Which credit card for travel?

[calypso726]

Do you recommend cash and points for the Starwood preferred guest card? I do have enough to use all points but want to stretch my points.

It would depend on the value of the redemption. SPG points are harder to earn. No shopping portals or bonus categories other than Starwood properties. But, they do transfer to over 30 airlines with a 20% bonus with every 20,000 points transferred. I value the SPG points at about 2.5 (cents) per point. Therefore, if I redeem 10,000 SPG points they need to be worth a $250 or better for that redemption. We are much more frugal about using our SPG points than say the UR points. I want to stretch the SPG points as much as possible too.

 

[Albort]

It would depend on the value of the redemption. SPG points are harder to earn. No shopping portals or bonus categories other than Starwood properties. But, they do transfer to over 30 airlines with a 20% bonus with every 20,000 points transferred. I value the SPG points at about 2.5 (cents) per point. Therefore, if I redeem 10,000 SPG points they need to be worth a $250 or better for that redemption. We are much more frugal about using our SPG points than say the UR points. I want to stretch the SPG points as much as possible too.

would ward cautious with SPG esp after the marriott merge... probably best to hit it as hard as you can now before the program merges...

 

[calypso726]

would ward cautious with SPG esp after the marriott merge... probably best to hit it as hard as you can now before the program merges...

I am thinking that there would be word of what will become of the program pre-merger. If there is word that they will wind up changing the card I will probably dump all of our points into Alaska Airlines so we can fly Cathy Pacific to South Africa in 2019 thanks to AA's most recent devaluation.

 

[Ngwira]

It would depend on the value of the redemption. SPG points are harder to earn. No shopping portals or bonus categories other than Starwood properties. But, they do transfer to over 30 airlines with a 20% bonus with every 20,000 points transferred. I value the SPG points at about 2.5 (cents) per point. Therefore, if I redeem 10,000 SPG points they need to be worth a $250 or better for that redemption. We are much more frugal about using our SPG points than say the UR points. I want to stretch the SPG points as much as possible too.

Thank you for the reply. We aren't using the points for airfare-strictly hotel stays. For a 4 points at Sheraton in Virginia, I am using 2,000 starpoints and paying $35.00 for the night since it's a category 2 which I think is awesome. It would normally cost 4,000 starpoints. For a 4 points in Cocoa beach, I am using 2,000 points and paying $55.00 for the one night. It would normally cost 7,000 points since it is a Cat 3. Do you think this is a good idea?

 

[calypso726]

Thank you for the reply. We aren't using the points for airfare-strictly hotel stays. For a 4 points at Sheraton in Virginia, I am using 2,000 starpoints and paying $35.00 for the night since it's a category 2 which I think is awesome. It would normally cost 4,000 starpoints. For a 4 points in Cocoa beach, I am using 2,000 points and paying $55.00 for the one night. It would normally cost 7,000 points since it is a Cat 3. Do you think this is a good idea?

You're welcome. Absolutely, if the value is there for you, helps mitigate your out of pocket costs and helps you stretch your points. Everyone values their points differently and what may be worth doing for one person may not be worth doing for another.

For me it would depend on two factors. First, what amount will using my points will save me in dollars. Second, what are my current out of pocket expenses compared to how much has been budgeted for the trip. If the value is there then I will use the points. If not, I'd sooner pay all cash and save the points for a more valuable redemption. We used 12,000 SPG points our first year travel hacking to stay at the Sheraton Grand an extra night in Scotland before our Adventures by Disney trip. The cost of the hotel would have been about $300 or so out of pocket and we had not really budgeted that for the trip, so we used the points. On a different trip, we stayed at a Westin for $300 or so out of pocket but had budgeted for it so we did not use the SPG points and chose to earn SPG points with the stay instead.

So I don't believe there are any right or wrong answers on how someone uses their points. It's all about what works for each person.

 

[mrsp1030]

We have looked into Chase Sapphire but since all of our banking is done via Bank of America and our Investments and Retirement account are tied into Merril Lynch, their affiliate, we are getting 75% bonus points via the Platinum preferred program on the CC. Being a no fee card, we are going to try out and see how things go.....We've had more issues with Chase than I can name in our 10+ year history with them

 

[Ngwira]

You're welcome. Absolutely, if the value is there for you, helps mitigate your out of pocket costs and helps you stretch your points. Everyone values their points differently and what may be worth doing for one person may not be worth doing for another.

For me it would depend on two factors. First, what amount will using my points will save me in dollars. Second, what are my current out of pocket expenses compared to how much has been budgeted for the trip. If the value is there then I will use the points if not, I'd sooner pay all cash and save the points for s more valuable redemption. We used 12,000 SPG points our first year travel hacking to stay at the Sheraton Grand an extra night in Scotland before our Adventures by Disney trip. The cost of the hotel would have been about $300 or so out of pocket and we had not really budgeted that for the trip, so we used the points. On a different trip we stayed at a Westin for $300 or so out of pocket but had budgeted for it so we did not use the SPG points and chose to earn SPG points with the stay instead.

So I don't believe there are any right or wrong answers on how someone used their points. It's all about what works for each person.

Thanks so much!!