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Back to Basics of the Week 

• Status Highlight Number 3: IHG

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    Favorite Whisk(e)y or non-water beverage? (Keith S)
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    If you had $20k/Month of non category spend would you use a 2X/2% catch all card or would you use a co-branded Hotel/Airline card to get extras like status and/or free night/upgrade certs? (Anthony B)
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    Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott and IHG get so much attention in the community. Can each of you make a use case for why one of the tier two hotels brands are best and could possibly serve as a primary choice or the best secondary option?
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      Examples for a single/couple, family of 4, and business traveler. 
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      Best Western(Tariq), Choice(RJ), Wyndham(Lani), Sonesta(Matt). - You can choice who gets which brand. (k1d_Cat)
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    Imagine that overnight every card available to us becomes a 1% cash back card, so the only thing differentiating cards are the other features that already exist (credits, status, lounge access, free night certs, companion certs, customer service, etc), and any annual fees still remain the same.
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      When everything earns the same, which cards in your quiver are still worth keeping and why? (SpaethCo) 

News Round-Up

• Capital One renames Savor One to Savor…why?
• Chase changes travel protections 

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  You are 3/24; you have $800 in previous cashback; you want to jump into Travel; how do you approach it.

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  Just left MIA airport that does not have a United Club. I have Priority Pass, Star Alliance Gold status, and Amex Platinum card (even tho its far away from United gates, so you know what that means…) I ended up taking my family to Turkish Airlines lounge, small, dated, etc. but had access via both Priority Pass and Star Alliance Gold. Also a few other lounges within a reasonable walking distance.
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    Lounge Access is getting crazy (in my opinion). Too many lounges with shared access (i.e. Star Alliance, One World status access), priority Pass access, or direct card access
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    With that said, which would you prefer, more lounge options with limited access (mediocre or small), or less lounges with more accessible access (larger, more space, larger buffet, etc)

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  With the Uber One benefit set to expire on the “new” Savor card in a little over two weeks, do you think we will see that credit come back on the Venture X (if it comes back at all)?

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  If co-branded credit cards were no longer allowed, how would that change your overall strategy? Which cards would you no longer have, which cards would you have to pick up to “recover” lost value? - RJ
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    Cards like Amex Platinum, CSR and Venture X that give you status or lounge access are okay but cards for Delta, United, IHG, ect no longer exist.