Thanks bud, doing research now and awaiting my boy Jandy’s recs.
If I get you those points, we have to use some of them on a golf trip together. It’s only fair. How does Sand Valley sound?
We eat out A TON, so really whatever is best for that is probably what I should go with.
With that being said, could also be talked into a keeper hotel or airline card with honeymoon on the horizon
At first glance, the Hilton cards could be money. Aspire has nice perks and 7x on restaurants. The next step down, Surpass, has 6x on restaurants, groceries, and gas. Those earning categories look better, but no hotel and airline statement credits. Tough call. At the same time, everything I read online says Hilton points are like pennies compared to MR or Chase UR
Done deal!
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If you like the Amex space and partners… Amex Gold is the best for everyday, restaurants, and groceries. If you are looking for be groceries and gas, look at blue cash preferred
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Looks like per The Points Guy Hilton is worth .6 cents per point
How much do they charge for buying 160000 points? Usually buying points is a crap deal unless topping off to hit an extra night when coming up short
And streaming, at 6% back a normal YouTubeTV subscription nearly covers your annual fee
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For sure - forgot about that one. I need to get on that card. Was looking at downgrading my Amex delta plat to gold, since I won’t be traveling as much for work and depend on the $$ waiver to keep status, and then getting the BCP for those three categories specifically to pair with Amex gold
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geez man, is me not telling you where to live on both BTS and the DMV roll call not enough?? I gotta start charging consulting fees smh…
Jokes aside - given you’ve already got an expensive card in the Amex Plat and seem interested in adding the Gold (great choice via the referral link tbh), I think it doesn’t really make sense to add any more annual-fee cards. You’ll get your thousand bucks back in value off the Plat and Gold, but unless you’re spending and traveling like bonkers, hard in my mind to justify any more cards that charge a fee. Makes sense to focus on maximizing the benefits out of those 2 cards.
In the freebie card world, there’s really two options: points cards and cash-back cards. Up to you to decide what you want to use for categories other than what’s covered by the Amex Plat & Gold.
Let’s say you decide to exclusively hoard Amex MR points: The only Amex card that’s free and gets you Amex Membership Rewards points is the EveryDay card. It gets 2x on up to $6,000 worth of groceries every year. If you decline to get the gold, go for it. Otherwise, fugheddaboutit and just use your Plat & Gold for everything and hoard MR points. The gold will get you more points on more spend, plus that 90k bonus.
Next option is to get hotel or airline points. As of right now, the sign-on bonuses for freebie airline cards with all the major US carriers are dick, so fuck them. Hilton and Marriott are where it’s at right now, with 100k and 60k bonus points on their respective freebie cards for sign-on after hitting relatively low spending thresholds. You and your fiance can each get one (or really commit and each get both). Then use these for their bonus categories (generally gas, restaurants & groceries, plus maybe some other ancillary categories). The Hilton card is good for generic everyday spend at 3x points on all spend that doesn’t hit a bonus category. (FWIW, I think the points guy’s 0.6 cents per point is a low valuation, but it really depends on where & when you redeem. I think you can get anywhere from 0.4 to 4 cents per hilton point, with “vacation” or resort destinations typically being more expensive in terms of points).
IF you can tolerate another annual fee, the $95 World of Hyatt is a good option. 60k bonus points if you put up 15k of spend (possible on a big wedding bill, perhaps? otherwise, 30k points on 3k of spend). By every measure they have the higher point value against marriott/hilton in terms of redemption. Earn a free night per year, and potentially more with high spending, plus 2x points on a lotta categories. I have a colleague who dual-wields this and an Amex Platinum and is very happy with that arrangement.
Last option is to go cash-back. My personal favorites are Amazon Prime Visa (5% on Amazon, 2% on most core categories, 1 or 1.5 everywhere else); Citi DoubleCash (2% on everything), and Wells Fargo Active Cash (2% on everything). They all run various specials with certain retailers that you can sign up for on a rolling basis in each card’s respective mobile app (or bank app - Amazon’s uses Chase). You might see a comparable cash-back card from wherever you already do your banking too.
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Amex Platinum Reserve is the greatest.
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Hi all!
