I love credit cards so much!

[SouthFayetteFan]

I just applied and was approved for the SPG personal. I got the 30,000 incognito offer. I used a 5/24 slot for the application. I was 1/24 but with three Chase cards since September 2017, so I don't want to apply for any Chase cards until I'm ready to try the CSR/CSP double dip in October or November of this year. I've been thinking about this card a lot. I view it as taking the place of a Marriott card. Here is my 5/24 status and future plans.

1/24 SW Plus (Sept 2017)
x/24 CIP (Oct 2017)
x/24 SW Business (Mar 2018)
x/24 SPG Business (Mar 2018) 35K offer
2/24 SPG Personal (Apr 2018) 30K offer

3/24 CSR (Oct/Nov 2018) double dip
4/24 CSP (Oct/Nov 2018) double dip

At that point I will have applied for 5 Chase cards in a little over a year, so I will definitely wait a while before I try for another.

What do y'all think? Hope I haven't messed things up long term.

I don't think you've messed up anything long term - but your plan isn't far enough out to actually answer that If you're currently 1/24 you can still probably get 1 more Chase Biz card and 5 more Chase personal cards (assuming a double dip at slot 5)...So you've now used one of those personal slots on an SPG personal. To know if you've "messed up" you'd need to have a strategy that shows what your 6th most important Chase card is because that's the one you just gave up. Your strategy only lists 2 more cards, lol.

You probably didn't mess up though, unless you can quickly rattle off 6 Chase cards that were super important to you.

 

[magickingdomprincess]

Oh boy okay we've got a bit of spend left on his Marriott biz but if we prepay some stuff we can make it work. I'll try to see if I can pull up the 30k incognito offer.

How do you pull up the incognito offer? Is it just googling the offer in different browsers/incognito windows? I tried a few times for DH but couldn't get it to work. Might be for the best anyways, was thinking to ask him to get csp instead but...FOMO is strong...

 

[gottalovepluto]

Just realized Amex kept to their expiration dates regarding the personal spg links as they had an expiry of 4/15. (The current biz link has an expiry of 4/18 fyi.)

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

How do you pull up the incognito offer? Is it just googling the offer in different browsers/incognito windows? I tried a few times for DH but couldn't get it to work. Might be for the best anyways, was thinking to ask him to get csp instead but...FOMO is strong...

Yeah - just go to an incognito browser window and go to amex site and find the SPG card. It can be hit or miss...

 

[marsh0013]

How do you pull up the incognito offer? Is it just googling the offer in different browsers/incognito windows? I tried a few times for DH but couldn't get it to work. Might be for the best anyways, was thinking to ask him to get csp instead but...FOMO is strong...

Yup I opened an incognito window in chrome and googled Amex Starwood credit card. Clicked the link and the 30k offer came up right away. And my husband was approved. Woo hoo!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

This run on SPG personal cards is just WILD! I think we've seen at least 4 people pull the trigger already here???

 

[calypso726]

Well today is a super happy day! I was afraid I'd be living in post apocalyptic, dystopian travel hacking world after the Sparriott announcement. So glad that didn't happen. The icing on the cake for my happy joy joy mood was seeing that saver availability popped up for the departure date of our Antarctica trip! I've been checking everyday since we booked the standard award at 150K per person back in January. The flight time is a little earlier but that's ok. Unfortunately, getting miles re-deposited comes with a fee of $150 for the first ticket and $25 for the second. But getting 185,000 AA miles back into my account is worth it to me. Now, if the return date pops up with saver miles I will be beyond ecstatic!

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Well today is a super happy day! I was afraid I'd be living in post apocalyptic, dystopian travel hacking world after the Sparriott announcement. So glad that didn't happen. The icing on the cake for my happy joy joy mood was seeing that saver availability popped up for the departure date of our Antarctica trip! I've been checking everyday since we booked the standard award at 150K per person back in January. The flight time is a little earlier but that's ok. Unfortunately, getting miles re-deposited comes with a fee of $150 for the first ticket and $25 for the second. But getting 185,000 AA miles back into my account is worth it to me. Now, if the return date pops up with saver miles I will be beyond ecstatic!

I'd be very interested in hearing your reactions to all the various pieces announced today and whether you think they are good, bad or indifferent to you (or TBD).

 

[marsh0013]

This run on SPG personal cards is just WILD! I think we've seen at least 4 people pull the trigger already here???

Honestly that was going to likely be the next card we got my husband anyway, but the announcement and fear that the bonus could be changing made me pull the trigger a bit earlier than originally planned. So thankful to have this thread to talk it all out with you guys.

 

[jhoannam]

This run on SPG personal cards is just WILD! I think we've seen at least 4 people pull the trigger already here???

We pulled the trigger a few weeks ago, DH was at 2/24 with one dropping off in July.

 

[gottalovepluto]

This run on SPG personal cards is just WILD! I think we've seen at least 4 people pull the trigger already here???

I'm also surprised (and super happy!) that the 30k offer in incognito is pulling up for everyone today!

