---
title: 'The Ultimate Travel Credit Card Battle!'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=7A-e_bP6b6Y'
video_id: '7A-e_bP6b6Y'
date: 2026-06-30
duration_sec: 1790
---

# The Ultimate Travel Credit Card Battle!

> Source: [The Ultimate Travel Credit Card Battle!](https://youtube.com/watch?v=7A-e_bP6b6Y)

## Summary



## Transcript

So, on the screen right now are the big
four of premium travel credit cards. The
$895 MX Platinum, the $795 Chase
Sapphire Reserve, the $550 City Strata
Elite, and the $395 Capital 1 Venture X.
These are for the right person
potentially the most valuable travel
credit cards you can have. But because
of their high annual fees and
overlapping benefits, you probably only
need one of them at most. So, which
one's going to have the most valuable
benefits? Which one's going to give you
the best multipliers? and which one is
actually going to be worth it for you to
have in your wallet. To answer those
questions, we're going to be ranking
these credit cards based on five key
factors here where each factor on each
card is going to get a score from one to
five stars. And then at the end of this
video, we're going to add up all those
stars to see which credit card comes out
on top with the highest score. And I'm
also going to let you guys know which
one here is my own personal favorite
travel card because my favorite card out
of these four was not actually the one
with the highest score. So, let's start
off here by first looking at welcome
bonuses because this is where people are
going to generate the most value in the
shortest period of time. And welcome
bonuses can be a bit tricky when
evaluating them for a video like this
just because these bonuses are always
changing. So, what's available today
might not always be available tomorrow.
So, just a big disclaimer here that I'm
going to go over the signup bonuses that
are going on right now across these four
cards as of October 23rd when this is
being recorded, but make sure you go out
and do your own research to see what's
out there whenever you watch this. And
we're going to begin with the MX
Platinum card here, which is currently
offering as high as 175,000 membership
rewards points after spending $8,000 in
the first 6 months. 175,000 points is
worth a lot. So even at a baseline value
of 1 cent per point, that's going to be
$1,750.
And to compare these varying bonuses
across these four cards on more of an
applesto apples basis, we can look at
return on spend at that 1 cent per point
rate. So $1,750
divided by $8,000 of spending to get
that bonus is going to be 21.88%
return on spend. Now, personally, I
value my own transferable bank points
like this at around 2 cents each. But
just to be conservative and consistent
again, we're going to use 1 cent per
point as our number here in this video
just to compare these welcome bonuses.
Also, American Express has recently been
using this as high as language on many
of the pages where you can apply for
this card. So basically that's their way
of saying that we could give you an
offer of 175k points, but we might give
you less if we feel like it. And they
might give you those lower offers just
based on your history with MX along with
a number of other factors. American
Express also has some infamous once per
lifetime language within their terms and
conditions that might limit your ability
to get more than one signup bonus on
each MX card. But like anything, your
mileage may vary on those terms and the
value of the offers on the MX Platinum.
So, I'm going to give this factor a four
out of five stars here because that is a
lot of potential upfront value on this
bonus regardless of any terms. Next,
we've got the Chase Sapphire Reserve
with a current offer of $125,000 points
after spending $6,000 in the first 3
months from account opening and add a
value of 1 cent per point. That's going
to work out to be $1,250
in value and a 20.83% return on spend.
So, those numbers are still really good,
but just a bit below the MX Platinum's
top offer. Now, Chase, City, and Capital
One tend to have just one public welcome
bonus that's going to be the same for
everyone out there, which I've always
liked compared to what AMX does with
varying offers to different people. And
something else I want to mention here
that's going to be important to consider
is the length of time to hit minimum
spend requirements to earn these
bonuses. So, like I said, the Chase
Sapphire Reserve's current offer says
that you have 3 months to spend $6,000.
And that means that obviously you got to
be able to put $2,000 of spend per month
on this card on average. But then with
the MX Platinum, that card's going to
require $8,000 of that same spending
over 6 months to get your bonus. And
that is around $1,333
per month on average. So yeah, I just
wanted to call that out here because you
definitely want to make sure that you're
able to meet these minimum spend
requirements in order to get these
bonuses so that you don't miss out. Now,
Chase also recently joined American
Express by adding some language that can
limit your eligibility for getting new
bonuses as well. It's pretty vague
though because they do say that they're
going to consider factors like which
cards you've held in the past with them,
the number of credit cards you have in
total or that you've opened or closed,
as well as other factors out there. So,
because of all this, I'm going to give
the Sapphire Reserve four out of five
stars as well here. All right, next.