I’m a Chase Sapphire Preferred holder. Was considering upgrading my card to Reserve in November when I can then redeem the welcome bonus (have to wait 4 years between chase cards to be eligible). I have an expensive trip to London and Ireland in April with my gf that I have not yet booked flights for, as I was waiting to use the Chase Rewards points from spending, and the welcome bonus.
Was all a slam dunk until I came on here and saw the hype around Amex Gold. Seems like a strong alternative to the Chase Sapphire Reserve, especially with the 90,000 referral welcome bonus link above.
Any thoughts on the two? I’ve read reviews from Nerdwallet and PointsGuy, but they were split 1-1.
To me a lot aligns with airline partner / network you’re in. I am still riding United from days in Chicago and have a deep ties with JPMC (Banking, Investments, Mortgage) but now that I am in Nashville staying loyal to United is becoming difficult for work travel. Once I hit my Gold status next month I am looking into Status Match with Delta and then would switch our cards over to Amex.
For the Chase network though what I have found is the best way to maximize points for flights to transfer points to United for Star Alliance trips. We usually save our points for long haul as we refuse to fly cattle for things over 6 hours. With Aer Lingus being alligned with United (and British for that matter, another Chase carrier), you should be able to get some flights if you play chips right.
For hotels i have found the most value booking directly via the Chase travel platform. I usually get 1.5-2 cents per point if not better when doing this. Have booked hotels in Talum and Hawaii doing this and it was perfect.
If you have the Chase cards you need to get the Freedom to maximize categories too.
I would also start your planning as early as possible and watch award ticket availability.
haha I know, I definitely owe you a drink at East Potomac links when I make it out there!
Thank you, I really appreciate the info. Validated my thought that Amex Gold was the way to go, went with the referral link.
So pumped to get out of Chase and fully into Amex 
Also, side note, but I know the Hyatt points are worth way more but man do Hyatts SUCK. If I get a hotel card it’ll for sure be Hilton. The last year of travel has fully switched me from Marriott to Hilton and reminded me how much I hate Hyatts lol
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You can see that I’m an Amex fanboy now, but from the app/web interface to card benefits and support, Amex has blown Chase out of the water for me. Started with the Platinum and have been extremely happy with it after about 9 months. It’s already paid for itself for sure. If you travel in the slightest and like perks, it’s a no brainer.
We will see how the Gold + Plat stack goes, I can report back.
The only thing I’ll miss from CSP is Doordash Dashpass. But between the two Amex cards I’ll have plenty of uber eats credits to use for the occasional takeout order.
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Love the Amazon Prime Visa. It was worth it just for the $200 gift card as the sign up bonus while we were finishing off our baby registry.
With multiple Amazon warehouses near us, we Prime the most basic of necessities and are here within 24 hours.
It’s the only card I have that I don’t carry. Just linked to the Amazon account and Whole Foods app and just let the cash back roll in.
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If anyone wants to wait and try that link next year, please feel free! The refuge has already maxed me out on referral bonus points for AMEX Gold 
Is this gonna be like rhoback?
Apply for an American Express Card with this link. With your new Card, you could earn a welcome bonus and your friend could earn a referral bonus. Terms Apply.
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I do the same thing. I also carry the Amazon Prime Visa internationally since Amex isn’t accepted as commonly overseas, and the prime card has no foreign transaction fees. It also has some good tertiary benefits.
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Is this where someone can tell me what car rental company to go with?
I want a partnership with a car rental company that typically has cars at terminal in airports. So probably not the super cheap ones off site. Big value would come in cheaper upgrades to large SUV’s as I usually travel with family (4 kids) and golf trips.
What should I go with? I’m leaning Hertz
National all day
Book midsize and pick any car in the section
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A few days behind but as a recent convert to the credit card points race (thanks @Hitchings21) I’ll recommend the Amex Gold card. Opened it in February and already earned enough points with the bonus to pay for flights to Scotland next year. Plus have gotten some room upgrades in a few hotels and used points to upgrade to First Class once this year too.
And I’ll agree with Tyler, National is the best car rental company. I don’t travel a ton but I’ve used National a few times this year and it’s been great. Got an SUV on a golf trip for the midsize price. And got a good deal on a car for the Scotland trip next year with them.
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