a single frequent traveler program but rather allow points transfer to multiple partners. The third card I had for several years was Amex Platinum Card, which was not for rewards but for travel perks such as airport lounge access and luxury hotel privileges. Since now I don't fly as much as before and I can obtain hotel privileges from somewhere else, I have closed this card to avoid the $450 annual fee. Now let's see why I decided to open and keep the four cards that are now in my wallet. I opened Amex EveryDay Preferred (EDP, annual fee $95) in 2015 when Amex offered 30,000 points signup bonus and have since kept charging at least 30 purchases each statement cycle to trigger the monthly 50% monthly points bonus. In this way this card returns 4.5x, 3x, and 1.5x MR points for groceries, gas, and other spending (6.75%, 4.5% and 2.25% respectively, based on our current valuation). Obviously, EDP is my most used card nowadays due to its powerful rewards for both bonus categories and general spending. In addition, EDP also features Amex Offers that save me money or give me extra points here and there, for the purchases I will make anyway. I pair EDP with another excellent rewards card Cit Prestige, which I opened in late 2014 when Citi offered 60,000 points signup bonus and a free companion ticket. Since then I have kept paying the reduced $350 annual fees (down from the regular $450), as I have a Citigold account. It's pretty easy to get the annual $250 airline credit as airfare is eligible, and the effective annual fee of Prestige becomes $100, comparable to most premium rewards cards. It offers 3x TY points for most travel purchases and 2x for dining/entertain (5.5% and 3.7%, respectively, based on our current valuation and the 15% annual bonus thanks to Citigold relationship). Between EDP and Prestige, they cover four most important bonus categories: groceries, gas, travel and dining, and rewards points add up really quickly. Note that when I charge airfare to Prestige, I will have industry-leading travel protection including $1M Travel Accident Insurance, Travel Cancellation or Interruption, Lost Luggage, Travel Delay beyond 3 hours, and Baggage Delay beyond 3 hours. In addition, I will also use Prestige for electronics and other items that may have a price drop in near future (Citi Price Rewind) and event tickets (Event Ticket Protection). Last but not least, as one of the premium high-end cards, Prestige offers amazing travel perks such as airport lounge access through Admirals Club and Priority Pass Select, 4th Night Free at most hotels, luxury hotel privileges through World Elite Luxury Hotels and Resorts program, 3 free rounds of golf each year, Global Entry application fee reimbursement, enhanced Roadside Assistance (free towing up to 10 miles, etc., which makes me think about canceling my AAA membership), and so on. In this way, Prestige more than fills the gap left by Amex Platinum when it comes to travel perks. Unlike Amex SPG which I am about to cancel, I decide to keep paying the $95 annual fees on my Chase Sapphire Preferred mainly due to my UR points balance, as I would rather enjoy the flexibility than transfer points to a specific partner program such as United or Hyatt. Since I am keeping it, now I actually have more reasons to use this card. Even though its bonus categories (travel and dining) overlap with Citi Prestige's, I will use Sapphire Preferred for all awards tickets plus tickets I pay for other people like my parents, due to the fact that Chase's Travel Accident Insurance covers awards tickets as well as family members. I will also use Sapphire Preferred for car rentals (primary Rental Car Collision Coverage in the U.S. and abroad), Costco (starting June 2016 only Visa will be accepted), and some online shopping (Chase UR is the only one among the aforementioned four programs with multiple transfer partners that still offers bonus points through shopping portal). JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa, which I opened in early 2015 and received 140,000 points signup bonus from, is mostly for perks. The annual fee is $395, but after making use of the annual $300 airline credit, I am paying $95 effectively. I will charge $10,000 each year to maintain the Ritz-Carlton/Marriott Gold status, which is arguably the best mid-tier hotel status and guarantees lounge access at JW Marriott, Autograph Collection, Renaissance, and Marriott hotels (while resorts are excluded). The three annual lounge level upgrades at Ritz-Carlton hotels and resorts are also extremely valuable, especially when combined with the $100 hotel credit for each stay of 2+ nights. Ritz-Carlton Visa also offers free Lounge Club memberships with unlimited access to primary and additional cardholders (there is no annual fee to add an additional cardholder). I don't need Lounge Club membership myself since I have already received Priority Pass Select from Citi Prestige, which covers all Lounge Club lounges plus some more; however, Lounge Club will be great for my family members with no additional cost. Lastly, I would add that for couples it doesn't make sense to pay double annual fees for the same rewards card, unless there is a very specific reason. I added my wife to my EDP and Sapphire Preferred accounts, so she has these two cards for daily spending. In this way, we avoid paying double annual fees and rewards points can be pooled quickly. Why don't I add her to my Citi Prestige account? Well, there is an additional $50 annual fee for that and Sapphire Preferred offers similar rewards. Now you have known what is in my wallet, would you tell me which cards you have in your wallet? © 2016 DrCreditCard.net All rights reserved. |
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