5 Reasons Why Chase & American Express Dominate the Travel Rewards Space | How Both Issuers Lead

[@TripAstute]

Do you agree or disagree with my assessment? What has been your experience with American Express and Chase? 🤓

[@annieannie2087]

Love Amex

[@yankeesgiants221]

Thank you so much for a great consultation, Ernest! For all of you reading this comment, I just had a nice Skype convo with Ernest. Such a nice guy (in case you couldn't tell already from his videos). If you haven't done so, I highly recommend his 15-minute consultations. Super informative and helpful (just like his videos). I learned a lot from watching Trip Astute and Ask Sebby, and Ernest was impressed with how much knowledge I picked up. Definitely subscribe to this channel if you haven't done it yet.

[@TripAstute]

Thank you! I appreciate all the support. It was great chatting with you and learning more about your setup. 🤓

[@Golfina19]

I recently found out that Chase points are worth between 1.5 to 2 cents per point when you book flights, cars, hotels, etc through Chase portal. But AMEX points are worth only about .075 to 1 cent per point through its portal. I really thought it was the other way around until I have both cards and got to try it myself now. So CSR 3 points per dollar on travel and dining actually is more valuable than AMEX Gold 4 points for dining & AMEX Platinum 5 points for flights and hotels. I’m keeping my CSR even after the price increase!

[@TripAstute]

Yeah, I wish Amex would boost the value of their travel portal redemptions. It does seem unusually low. I also wish they would allow transfers to household members. That limitation makes it difficult when redeeming MR points for trips. 😬

[@Golfina19]

@The Cadaver I've only tried to transfer to Marriott Bonvoy account so far with 20% boost per MR point with AMEX Plat. I didn't actually transfer though since I did the numbers and it seems Marriott points even with the 20% boost aren't worth much for anything. I'll keep trying to see where else I could get better values. Thanks.

[@todddavis9426]

I agree. I had the Amex Green Card right out of college. I used that one card almost exclusively. Doing so, I earned a domestic round trip ticket every other year. I thought that was great! Years later, I got into the Chase ecosystem. These two banks dominate the space.

[@TripAstute]

I also had an old Amex Green card while I was in college. It’s funny how meager the rewards were at the time, but it still felt so valuable. 😄

[@justanotherc0mment]

No don’t

[@justanotherc0mment]

He go

[@KevinConwayChannel]

Super interest. Thank you.

[@TripAstute]

Thanks Kevin! Glad you enjoyed the video. 😊

[@2808Heavy]

I do agree that Amex and Chase dominate the topic of conversation. While I have products from both and I find them both very valuable, I have recently taken a liking to Citi. I over 5/24, I've been at this long enough to have gotten most of what I want from Amex and Chase so Citi came into play. As I've mentioned in other spaces, you can't beat the Prestige, Premier, Double Cash, and Rewards+ for a "cheaper than Amex or Chase" ecosystem. Prestige 5x on dining and airfare, Premier 3x on all things travel including gas station, Double Cash for non-category spending, and Rewards+ for small purchases such as daily coffee at a gas station of sorts, vending in the work environment, app store purchases, etc. Combine all of those cards into one TYP number and you'll get 25% bonus on airfare redeemed through the portal and then 10% of those points back (on the first 100k redeemed) because of the Rewards+ card. Sure you're going to forego travel protections, warranty protection, etc but if you're in the late game of this hobby and looking for a ecosystem that's cheaper than Amex or Chase then Citi gets it done. They do lack a hotel but most of us in this hobby aren't transferring UR or MR to hotels anyway. They lack a domestic carrier but they do have transfer partners to OneWorld, SkyTeam, and Star Alliance and a lot of overlap from Chase and Amex as far as airline partners so points can be combined. So yea, Citi is far from a Chase or Amex but if one is late in the game, they're a cheap ecosystem that can yield a lot of points that can be lucrative. Their partners do require a little bit more time and effort but sometimes the chase (no pun intended) can be just as fun.

[@davidhamilton6187]

Vending machines at my job codes as restaurants 5% Prestige.

[@2808Heavy]

david hamilton Nice! I wish ours did but I don’t usually spend more than a buck or so at a time so the Rewards+ bumps my dollar purchases to 10 TYPs.

[@TripAstute]

Love the “chase”! 😄😂 In all seriousness though, I’m very impressed by your setup. I’ll have to take another look at Citi’s TY program. 👍

[@yankeesgiants221]

Another outstanding video, Ernest! Very detailed, great history lesson, easy to understand and of course, unbiased. Besides the reasons you gave, I'd also say the value of their points are higher than other issuers. You can generally could get 2 cents per point with Chase and Amex, as well as their lucrative signup bonuses and travel/purchase benefits.

[@TripAstute]

Thanks! I appreciate the feedback. You are definitely correct about the point values too. It makes both programs very lucrative, especially for those that like to research and find the best value redemptions. 👍

[@yankeesgiants221]

@@TripAstute Not a problem, man. You deserve it. I work in Television, so besides the content and editorial, I notice the productions, and your videos are very well produced. My name is Allen, by the way. I scheduled a consultation with you on Wednesday night. Look forward to chatting with you.