 

[jhoannam]

Did they comment on booking reservations without the points available? That is a Marriott benefit, correct?

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Did they comment on booking reservations without the points available? That is a Marriott benefit, correct?

I’m hoping in that instance no comment is a good thing

 

[Albort]

I agree that I'm seeing mostly positives here. It could have been catastrophically bad. There is a lot to digest, but on the surface I'm relatively pleased. At least they didn't hit the self destruct button.

some negative to me... they nerfed the credit cards...
I still need to do math on it but its now 2x for all purchases.
SPG biz no longer has Lounge Access. :\

im curious to see what the upgrade bonuses is for Marriott Premier and SPG personal now.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

How do you pull up the incognito offer? Is it just googling the offer in different browsers/incognito windows? I tried a few times for DH but couldn't get it to work. Might be for the best anyways, was thinking to ask him to get csp instead but...FOMO is strong...

I pulled up an incognito chrome window. went to amex site. clicked credit cards. travel cards. and it was there for 30k.

This run on SPG personal cards is just WILD! I think we've seen at least 4 people pull the trigger already here???

2 just in our house. I was just contemplating the personal for DH tonight too, but that might be a bit overboard.

 

[linzjane88]

This is why I just keep stashing UR points to pay for our flights using the CSR at 1.5 cpp. I really need a "Booking Airline Award Tickets for Dummies" guide because I've read so many articles about how to find saver awards, booking partner awards, how to avoid high fees on award tickets, etc etc. and it still makes very little sense to me. Or, in the case of partner awards, I can't seem to be able to actually pull them up on any of the websites. Also, because we need 4 tickets, for our plans so far it seems to make more sense to just pay with UR points (unless I'm missing something). Once I run out of UR bonuses to get I'll have to come up with another plan, but for now this is working for me.


This is good to know. I haven't flown AA in many years (if ever, I can't remember) but NYC is an AA hub so I'm sure we'll end up flying them at some point. If I can ever figure out how to use actual airline miles.

I still look back at miles/churning moves I made even a year ago and think "Stupid!" when I realize I could have done X or Y and gotten a better deal. It's definitely live and learn. Everyone here is so helpful that if you throw out where you are going and with what points you will get some good tips. I also use either https://www.awardhacker.com/ or https://www.travelcodex.com/award-maximizer/ .

DoC has a rumor the sign up bonus will change to a $200 statement credit. Says his source says this could happen anytime from tonight to the next two weeks. https://www.doctorofcredit.com/should-you-sign-up-for-the-american-express-spg-cards-now/

I have such a warm and fuzzy feeling washing over me knowing me and DH have both opened the biz and personal versions. For once I don't have a nagging sense of FOMO.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

So, with the SPG biz/biz/personal we will get 3 free night certs? Is that starting August? Also, does anyone know if the 15 night credit stacks for personal/biz?

 

[calypso726]

I'd be very interested in hearing your reactions to all the various pieces announced today and whether you think they are good, bad or indifferent to you (or TBD).

Well, I am glad they are keeping the ability to transfer to all of the airlines and the bonus. My big fear was that it would be discontinued without notice. But, as someone who was using SPG as an everyday spending card for all non bonus category spend when not trying to meet an MSR it is bad news. Currently, I get 1.25 on the SPG card for everyday spend. I only transfer at 20K increments to get the 5k bonus so that is 1.25 which is fine because I value the number of transfer partners. At the moment, I need to spend $20K to get 25K miles on over 30 airline partners. Come August 1st, I will need to spend $30k to get the same 25K miles. I won't be getting the same bang for my buck. I would sooner spend $30k on my CFU to get 45K miles, or pick up the Amex blue business card and earn 60K miles for the same $30k spend. The 4x in dining on the SPG business is not likely to make up for that either. The question becomes, am I willing to give up the potential to transfer to all of the airlines in the program and is it worth it? I have a lot of mathing to do. Hopefully some bloggers will math it out first and save me the headache.

I don't care about the elite benefit earning for paid nights and what not. I don't travel for business often enough for it to have an effect on me. I do think that the new SPG Amex card that comes with gold status and a cap on the free night might not worth be keeping depending on what 50,000 point night gets you. Then again, the $300 Marriott credit seems like a nice touch. The Hilton Aspire has the same fee and has way better benefits IMO. I do like that we will get an award night with the SPG business card even if it's 35k. I don't know what that is yet, so it will be interesting to see.

So far the biggest negative I have is the credit card earning has been devalued. Either way, I plan to pick up the new SPG luxury Amex card when it is released.

 

[linzjane88]

Any thoughts on getting a Marriott card before the 5/3 drop of the new one?

 

[Albort]

Any thoughts on getting a Marriott card before the 5/3 drop of the new one?

i saw someone mention that current marriott premier card holders wont be allowed to get the sign up bonus, similar to the one card per line rule. Im not sure though. I wish i can cancel my premier card right now but im still under 1 year. Im hoping for a decent transfer product line bonus right now.