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Is SYW UBER integration dead?
Chief
Extension of Marriott status!! Rejoice!
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I only use the Venture and Amex Gold combo now and I’m very content with it
The trick with CSR is about the trifecta with Flex and Unlimited cards in my opinion. If you use all 3 efficiently in the categories, you’re at MINIMUM getting 1.5% from the unlimited, then doing 3% on restaurants/travel/transport/etc. with CSR and then 5% on rotating categories with the flex (often groceries, gas, etc.). You then can lump all your points into the CSR, but you could be getting close to 2% on average across all spend, depending on your payment habits.
The second big value is Reserves access to the partners through the portal (though Sapphire Preferred gets you there too) but I often just use the 1.5x multiplier to use my points directly in the portal on whatever I want. Works for me because I don’t travel enough to have status or any particular loyalty to any airline/hotel chain so could be different for others. But that 1.5x multiplier on top of my ~2% base points return really starts to add up.
There are also some really good deals on the chase portal - just booked a nice all inclusive in Mexico for 4 nights ($850 a night cash) for 120K points. Which felt nice.
PwC3 totally agreed with this until chase made restaurants 3% back on the freedom cards and 5% back on travel thru chase at no annual fee. Canceled my csr card after that switch and still get the 3% on dining, but now 5% back on travel instead of the usual 3%
Honestly, all the travel cards are losing their appeal to me. I’m canceling my CSR before my next renewal, but keeping the Amex plat/gold combo, honestly might cancel the plat, but the clear, Marriott/Hyatt status is a nice plus…
Hyatt?
Ugh, Amex Plat is raising fees too — from $550 to $695 🤯 not sure I want to pay such an insane cost.
I wish the FHR portal was easier to use, additionally, being able to sort by Marriott would be nice…
I agree - the DoorDash and Lyft memberships were only for a year, so now I’m basically getting $300 annual travel credit with 3x points on dining/travel…and I don’t know that I’ll spend the BE amount on dining/travel
Yeah, the driver shortage is real
If you use and redeem CSR on travel or dining it’s 4.5% cash back. So as long as you spend $5,555 in those categories you break even on the $250 fee ($550-$300 travel credit)
You have to consider that at the bare minimum you could just get a flat 2% with Citi and no fee, but still could be worth it if you travel for work or are a big vacationer/diner
I got the Amex Gold for this reason! Canceling my CSR in a few months when its time is up.
Rising Star
3x instead of 2x on food and travel is by itself enough to justify the $250 (after the $300 travel credit). The lounge access also has been great in my prepandemic travel days and expect the same once I get back into the travel swing.
Arent lyft perks ending too?
i’ve had CSR since 2018 and i lost my lyft pynk 😤 it’s only a year complimentary from whenever you started utilizing that benefit. whack as hell.
I’m planning on canceling my CSR for the same reason
cancelling or downgrading?
Already cancelled
Not worth it for me. Amex Gold makes a lot more sense. The $250 annual fee is reduced by $100 thanks to corporate amex. $100 airline incidental credit, $10/month credit for GrubHub/Shake shack/cheesecake factory, $10/month Uber/Uber eats credit make it worth it. Currently also offering one free year of CLEAR.
If you're looking to apply, use my referral. You'll get 25% more bonus points i.e. 75k instead of 60k.
https://bit.ly/3rn8NOE
If I were to cancel, how would it effect my credit score?
Downgrade to the freedom unlimited card to get 3% back on food, 5% back if booking travel through the chase portal, and 1.5% on everything else, all with no annual fee. If you already have that, then go with the freedom flex card. No reason to cancel
Anyone have thoughts on the AmEx Gold? With the Corp discount it’s only $150 and it seems to pay for itself quickly. I know I’d use the $120 in Uber, and hopefully some of the grub hub/seamless. New bonus is insane!
I got it for this reason! Not sure about the corporate bonus (what is that?) but the math worked out in my favor without it