Let's look at the new City Strata Elite
Card where the welcome bonus on City's
website is currently for 100,000 points
for a limited time after spending $6,000
in the first 3 months. That works out to
be $1,000 in value and a 16.67% return
on spend. So, not the highest welcome
offer here compared to MX and Chase. And
you've got 6K of spend in three months
as well, but that's still a good deal in
my eyes considering the value that City
Points now have with some transfer
partners, which we'll get to later on.
Now, I do want to point out here that
when this card launched, we were only
seeing offers online for 80,000 points,
which I definitely think was too low.
So, it is nice to see that City maybe
realized that they had to be more
competitive with this 100K limited time
offer, but we'll see how long this
lasts. My piece of advice here to City
is just keep this offer around if you
really want this new car to compete and
stay relevant. So, I was going to give
the Strata Elite 3.5 out of five stars
here if they were only offering 80K
points. However, since they do have this
100K offer going on right now, I'll give
them four out of five as well since the
$6,000 minimum spend is still pretty
manageable. But just be aware of the
potential for this offer to be lower in
the future. And then finally, we have
the Capital 1 Venture X coming in with a
welcome bonus of $75,000 after $4,000 of
spending in 3 months. So that works out
to be $750 in value at 1 cent per mile
each, which is an 18.75% return on
spend. Now, this is going to be the
lowest welcome bonus and the lowest
return on spend across these four cards.
And Capital 1 rarely ever does limited
time offers on the Venture X. So to me,
75,000 mi really just isn't that high
anymore. However, they do have the
lowest annual fee and the easiest
structure of credits to fully offset
that fee as well. So, even though I'm
going to give them 3.5 out of five stars
here for the welcome bonus factor,
they're going to do much better on the
second factor that I want to cover next
here for annual credits. So, let's go
ahead and continue talking about the
Venture X for that. Now, with a 395
annual fee already coming in well below
the other three premium travel credit
cards, the Capital 1 Venture X already
looks a lot more appealing to more
people. But then on top of a relatively
lower upfront cost, this card is also
going to come with a $300 annual travel
credit and a 10,000 mi anniversary bonus
that's worth at least $100 at a 1 cent
per mile rate. So just from those two
benefits alone, you're already coming
out ahead of the annual fee by five
bucks with pretty minimal effort. Now,
the one downside to the $300 travel
credit is that it's only going to be
valid on bookings that you make through
Capital 1 Travel, which normally isn't
always ideal compared to just booking
directly through a hotel or airline. But
I will say that after using Capital 1's
portal myself, it's probably my favorite
out of any issuer. That's because they
offer features like price drop
protection and price matching within 24
hours after booking. So, what I
recommend is to shop around and then if
you see a valid better price somewhere
else that's eligible for price matching,
then you can go ahead and book through
Capital 1 and then get a credit back for
the difference. So yeah, that $300
travel credit and the 10,000 mi
anniversary bonus are going to be as
good as it gets in this whole premium
travel card space because it is going to
get a lot messier and more coupon booky
from here. So to me, the Venture X is
going to be a five out of five stars
here for its annual credits. Now, after
that, there's going to be the recently
refreshed MX Platinum. And going over
all the annual credits on this card here
is going to be kind of tough for a video
like this because there's just so many.
So what I'm going to do is I'm going to
list them on the screen right now and
then just go over them kind of quickly.
