I really can't decide on which "premium" travel credit card to get (if any). I'm mostly just writing this all out for my own benefit. YMMV :)
Posted by
oblique (aka kkuphal)
Feb 17 '20, 08:17
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Amex $550/yr
- $200 airline incidental credit (seat upgrades, etc.)
- $200 Uber (including Eats) credit as $15/mo
- Lots of lounge access while flying (Centurion, Amex, Delta)
- Hilton gold, Hertz status, etc.
- Additional perks when using their hotel booking services (might be only for "fancy" properties, not sure) but it's like $100 per visit plus breakfast for these hotels. Sometimes the rate here is worse than the $100 benefit.
Chase $550/yr
- $300 travel credit (can be used for airfare)
- Doordash Pass subscription ($120 value)
- $60 Doordash credits per year over 2 years
- Priority Pass membership (including restaurants)
Hilton $495/yr
- Hilton Diamond status (upgrades, free breakfast, etc)
- Free night stay annually (Say $100?)
- $250 Hilton resort credits
- $250 airline fee credit (same as the amex)
- Priority Pass membership
I could also get the Hilton Gold status for $95/yr with their lesser card which includes 10 Priority Pass visits but it doesn't include a free night.
Realistically, the Hilton seems to come closest to covering the annual fee outright other than the more limited "resort" credit. We guaranteed spend 2 stays at Hilton properties per year already but they are regular hotels. I can easily use the $250 airline free credit for seat upgrades and the extra night stay is nice. I did recently get the Hyatt card with the status bump and free night from that so I'm a little leery about doubling down on a second chain because it makes more sense to stick with one. Having Diamond here though would make the Hyatt card kinda useless other than for the free stay since I'd probably rather choose Hilton if given the option.
Both the Chase and Amex cards are great and I'd also use the $250/$300 travel credit easily. I'm sure I could take advantage of the Uber Eats or Doordash credits as well so they wouldn't go to waste but I don't usually use them now. Getting Hilton Gold and Hertz status with the Amex is a nice bonus as is the expanded lounge access through Amex's own lounges. We've never used lounge access before so we get along fine without it but again, it's a nice perk.
Issue I have with the value for me for all lounge perks is that ORD has no domestic lounge to access so it entirely would depend on where we fly *to*. The only lounge we could reliably access at ORD would be an airline specific one. Amex gets you into Delta but we're more United fliers and the only way to get their lounge is to get their premier card which is basically ONLY getting you lounge access unless you're checking a lot of bags (which we don't). Those "airline credits", however, could be used for lounge access but for how much that costs, I'd rather have the seat upgrade on the plane.
My musings continue...
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