I have 3x Bonvoy, 1x Aspire and 2x MR cards. I like Bonvoy cards as I get 30 elite nights and all of them give free night cers and I use them at properties costing $250USD+ (annual fee from $95 to $150). I also keep an MR card to transfer points from Australia. With the exchange rate now, I get almost 2 airlines points per $1USD spend which is better than most US cards (and AU cards) for non bonus spend.
I also make use of FHR a lot. Got $2,000 value last trip alone. Another good thing about them is they give me $0 plan it fee quite often. I make use of that a lot. It's not for cash flow but I can keep cash in my offset account making a profit off that.
In my opinion, Chase cards are disappointing. My favourite US cards for spending are Citi + Cap1. Chase needs to up their game.
Fantastic reply. Thanks so much.
I completely agree that many of the Amex hotel cards are no brainers. The credits and certificates are easy to use and more than offset the annual fee.
Turning to the MRs, this is where it gets interesting in my opinion. Which cards do you have? Are you able to make use of any of the credits (apart from FHR) outside of the US?
Let's compare airline spend using the CSP (2x for $95 AF) with the Amex Gold (3x for $150) and Amex Platinum (5x for $695).
For the Green, you need to spend at least $USD5,500 on flights per year just to break even with the CSP (I would say $USD10,500 because it is dead simple to get the CSP AF down to $45 with a refundable hotel booking).
For the Platinum, you need to spend at least $USD20,000 on flights per year to break even with the CSP.
That $USD5/10/20K spend is best used to meet the sign up bonus for another card. Eg if I have $USD7,500 to spend on flights, I'd rather get a whopping 95,000UR with an Ink + referral over a measly 37,500MR with the Platinum. Unless you are unable to churn, I just don't see the value.
Why do you use FHR over Virtuoso? I've always gotten similar or better benefits for the same price through my Virtuoso agent.