But I'm also going to create a PDF that
summarizes everything in this video that
you can go ahead and download for free
with the link down below in the
description. So on the Platinum card,
there's up to $600 in hotel credits that
are split up into 300 bucks semiannually
for bookings that you make with the fine
hotels and resorts program or the hotel
collection through MX Travel. There's up
to $200 of Uber credits split up into 15
bucks per month with an extra $20 in
December. And there's also a credit that
covers the cost of Uber 1. Then there's
up to $200 of airline fee credits, a
credit for clear plus, up to $400 in
resi credits that are split up into 100
bucks per quarter, as well as up to $300
in digital entertainment credits split
up into 25 bucks per month. Up to $300
in Lululemon credits split up into $75
per quarter. Up to $100 of Saks Fifth
Avenue credits split up into 50 bucks
semiannually. And then a credit that
covers the cost of a Walmart Plus
subscription. So yeah, that's a ton of
credits here to keep track of that could
be valuable to you depending on your
spending habits. But spending habits are
very subjective. And I will also say
that it's kind of annoying that there's
all these different timelines that you
have to keep track of as well for when
each of these credits expires. So for
me, I'm going to give the MX Platinum a
3.5 out of five stars here for its
annual credits because there's
definitely a lot of potential value here
for someone who is willing to do the
work. But paying $895 for an upfront
annual fee just to have this card every
year is also a pretty big hole to dig
yourself out of. So I think 3.5 stars is
a fair rating. Next, there's the Chase
Sapphire Reserve, which now is pretty
much just another coupon book after its
recent update. So, again, same thing
here where I'm going to quickly go over
all the annual credits that you get with
this card, but then I'll also summarize
things in more detail in that free PDF
you can get down below. Now, with the
Sapphire Reserve, you're going to get up
to $300 of annual travel credits that
are super easy to use on any kind of
travel. So, pretty much anyone who does
even some light traveling is easily
going to get the full $300 in value from
this credit to help lower the $7.95
annual fee down to something that feels
effectively like it's lower already.
There's also up to $500 in credits for
the edit collection of hotels that you
can book through Chase, which is split
up into 250 bucks for the first 6 months
of the year and then another 250 bucks
for the second 6 months of the year.
However, credit to Chase with his
credit, no pun intended there, because
starting on January 1st of 2026, now
this credit is going to be just up to
$250 for prepaid bookings made with the
edit collection twice per year at any
time. There's also $250 of value for
Apple TV Plus and Apple Music
subscriptions. A $120 Door Dash Dash
Pass membership up to $300 in StubHub
credits split up into 150 bucks
semiannually. up to $120 in lift credits
split up into 10 bucks monthly. Up to
$120 bucks in Pelon credits split up
into 10 bucks monthly. And then up to
$300 in Door Dash credits that contain
monthly credits for several different
delivery types that Door Dash offers.
Again, apologies for all those numbers.
But personally, I love that $300 travel
credit. And then again, all those other
credits are going to be very subjective.
They all have different timelines as
well, just like the MX Platinum. So, I'm
going to give the CSR the same rating
here of 3.5 out of five stars. But that
rating could be higher or lower for you
based on your own spending habits. Then
for the City Strata Elite, this card's
going to kind of fall in between the
other three cards by having a $550
annual fee. And there's both good news
and bad news here with the credits here
that it gives card holders to help
justify that fee. The good news is
there's only three credits here that are
all annual or semiannual with their
timelines, which is going to make things
simple and easy to keep track of. But
the bad news is there nothing that's too
exciting. So, on the Strat Elite, you're
going to get up to $300 off a hotel stay
of two nights or more when you book that
through citytravel.com, as well as what
they're calling a $200 annual splurge
credit, where you can get up to $200
back on brands like First Dibs, American
Airlines, Best Buy, Future Personal
Training, and Live Nation. There's also
up to $200 of annual credits for a brand
called Black Lane, which is basically
just a premium chauffeur service. And
that credit there is going to be split
up into semianual $100 credits for both
the first half and the second half of
the year. To me, I like that these
credits are pretty simple and the fact
that there's not a ton of them to manage
and track. But I do not like that
they're not as easy to use as some of
the other credits found on the other
cards. So, I'm going to go ahead and
give it three out of five stars. Now,
moving on to the spending multiplier
factor next year, where I'm going to be
covering spending multipliers in two
ways. So, first, we're going to look at
how you can earn points and miles when
booking travel in each issuer's own
travel portal. And then second, we're
going to look at any other multipliers
for the more standard categories of
spending. Now, for the travel portal
multipliers, I'm going to go ahead and
lay these all out side by side on the
screen here just to compare everything.
So, when booking through MX Travel on
the Platinum card, you're going to be
able to earn 5x points on flights on up
to $500,000 of spending per year. And
then you're also going to be able to
earn 5x points on any prepaid hotel
bookings made through American Express.