[@FATL0L0]

I would get the platinum card if the offered a 2X on all other purchases and a 3X on fuel and dinning . That would make it a nice everyday card 👍🏽

[@TripAstute]

I agree! I would love to see the Platinum card offer more bonus categories. 👍

[@sylviamortgat2384]

I agree with you, Ernest. How about retirees and seniors. I’d vote for CSR because of their travel protection. Corporate users are the focus here I understand but never underestimate the spending power of the seniors.

[@paulstein9258]

Senior here. Amex Platinum is tempting with both cancellation and delay. I just added the Amex Green. Infrequent retired traveler but lounge access was a requirement. Amex owns Lounge Buddy. Must have an Amex card. Boxes out the CSR riffraff. Seriously. I cancelled my CSR. Priority Pass for domestic travel is third rate.

[@TripAstute]

Seniors are definitely a strong and underrepresented demographic in the credit card rewards space. I’ve been thinking of doing a senior-focused card video since there are specific benefits which probably more important to seniors than others. 👍

[@jimgood1949]

Have you done a video with the pros and cons of downgrading a Chase Sapphire Reserve to a Chase Sapphire Preferred card? If not I would appreciate hearing your views on doing that.

[@TripAstute]

I did a video on calculating whether the CSR still makes sense. I included access to a Google Sheet as well to follow the same methodology. The video/spreadsheet also includes the CSP: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZqbWh3hoibh6oZo

[@TechCryptoNow]

Great video!!! You have inspired me to create my own credit card videos! I agree with you that Chase Sapphire made credit cards "hip" for millennials. Keep up the great content!!!

[@TripAstute]

Thanks Nick! I appreciate the support. And if there’s anything I can do to help with getting your channel started, please let me know. 😊

[@TechCryptoNow]

@@TripAstute Thank you! Actually yes I have a lot of questions haha. The most important being, what is the biggest thing I should be doing to reach the most people with such little views/subscribers? I have seen all of the "create good content", "be consistent", and "engage with your fans/subscribers", but what really would help me the best for the most people to view my videos on the channel?

[@TripAstute]

It's honestly the things you mentioned. It took me a long time to grow too, especially getting to 1,000 subscribers. Truthfully, you just have to persevere and keeping producing content. And try to ignore the haters. I feel like everyone feels like they need to give you unsolicited feedback on how you should be creating your videos, which is maddening when you're a creator.

[@MrBuckaroo2014]

Old head here. #teamAmex

[@reckless_rican]

nice video like always ......................I just redeem some of my chase points and amex to go to San Francisco in march ......

[@TripAstute]

Thanks! Hope you have a great trip to SF. 😎

[@sam9242]

My Quadfecta uses the CSR and three AmEx Blue cards. It kills any single brand version with a return on spending close to 4%.

[@TripAstute]

That sounds like an awesome setup. 4% return is very strong! 👍

[@paulstein9258]

My wife and I got the original CSR 100,000 point offer. Kept it two years. I beat the claimed 50% bonus offer every time. It’s a good marketing gimmick for Chase. Priority Pass for domestic travel is third rate. I am not a churner and rarely cancel cards. Downgraded it to Freedom Unlimited. Kept the points and credit limit.

[@TripAstute]

Well done. That 100k offer was honestly one of the most incredible card offers ever. 😎

[@doughunter8396]

Great video - I do have a hard time believing that serious travelers use AMEX. I canceled my AMEX Platinum card because overseas purchases were constantly being declined for fraud prevention. If you’re a frequent traveler who wants to put up with that? I do like the Chase cards though and have been using them instead of the Citibank ThankYou rewards program. Citibank and AMEX I would always have have fraud prevention problems for routine charges. Chase and Bank of America seem to be the best in that regards.

[@TripAstute]

Thanks! I agree - I also find Amex’s overseas acceptance to be an issue too, especially when outside of major cities. 😊

[@jag2944]

I agree. I think Chase and Amex are the big players in the world.

[@TripAstute]

It’s definitely hard to ignore them in this hobby. 😄

[@mypointsexactly9124]

Don’t sell Citi short. Many believe as do I that they have a better more lucrative rewards earning structure than Chase. Through a combination of higher multipliers end regular bonuses on point transfers to their partners, earning and burning citi points, is more lucrative Then almost any combination chase set up you can possibly have

[@spongy777]

Do you have any videos on the PayPal Cashback Mastercard?

[@TripAstute]

Unfortunately, I don't. Though I may add it to my content pipeline. 😉

[@spongy777]

Thank you! You are appreciated!

[@supjason1]

Why don't you talk more about Citi?

[@TripAstute]

😆

[@kevinManhattan]

Second😤

[@TripAstute]

😂👍

[@m8852]

Very well done! But you're using your hands far too much while you speak. The overuse of hand gestures distracts from the content of what you're saying.

[@TripAstute]

Sorry that my hand gestures were distracting. 😞

[@aptibabayt]

I like your vids, but in my humble opinion, your intros are way to long. It takes you 2 minutes to actually get to the point of the vid. Way too long and sometimes I give up early...

[@TripAstute]

Sorry about that. I really try to make the videos “lean” when it comes to content. I didn’t realize that people felt that the intros were so long. 😞

[@aptibabayt]

@@TripAstute Only at 1:50 do you start counting the reasons... I like the content of the channel, though!

[@TripAstute]

I guess I feel like the topic warrants some introduction before I start jumping into the reasons. I feel like I try really hard to add visuals and remove any non-relevant/valuable information so that the videos are focused. 🙁