Travel loyalty rewards programs

[quickfeet]

It seems like all of these rewards programs have been completely devalued. I had been staying at Marriott a lot on travel and looking at the points I have I can't really do shit with them.

Is the Hilton rewards program any better? What about airlines? I've been travelling American the most, and even got the sign on bonus for one of the cards, but I the results just don't seem to be great anymore.

Back in my day you could sign up for Chase Sapphire reserve and use the sign on to take the wife on a pretty ballin vacation.

Now I could use a couple years worth of points in addition to credit card sign on bonus to take the wife to Chicago and stay in some shit hole Marriott for a couple nights.

I feel like the poors ruined this some how.

TLDR: Are there any travel rewards programs you feel are good value any more (hotel and airlines specifically)

 

[Hoppo]

IMO the best thing going is booking your travel through Chase and using their points. The Ultimate Sapphire has a lot of bonus categories that pay 2-3 points per dollar, and they give you a 25% points bonus when using on travel. The Chase Preferred has 5-point categories every quarter, and you can roll them into your Ultimate card to get the travel bonus. Only thing that makes status worth it with the hotels anymore is how amenable they are to giving you free upgrades at the front desk when you check in.

 

[quickfeet]

IMO the best thing going is booking your travel through Chase and using their points. The Ultimate Sapphire has a lot of bonus categories that pay 2-3 points per dollar, and they give you a 25% points bonus when using on travel. The Chase Preferred has 5-point categories every quarter, and you can roll them into your Ultimate card to get the travel bonus. Only thing that makes status worth it with the hotels anymore is how amenable they are to giving you free upgrades at the front desk when you check in.

Cool thanks for the tip. I was looking at some Chase cards this weekend, but I couldn't get one due to the 5/24 rule. Chase seems to be the best overall CC platform though.

My main card is still the Citi doublecash when I am not trying to hit a sign on bonus though. Guaranteed 2% on everything just keeps it simple