Hey all, I’d like to hear your opinions.
I’ve been trying to plan out what CCs I’d like to get for travel benefits in the future. I’ve been considering the Amex Gold & Venture X combo.
A few things to note: I am affiliated with an airline and therefore get to fly in standby for cheap. So the primary goal of travel cards for me is to pay for hotels, and maybe flights when I don’t want to do standby or when my airline doesn’t fly to a destination. Lounge access is also nice but I can’t get in on standby.
I definitely want to get the Amex Gold for the incredible spending multipliers & eventually the Platinum (it looks like it would pretty much pay for itself for me). I’ve been considering the Venture X lately because of the 2x multiplier, but I’m not a huge fan of their hotel transfer partners. Seems like there are few options and they’re mainly domestic (which is fine for sometimes but not all the time). But, it looks like this card also basically pays for itself if you use the credits.
Est monthly spending:
• Groceries- $480
• Dining- $300
• Everything else- $400 combined, estimated
Goal is to go on 1-2 international trips a year (at relatively cheap destinations) & at least 1 domestic trip. Planning on redeeming at minimum 2 CPP.
So here are my questions/concerns summed up:
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Is the Venture X worth it for hotels? Are there any hidden gem hotels/franchises that fall under their transfer partners?
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Or is it still worth it with the C1 travel portal and price matching, even though C1 miles have a lower value than other ecosystems?
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Is this a good setup or would it be better to opt for CFU & CSP to get 1.5% of more valuable points?
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Would anyone recommend another different setup?
I also have the Savor card if that helps, but I figure if I use the Amex Gold then that is the better card. I guess I can use the Savor for entertainment purchases.
TL/DR: Is the Venture X good for hotels? Is Amex Gold & Venture X a good combo?
Amex Gold & Venture X – good combo?
byu/Swimming_Sky6938 inCreditCards
Posted by Swimming_Sky6938
5 Comments
I personally find it foolish to prepay for rewards like spending $725 on annual fees expecting to make it back with the perks. I’d rather go with a 2% card and the Savor for $0 and I’ll probably come pretty close in value with none of the risk or pressure the other set creates.
Normally I’d say yes, AmEx Gold + Capital One Venture X is a fantastic duo. But much of the strength in pairing these two cards is in their airline transfer partner overlap. If you’re not going to be doing much or any airline spending and will primarily be redeeming points towards hotels, I’d caution you that the hotel transfer partner space is not that impressive outside of Hyatt (which itself is being nerfed this month). AmEx 1:1 Marriott is terrible considering the average Marriott point is worth like half a cent, likewise with 1:1 Choice. Even 1:2 Hilton is often not that far above 1 cpp cash back, and the downside is losing all the flexibility of cash back.
A lot of road warriors will go with the Wells Fargo Autograph Journey for 5x hotels and/or the Venture X for 10x hotels via the portal, and typically just cash out points. Wells’ 1:2 Choice and Wyndham ratios have situational use too, while still being an ecosystem with easy cash-out options. If you really want to make AmEx work, you’d primarily be redeeming Hilton especially during transfer bonus promos, and it’d work much better if you had use for a Schwab Plat.
If you know you’ll be loyal to a particular hotel chain, going for a hotel branded card can be best. E.g. Hilton Aspire pays for itself with just its annual free night award, and grants status benefits and other perks
If I were you I’d look at the Wells Fargo trifecta, they transfer 1:2 for Choice and Wyndham. They don’t have great domestic properties but you can find some great value overseas.
Another option to consider is Bilt. Aside from the obvious Hyatt transfer, I think they’re actually pretty great for hotels in their portal. Each purchase gets 4% Bilt cash plus whatever points multiplier, and (with Bilt gold status) you can use that for $100 off a minimum 2 night hotel stay booked through their portal every month which can stack with the $200 x 2 portal hotel credit on the Palladium. And before people start replying about how the Bilt portal is overpriced – for every single post about Bilt being more expensive than booking direct that I’ve checked, the person was either comparing a nonrefundable rate to a refundable rate or didn’t realize that Bilt shows taxes and fees in their price. Not saying they’re never more expensive, but it’s much less common than people think.
Last option would be Sapphire Reserve and the Chase system. Platinum IHG status counts for IHG hotels booked in portal at 8x, and with their points boost you can find quite a few options around 1.5-2 cpp (though Chase has been adjusting that redemption rate with no notice…) and you can stack that redemption rate with the Edit credits.
> the primary goal of travel cards for me is to pay for hotels
The only points that ever make a good value for hotels are their own credit cards from what I’ve seen
Holiday Inn – IHG
Marriott – Bonvoy
Hilton – Hilton Amex
The issue is points are pretty mid.
See this for yourself by searching a hotel room using “book with points” and compare to the prices you see on Google Maps in the neighborhood.
For domestic hotels the Cambria and some of the Ascend Collection properties from Choice are pretty good. Wyndham has some decent ones in certain locations like Vegas and the benefit of Wyndham points is that they don’t do dynamic pricing like the other chains. Wells Fargo would actually be best for these as they transfer out at 1:2 and you get 5x points for direct booking of the hotels (which also allows you to get reward points from the hotels themselves).
For the other brands (IHG, Marriott, Hilton) you’re better off getting the hotel branded cards themselves as the transfer rates are pretty unfavorable.
In your case I would probably skip the Amex Gold and just go with the Wells Fargo Autograph and Autograph Journey. Then use the Venture X for a 2x catch all.