PSA -Sapphire Reserve with 100K points bonus, LAST CHANCE is Saturday 3/11 at branch...

[Exterous]

are AMEX points not as valuable as Chase UR? I've had the AMEX SPG card for a while now. Racked up over 200K points on it. But ever since the Marriott merger, all the hotels are so expensive, that I find myself not using the points. Im going to downgrade the SPG card and use this as my main card from now on. I wonder if AMEX is losing out on a lot of business because of this card

Points earned on the Amex SPG card are SPG points as opposed to other Amex cards like the Platinum which earn Amex Membership Rewards points (which can then be transferred to various partners at various rates that differ from partners SPG points can be transferred to)

If you can't find hotels you want to redeem SPG points at they have a large number of airline transfer options and give a 5,000 bonus for each incremental transfer of 20k points. (Although there is a 24 hour limit on the amount you can transfer so the most you'd want to transfer in a day is 60,000

http://viewfromthewing.boardingarea.com/2015/08/12/starwood-transfer-partners-airlines/

Anyone know if the $300 travel credit carries over from year to year? I.e., if I don't use the $300 this year will I have $600 next year?

It does not

 

[Elganja]

I searched Seven Stars Resort. Looks beautiful but oceanfront rooms are over $1k a night. Little too pricey for me. I can save some money by not staying on the beach with oceanfront room but then the wife wouldn't be too happy. It's always a struggle. First world problem I guess.

Yeah i negotiated with my GF for oceanview vs oceanfront. I think we are paying around $500 a night for a oceanview bedroom suite which is still on the high end, but will be worth it

 

[ponyo]

Awesome. I need to buy a plane ticket ASAP, and was hoping that I could get it as soon as the card arrives and it posts for the first month, because the $450 fee + monthly spend on that first month will see me sucking air.

...and even more incentive to downgrade my AMEX Gold Preferred to a Blue Cash, as I have been meaning to do for more than a year now. Talk about a useless $120 fee, and I do like AMEX.

If you like your Amex Gold Preferred, call them up and tell them you want to cancel the card. They offered me $75 to keep the card. But I wouldn't have kept the card even if it was free. Amex is on my shit list.

 

[ponyo]

Yeah i negotiated with my GF for oceanview vs oceanfront. I think we are paying around $500 a night for a oceanview bedroom suite which is still on the high end, but will be worth it

That's awesome. I would've jumped on that. One bedroom suite with ocean view is showing $1,450 /night and oceanfront is $1,500 /night on the dates I want to go.

 

[zinfamous]

If you like your Amex Gold Preferred, call them up and tell them you want to cancel the card. They offered me $75 to keep the card. But I wouldn't have kept the card even if it was free. Amex is on my shit list.

I'd rather downgrade it to a Blue Cash if they'll let me do it for free. AMEX is very much not on my shitlist and I want to keep them around. Well, I'm assuming they will let me because my chosen options are either to cancel or downgrade. $75 is nothing to me because there is no value to that annual fee going forward, imo.

 

[evident]

hmm, regretting not applying for two of these cards, just got the one. will be traveling a ton this year.

 

[zinfamous]

Hey, do conference registrations apply towards travel categories? Some of my labmates are looking to register for a "Bio-related" conference in the UK, and suggested putting that on my card. It would knock out my requirements lickety split. (well, it would help with the $4k, anyway, but I'm wondering if I will get more better with the 3x travel points...)

 

[zinfamous]

hmm, regretting not applying for two of these cards, just got the one. will be traveling a ton this year.

You can still do it at a Chase Bank until March 12 for the full 100k points option.

 

[evident]

You can still do it at a Chase Bank until March 12 for the full 100k points option.

Seriously might have to consider it. I would have to drive to a chase bank branch in north jersey or something - there aren't many or any in central jersey/philly. would approval be instant there like online? and do i have to be a chase bank account owner? (I have tons of other chase cards including ink business and sapphire preferred)

 

[zinfamous]

would approval be instant there like online?

don't know--but they probably do all this online anyway, through their internal portal, so it probably is instant.

and do i have to be a chase bank account owner? (I have tons of other chase cards including ink business and sapphire preferred)

No, but you will have to play stout and persistent defense against the manager trying to convince you to open one.

 

[Exterous]

Hey, do conference registrations apply towards travel categories? Some of my labmates are looking to register for a "Bio-related" conference in the UK, and suggested putting that on my card. It would knock out my requirements lickety split. (well, it would help with the $4k, anyway, but I'm wondering if I will get more better with the 3x travel points...)

