Hi, the Capital One duo is looking like a much better deal than with the Chase trifecta, especially if you’re a CSR holder. With Chase reducing their benefits and trimming their bonus categories every year, I don’t see a point in keeping the Chase trifecta as your main source of points anymore. The Capital One duo + Bilt (if you rent), at least on paper, look amazing for travel points.
Wanted to know your opinion. Cheers!
Right now I only have the CSP for the SUB (plan on cancelling after the year is up,) but I also travel a few times a year - enough that I feel comfortable being able to use the $300 somehow most years, and that I’m willing to do that for lounge access. My comment was more thinking to a point where if I was only traveling (at least by air) only once a year - and at that point I’d prefer a simpler, less credit-based setup. Although at that point I might just go completely no-annual fee, using Bilt to get some Hyatt points (since they have a lot of decent sweet spots) and then cash-back cards for the rest.
One big thing to note is that the Cap1 portal doesn’t have every hotel listed. They do have a lot, but I have a stay coming up that I couldn’t book through them and so had to book it through Expedia. Cap1 also won’t price match member rates, which most chain hotels have, so it’s quite possible that someone would pay more on the Cap1 portal vs. a direct booking.
Thanks for your comment. Sorry, but what is “SUB”?
I plan to travel once every year, mostly to farther destinations like Europe or Asia. I would like to be able to have enough points to purchase business class for most of my travels (since they will be long); I do not like the pricing of a lot of the bigger hotel chains like Hyatt and Marriott (especially because I don’t really do much in hotels anyway, although maybe having free meals would make it easier to consider). I would mostly be looking at AirBnbs/short-term rentals (if something like 2 weeks could be arranged), amongst others. Would you have a suggestion for a card that might fit my needs?
I started my life with Chase and have the Freedom Flex. The plan was to move up to unlimited and CSR, but the fees put me off and I’m considering aiming for the CSP as the easier option. Capital One is hard to get since they are so picky, and I’d have to change things around at work (deposit some cash at one bank, deposit the rest at the other to save transfer fees). I do not want to go the Amex route, especially for international travel.
Thanks, and apologies for the monologue!
SUB = sign up bonus.
Realistically, for international business class travel, unless you’re spending high-five-figures each year through a card (at minimum) you’ll likely need to supplement everyday earnings with one or two large sign-up bonuses each year. I haven’t dug into international business class redemptions personally as they’re often quite expensive and/or require a lot of flexibility and positioning (at least from my home airport, MSP) and so hopefully either someone else can provide more insight on that aspect as to which cards have the best transfer partners on that front.
That said, I don’t think you can go wrong by starting with a CSP + CFF setup, probably adding in the Unlimited for the 1.5x base earnings on unbonused spend. Cap1’s transfer partners are a bit more lucrative, but from my reading they also are more difficult to book/use (e.g. Turkish has cheap rates but for partner rewards may require calling in or emailing a bunch of ticketing offices - I’ve never done this but I’ve read about it on Flyertalk.) Chase has many decent ones, and most are relatively easy to use.