Blog - Luggage Guru

by Daniel | Last Updated May 10th, 2021 We may earn a commission for purchases using our links, at no cost to you. Have you ever wondered what the best credit cards available today are and how they can actually benefit you just from using them?Well, Today I am going to review some of the best credit cards on offer at the moment and go over some of the benefits they have.Ok, let's get started. https://youtu.be/puPXrIRKpTs 1. Platinum Card from American Express Initial Offer: 75,000 pointsAnnual fee: $550 Read my full review of the Chase Saphire Reserve here. Now I've had this card for the past few years and it has been really quite good.This card has the highest bonus value of all the cards in this list coming with $1,500 in bonus value.The $1500 is received in way of points when you first sign up for the card.Initial Offer:Basically, you will receive 75,000 points if you spend $5,000 on the card within the first 6 months.Also during the first 6 months of using the card, you can earn 10x points on eligible purchases from US gas stations and Supermarkets up to a total of $15,000Now these points can be used in many different ways, you can use them for flights or hotels by either using them at American Express Travel or you can transfer points directly to pay for flights or hotels but you usually won’t get as good of a deal. So with all of this value the card comes at a price, it has one of the highest annual fees of all the cards on this list and at $550 per year, it is quite expensive. But let's look at some of the perks that come with the card: You’ll receive 5x points for flights that are booked directly with the airline or Amex travel, and this is capped at $500k per year. Also, you will get 5x points at prepaid hotels that are booked through amextravel.com. You can also receive up to $200 in statement credits annually that are charged by an airline.To qualify for this credit you will have to pre-select an airline of your choice before you travel, also it only includes incidental fees and not actual flights. You will also get $100 in credit for purchases made at Saks of Fifth Ave.Basically, they will give you a $50 credit for the first 6 months of the year and then $50 for the last 6 months. Also from January until June 30th, 2021 if you add your Platnum Amex to your PayPal account and use it at the check out with eligible merchants you can receive up to $30 in statement credits each month.This is another bonus of up to $180Another benefit you will get is $15 per month in Uber credit from January to November and then $20 for December which is $185 of credit per year. A few other benefits that come with the card are -The Global Lounge Collection, basically Amex will provide you with a free Priority Pass card which is valued at $429. And this will give you access to a large range of lounges at 1300 different airports to be precise, and also Delta Sky Clubs which are generally quite nice from my experience Just one thing to note is that some of the lounges have specific rules for when Priority Pass holders can actually use the lounge which can sometimes be annoying. You will also have access to the Amex Centurion Lounge,They currently have 12 lounges located across America and 11 more across the world. And as long as you are in a location where there is a Centurion lounge you will be able to use it. My experience of most of the lounges has been pretty good, There is usually have a reasonable range of food and drinks to choose from and there is sometimes a shower to freshen up in and sometimes an area where you can lay down and have a bit of a snooze. So if you travel a lot this card really is useful as it gives access to a large range of lounges. Another benefit that I have used multiple times is car rental loss and damage insurance.Basically, if you hire a car from an eligible rental company you can forgo their insurance as long as you pay for the car with your Amex.And this can save you a fair amount of money. 2. Chase Sapphire Reserve Initial Offer: 50,000 pointsAnnual fee: $550 Read my full review of the Chase Sapphire Reserve here. The next credit card on this list and also a card I've had for a long time is the Chase Sapphire Reserve.This card has a relatively high annual fee of $550 which is the same as the Platinum Amex cardInitial Offer:Now when you first sign up for this card you can receive 50,000 points after you spend $4,000 in the first 3 months and this is valued at approximately $1000 and can be used on a large variety of things such as flights, hotels, and purchases.As for earnings when using the card you will earn 3x points on dining and travel worldwide and then 1 point per dollar for anything else.This card has quite a few bonuses that come with the card such as $300 in annual travel credit (which is automatically credited to your account when you make a qualifying purchase) which can be used on a large range of things such as airlines, Uber or Lyft, cruise lines, hotels, and even Airbnb!So this automatically