For the Chase Sapphire Reserve, you'll
be able to earn 8x back on all purchases
that you make through Chase Travel,
including the edit hotel program that
they have in that portal. And then for
the Capital 1 Venture X, you're going to
be able to earn 10x miles on hotels and
rental cars that you booked through
Capital 1 Travel, as well as 5x miles on
flights and vacation rentals booked in
that portal. And then finally, for the
City Strata Elite, those multipliers are
going to jump up to 12x back on hotels,
car rentals, and attractions that you
book through cityravel.com, as well as
6x back on air travel booked over there
as well. Now, the travel portal
multipliers on cards like these are
something that's kind of developed over
the past few years as all these issuers
now look to make money off of
encouraging people to book travel
through them versus other thirdparty
booking websites. So, that's why they're
able to offer such high multipliers on
this stuff specifically. But then for
the other multipliers, the MX Platinum
didn't really have that much else going
for it. So, it's going to get 5x points
on flights that you book directly with
airlines as well. But that's pretty much
it because they didn't offer anything
else new after this card recently got
updated. So, I'm going to give them a
2.5 out of five stars here for that
missed opportunity and they're below
market rate for multipliers. I do also
want to point out though that these
multipliers could be a bit deceiving
when it comes to travel portals because
let's say that AMX offers prices that
are actually lower than what other
issuers offer, then that could be
actually a net positive for them despite
their lower multipliers. But pricing
differences are going to be pretty
situational and they're going to vary a
ton from one website and one portal to
another based on a number of factors.
So, just make sure that you always go
out there and take into account things
like price multipliers and other
benefits that you get or you lose when
booking inside or outside of a travel
portal. Then, for the Chase Sapphire
Reserve, you're going to get 4x points
on all flights and hotels booked
directly with an airline or hotel brand,
as well as 3x points on dining
worldwide. And Chase actually used to
offer 3x back on all travel booked with
this card, which a lot of people used to
use to book things like cruises, rental
cars, trains, and other stuff. But now
that feature is gone and it's been
replaced by that 4x on all flights and
hotel stays thing, which is a bit
disappointing. So, because that 3x on
all travel is now missing and the 3x on
dining is kind of redundant since the no
annual fee freedom cards the Chase
offers also earn 3x on dining, I'm going
to give the CSR a three out of five
stars here because there's definitely
some value for frequent travelers. But I
really do think they should have just
kept that 3x on all travel thing because
that was previously a big selling point
for a lot of people. For the Capital 1
Venture X, it's nice and simple here
because you're just getting a flat 2x
miles per dollar on everything, which
kind of makes this an ideal catch-all
card for most people. And again, with
the price matching that they offer on
the travel portal for travel book there,
that's basically going to help to reduce
a lot of the risk that people have with
whether or not you're actually getting a
good deal when booking in a portal. So,
I'm going to give the Venture X a four
out of five stars, and it's actually a
card you'll be using every day for that
2x multiplier. Then for the City Strata
Elite, in addition to their travel
portal multipliers, you're going to be
able to earn 6x points at restaurants
during what they call city nights. And
those are going to run from 6:00 p.m.
every Friday until 6:00 a.m. every
Saturday, and then 6:00 p.m. every
Saturday until 6:00 a.m. every Sunday.
Outside of those times, you're going to
earn 3x points at restaurants as well.
Then you're also going to be able to
earn 1.5x points per dollar on all other
purchases, which is a bit useless since
City already offers the no annual fee
double cash card that you can pair with
the Strata Elite, which effectively
already earns 2x points on everything.
So, personally, I do like that they
tried to get a bit creative here with
that whole City Knights thing, which
could be valuable for the right person,
but I also think they could have done a
bit better with that 1.5x on everything
else multiplier by just replacing it
with something that was more unique. So,
I'm going to give them three out of five
on this score. Next, let's move on to
airport and other travel benefits
because perks like airport lounge access
and other stuff like that can make
travel a bit more pleasant and they're
going to be big reasons why customers go
out and apply for a premium card in the
first place. So, let's actually go right
back to the City Strata Elite to start
off. Now, while AMX, Chase, and Capital
1 have all been bidding against each
other and kind of just building out
their own airport lounges, City was kind
of just sitting back and maybe figuring
out how they wanted to compete in this
whole top tier travel card space. So
unfortunately as of right now we do not
have any city branded airport lounges.
