Not great, but not bad for a category
of unbonused spend that was previously impossible to generate points on in a cost effective manner outside of meeting a sign up bonus (spend that could be put elsewhere to get the bonus).
At that ratio, $ 25,000 in unbonused spend on a new «Black» Bank of America Virgin Atlantic credit card would earn 191,250 Honors points, or 7.65 Honors points per dollar
of unbonused spend.
Not exact matches
That means the most expensive Ritz - Carlton property in the world requires just $ 23,333 in
unbonused spend on the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express, or $ 18,667 in spend for stays
of exactly 5 nights.
I generally know at the beginning
of each month what my goals are in terms
of both bonused and
unbonused spend: I'm going to spend a certain amount
of money at grocery stores, gas stations, drug stores, office supply stores, etc., and put a certain amount
of bonused spend on certain cards.
After I pay off my Chase Slate balance at the end
of the month, I'll call to request a product change to the Chase Freedom Unlimited, which earns 1.5 Ultimate Rewards points per dollar spent everywhere, and that card will enter my rotation as a go - to card for
unbonused manufactured spend.
For example, you could earn 1.5 points per dollar on a Freedom Unlimited card and transfer them to a Sapphire Reserve account to take advantage
of the higher redemption value, but that would be identical to simply earning the points at 1 point per dollar via
unbonused spend on the Sapphire Reserve card in the first place.
But for
unbonused spend, even at the worst bonus tier, the 10k additional spend for 25k avois, that's 3.5 x for
unbonused spend vs max
of 1.5 - 2x for the transferrables.
Hopefully it's pretty obvious why using this card for
unbonused spend (1 Avios / $) is a poor idea but, for the sake
of argument, let's assume you're someone who's going to book a few British Airways flights and therefore earn 3 Avios for every dollar you're spending... here's why the card still isn't as great idea.
I use my card for any
unbonused spend I have as, with my valuation
of Starpoints (around 2.2 cents each), that gives me the best return on my spend.
And finally, if you're moving heaven and earth to earn as many Hilton Honors points as possible for a big upcoming aspirational redemption, then earning a bunch
of them through
unbonused spend may offer an advantage over grinding out bonused spend on a Hilton Honors Surpass American Express.
@Ken — I definitely love the SPG card for
unbonused... I've found the Citi Access to be great though for online; it may not hurt to try to call and see if you can product change — I think this is one
of those cards that is worthwhile even without the sign - up bonus!
With a point value
of 0.8 ct / pt that gives you a maximum earn rate
of 4ct / $ at hotels, 1.6 ct / S
of bonus spend and 0.8 ct / $
unbonused spend — I'd recommend to use higher - earning cards for travel spend (like the Citi Prestige card) or
unbonused spend!