I looked at my last conference that I paid on my CSP and it did not count as travel although it depends on whether the merchant codes the transaction in such a way that it falls into one of Chase's categories. Maybe if it was an 'all inclusive' conference package that included flight and hotel as well as conference it might show up differently but I wouldn't plan on it

Seriously might have to consider it. I would have to drive to a chase bank branch in north jersey or something - there aren't many or any in central jersey/philly. would approval be instant there like online? and do i have to be a chase bank account owner? (I have tons of other chase cards including ink business and sapphire preferred)

Usually instant although sometimes they have to call in to their credit dept. Should be pretty fast either way though

 

[purbeast0]

I searched Seven Stars Resort. Looks beautiful but oceanfront rooms are over $1k a night. Little too pricey for me. I can save some money by not staying on the beach with oceanfront room but then the wife wouldn't be too happy. It's always a struggle. First world problem I guess.

If you don't stay there, make sure to eat at the restaurant named Seven that is at the resort. Holy shit that was one of my favorite meals in my entire life. The service was incredible too. The owner came and talked to us and my wife was telling him how I am not a big wine drinker, so he recommended some wine and I didn't know which to get, so he brought out a bottle of each and just let me taste both of them. And he wasn't trying to upsell me or anything like that. And in the end I enjoyed the wine that he paired with our meal.

 

[purbeast0]

Yeah i negotiated with my GF for oceanview vs oceanfront. I think we are paying around $500 a night for a oceanview bedroom suite which is still on the high end, but will be worth it

Did you go inside the Gansevoort hotel when you were there? That hotel is also very nice. We hit that up on our way back from the fish fry and checked out the bar there.

 

[Elganja]

Did you go inside the Gansevoort hotel when you were there? That hotel is also very nice. We hit that up on our way back from the fish fry and checked out the bar there.

sure did! very cool resort for sure

 

[AznAnarchy99]

If she applies in person and is approved, her strategy will probably be:

$4,000 minimum spend with auto work, insurance premiums, taxes, etc.
$300 travel credit for 2017
$300 travel credit for 2018
Triple points on some hotel travel for her work, restaurants, etc.

Next year do a product change to CSP (no 50k bonus) but one CSR in the family is sufficient for our needs.

Product change to a Chase Freedom or something. Sign up for the CSP to grab the 50k bonus from there. Double dip


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Svnla]

Over 3,000 views and almost 200 replies. Not bad.

 

[AznAnarchy99]

Over 3,000 views and almost 200 replies. Not bad.

I just hope there are less devaluations over the next few years as this hobby keeps getting more well known.

 

[Exterous]

I just hope there are less devaluations over the next few years as this hobby keeps getting more well known.

Not gonna happen unless another recession hits. Too much stuff is constantly repeated and too many jerks out there who ruin it for everyone by being greedy. (Like the people requesting temporary $100,000 limits on their barclays cards to fund their Citi gold accounts)

 

[Zorba]

Anyone know if the $300 travel credit carries over from year to year? I.e., if I don't use the $300 this year will I have $600 next year?

No it does not roll, it is use it or lose it. Also remember it is done by statement cycles, so if your last 2017 cycle closes on December 17th, that is the last day you can use it. You can always buy a travel GC from the travel company to get it. Or I got mine last year by buying Disney tickets through parksavers.com (processed by expedia).

 

[ponyo]

Booked the Turks and Caicos trip. Nonstop Delta flight was 36k points per person. I found a cheap room at Blue Haven Resort so I booked it as placeholder while I search for better options. The property looked nice from pictures but it's away from most things and it's on a marina and not on a beach. But I'll rent a car and I normally like the bay more than the beach at Florida.

 

[RossMAN]

Product change to a Chase Freedom or something. Sign up for the CSP to grab the 50k bonus from there. Double dip

Yeah that would make more cents but I'm testing my wife's patience as she hates the hassle of applying for cc's. When she sees our Chase UR points balance and the nearly free SW domstic flights we get, then she's cool with it. She already already has a freedom so she'll probably PC to freedom unlimited for all non-bonus spend.

I know OT subforums are evil but sometimes I wish we had a finance forum.

 

[brianmanahan]

I know OT subforums are evil but sometimes I wish we had a finance forum.

i wholehearted agree. the stock market thread could go over there. and any and all personal finance or money related talks.

AT : PF?

 

[RossMAN]

i wholehearted agree. the stock market thread could go over there. and any and all personal finance or money related talks.

AT : PF?

Start a petition, I'll sign it. It shouldn't be that difficult to get the remaining 38 active ATOT'ers to sign as well.

 

[purbeast0]

Yeah just what this forum needs, to be fractured even more. That is what ruined it in the first place. No need to make a forum strictly for finance IMO. It would probably take 3 years to make enough threads to hit the 2nd page.

 

[RossMAN]

Yeah just what this forum needs, to be fractured even more. That is what ruined it in the first place. No need to make a forum strictly for finance IMO. It would probably take 3 years to make enough threads to hit the 2nd page.

Unfortunately true on all accounts, LOL for last sentence which is absolutely true.

Do you remember back in the day when new threads would disappear to page 2 or 3 after a few minutes?