However, City knew they couldn't launch
a premium travel card and then not
include any lounge access with it. So
what they did here was they took
advantage of their soontobe exclusive
partnership with American Airlines and
they went ahead and threw in four passes
to Americans Admirals Clubs each
calendar year. Now unfortunately if you
are traveling with someone who is 18 or
older and you want to go ahead and bring
them into the lounge with you, you are
going to have to use one of those four
passes on yourself and then a second
pass on the other person. But if you're
traveling with anyone under the age of
18, you're able to bring up to three of
those guests with you without using a
pass. So there could be some value here
for families with kids traveling maybe
once or twice per year for vacations and
stuff like that who want lounge access
to a good Admirals Club. You also get a
Priority Pass Select membership with no
credits for Priority Pass restaurants
for anyone who's curious about that now
that that's kind of a rare benefit on
very few cards. And you also get a
credit once every four years of up to
$120 to cover the application fee for a
global entry or TSA precheck, which is
also standard for a premium travel card
nowadays. Now, as for any other travel
protections, they do mention that the
Strata Elite card has trip delay, trip
cancellation, and trip interruption
protection, lost or damaged luggage
protection, as well as master rental
coverage for car rental insurance, which
is going to be secondary. But from what
little information they do provide
online for the insurance and travel
protection stuff, this card only really
offers the bare minimum compared to the
other three cards in this video. So
overall, I'm going to give the Strata
Elite 2.5 out of five stars here because
there's not that much in terms of
airport benefits or other travel stuff
that's going to get people excited when
they're applying for a $595 card. But
let's go ahead and compare that with the
Capital 1 Venture X card next here
because this does have some cool things
going for it. First of all, Capital 1
lounges are great because we're seeing
more and more of them pop up all over
the country. And personally, I really
love the vibe they have, as well as the
unique ability they give Venture X card
holders to kind of just quickly stop in
to grab and go with some food and
non-alcoholic drinks if you're in a
rush. The Venture X was really a fan
favorite for many years for its guest
policies as well. But unfortunately, I
do think they were a bit too generous
with guest access, which then led to
overcrowding. And so now they're kind of
just rolling things back. And so now, as
of February of 2026, there's going to be
no more free guest lounge access, as
well as a payw wall effectively for
authorized users to get access. I've
covered those changes in another video
that I'll go ahead and link to down
below underneath the subscribe button.
However, there are still a few other
useful travel benefits and protections
that you can still find here. You still
get priority pass access with no
restaurant credits. You still get up to
$120 as a credit to cover Global Entry
or TSA PreCheck. And there's also some
really underrated car rental benefits as
well here, including top tier Herz
president circle status, which is
awesome. And then on top of that,
there's also primary auto rental
coverage that covers theft and damage
without needing to use your personal
insurance first. There's other trip
delay, trip cancellation, and trip
interruption protection and lost or
damaged luggage protection as well. So,
because of all that stuff, we're going
to give the Venture X a four out of five
stars here. Next up, we've got the Chase
Sapphire Reserve, which gives you and up
to two free guests access to the growing
number of Chase Sapphire lounges that
personally are my favorite out of all
the credit card issuer lounges here in
the US. So, pretty cool that you can
still bring guests for no additional
cost. You're also getting Priority Pass
Select without Restaurant Credits, plus
a credit of up to $120 for Global Entry,
TSA Pre-Check, or Nexus. Then, the
Sapphire Reserve is also one of the best
credit cards out there when it comes to
travel protections. So, you're going to
get primary auto rental coverage as well
here. emergency evacuation and
transportation coverage, which some
people out there like to have for that
peace of mind when they're traveling.
And then some other standard but useful
benefits with good limits like trip
cancellation and interruption insurance,
trip delay reimbursement, baggage delay
insurance, and more. You're not really
getting any rental car status here. But
the stuff that you do get covered, plus
the airport lounge access that still
allows free guests for now, all of that
is going to give the CSR a 4.5 out of
five stars rating. And then for the AMX
Platinum, obviously you're going to be
getting access to the well-known
Centurion lounges, which currently have
the largest footprint here in the US and
across the world for a US lounge
network. And these lounges are good. But
now, after getting to go to Chase and
Capital 1 lounges, I do have to say that
AMX lounges are going to rank as my
third favorite among those three.