brings the annual cost back down to $250 per year, and with the extra points you can receive on sign up it's pretty much free for the first 2 years.As with the Platnum Amex, I talked about earlier you also get access to a huge range of airport lounges via a free Priority Pass Lounge access membership which is valued at $429.But the extra benefit you get with the Chase card over the Platinum Amex is that you can use your Priority Pass membership card to receive a credit of $28-$30 at over 30 different restaurants at airports across the United States and over 20 restaurants overseas.It is also worth noting that some restaurants will allow you an extra person to dine with you and receive the same credit of $28-$30! Another benefit is free Lyft Pink membership which usually costs $19.95 a month - and this basically gives you a 15% saving on all rides, and until March 2022 you will receive 10x points if you use the card for any Lyft Ride. Then you get free DoorDash delivery with all orders over $12 and a free DashPass that usually cost $9.99 a month - so this just here gives you $120 a year in value.Also, a great perk is the Primary Car rental coverage which will cover up to $75,000 in coverage for up to 31 consecutive days of rental, this includes any physical damage or theft of the vehicle.This can really save you a lot of money as just the insurance coverage that is charged by the rental companies can cost a lot of money. 3. Amex Gold Card Initial Offer: 60,000 pointsAnnual fee: $250 Another card I used to have before I upgraded to the Platnum Amex card was the American Express Gold Card.This card’s annual fee is more than half the price of the previous two cards coming in at $250 per year.Initial Offer:Also, the Gold Amex offers the ability to earn 60,000 points after you spend $4000 in the first 6 months of owning the card. In terms of earning points when using the card you can get 4x points when eating out worldwide and 4x points at supermarkets in the US (but this is limited to $25,000 spend per year) Any flights that are booked directly from Amextravel.com or the airline will receive 3x points, and any other purchases will receive 1 point per dollar spent. Some of the benefits of the card include $120 per year in dining credit when you use the card to pay at companies such as Seamless, Grubhub, or ShakeShake just to name a few. There is also the possibility of receiving up to $100 in hotel credits as long as you book a minimum of 2 nights through American Express Travel. Like the two cards before this, you can also get car rental loss and damage insurance on eligible cars which is another way you can save money if you do tend to travel a lot or hire cars. Also, there are no foreign transaction fees associated with this card which makes it great to use when you’re traveling. 4. Citi Prestige Card Initial Offer: 50,000 pointsAnnual fee: $495 Read my full review of the Citi Prestige Card here. Next up is the Citi Prestige Card.This card has an annual fee of $495 which is not too bad if you utilize all of the benefits the card has to offer.It’s generally most useful for frequent travelers as a lot of the benefits are related to travel. Initial Offer:At the time of writing this article, you can earn 50,000 points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of owning the card. Earning points with the Citi Prestige Card is as follows:For both restaurants and air travel, you will receive 5x points, and something to remember is that you can utilize travel agencies and still receive 5x points. Hotels and cruise lines will give you 3x points and any other purchases will receive 1 point per dollar. So for benefits, you will get up to $250 in travel credit each year which can be used on purchases such as hotels, airlines, car rentals, subways, and taxis just to name a few. So this right here brings the cost of the card down to $245 per year. Next up is a great perk and that is Fourth Night Free,So assuming that the hotel qualifies with Citi and you book through the ThankYou.com website you can qualify for the fourth night to be free (minus taxes and fees).Just note that you probably won’t receive any loyalty points on your card for the free night.Also, it is only available two times in one calendar year.Now similar to both the Platnum Amex and the Chase Saphire Reserve, you will get free Priority Pass Lounge access at literally hundreds of different airport lounges around the world.And as with the Chase Saphire Reserve card, you will also have to option of claiming a restaurant credit of $28-$30 at multiple airport restaurants around the world.One last interesting perk you can use with this card is Cellphone Protection for up to 5 separate cell phones.As long as you pay your monthly cell phone bill with your Citi card, you will receive up to $1500 per year in total benefits just in case you lose your phone or smash the screen.Just a few things to note with this offer is that the maximum per claim is $1000, also there is a $50 deductible for any claim made.