They're still great and they're super
valuable if you travel a lot because
you're more likely to travel through an
airport that might have one compared to
what the other issuers have out there.
But there's also no free guests here
anymore with AMX. So, not a good thing
for couples or families who are looking
for lounge access. You do get Priority
Pass Select as well with no restaurant
credits just like the others. And then
again, a similar credit of up to $120
for Global Entry or TSA PreCheck. And
you also get a bonus credit for up to
$29 to cover Clear Plus. You also get
top tier president Circle status for
Hertz on the MX Platinum card just like
the Venture X. And then you also get
some other statuses here as well for
Avis and National. And even though the
included auto rental coverage on the
Platinum card is going to be secondary,
you can choose to enroll in premium car
rental protection where you'll pay
around 1995 in most states to get
primary coverage for theft and damage of
a rental car for up to 42 days of
coverage. As always though, terms for
insurance benefits are going to vary.
You have to go out and do your own
research to see what's covered. And then
for other travel insuranceances and
protections, you're going to be getting
a lot of other similar premium benefits
here that a lot of the other cards have
as well, like trip cancellation and
interruption insurance and stuff like
that. Overall, there's definitely enough
here to keep the AMX Platinum
competitive with the Chase Sapphire
Reserve and the Capital 1 Venture X that
I'm going to give it four out of five
stars for this factor. So, really, it's
just the City Strata Elite that kind of
falls behind here with airport lounges
and travel benefits. But, that is going
to lead me to the final factor here
where City might be able to pick up the
slack. So, let's go over ecosystems of
each issuer as well as any other notable
features with each card. For City, the
Strata Elite card is going to work in a
City Trifecta setup with the no annual
fee double cash card that we talked
about earlier that earns effectively 2x
points on everything, as well as the no
annual fee custom cash, which earns 5x
back on your top eligible spend category
each billing cycle in one of 10
categories. And those categories are
going to include valuable things like
restaurants, gas stations, grocery
stores, and more. However, I actually
think the cheaper $95 per year City
Strata Premiere is going to be the
better travel card to have within a City
Trifecta. And that's because it's got
some better everyday multipliers than
the Strat Elite does since it earns 3x
back on things like air travel, hotels,
restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations,
and EV charging. Now, one added benefit
to earning City thank you points on any
one of these City cards is that they can
be combined with either the Strata Elite
or the Strata Premiere to then get
access to American Airlines as a
onetoone transfer partner, which is
huge. So, City is now the only
transferable points currency that
transfers over to American directly.
It's also worth noting that for the City
Strata Elite specifically, if you want
to add an authorized user, then you're
going to have to pay an additional $75
per year for that. But if you're a City
Gold or City Gold private client, then
you can get some decent discounts on the
annual fee for the primary card holder.
So, that is good to keep in mind.
There's also no foreign transaction fees
on the Strata Elite, as well as all the
other top tier cards in this video,
which I forgot to mention earlier. But
for the overall city ecosystem though,
I'm going to give the Strata Elite a 3.5
out of five stars here, mostly for the
American Airlines transferability. But
City is lacking any of the three major
hotel brands for Hyatt, Marriott, or
Hilton transfers. And like I said, the
Strata Premiere is really going to be
the better card to hold in the City
trifecta in my opinion. Customer service
with City has also always been something
that they struggle with compared to the
competition. So, it's worth mentioning
that as well. And that is going to mean
the City Strata Elite is going to finish
with a respectable 16 out of a possible
25 stars. Next, for the Capital 1
Venture X, your best bet here is going
to be to pair this with the no annual
fee saver card to form what's called a
Capital 1 Duo. This is honestly one of
the best twocard setups you can have
considering the price and the number of
categories that you're covering here.
That's because the Capital 1 Saver card
is going to earn 3% back on grocery
stores dining entertainment and
popular streaming services. And when you
hold a card like the Venture X, you can
then convert that cash back into
effectively 3x Venture miles per dollar
on those categories. That makes this
setup a great option where most people
out there can just remember to use the
Saver card on food and entertainment
spending for 3x back and then the
Venture X card for everything else to
get 2x. Plus, again, you've got higher
multipliers in the Capital 1 travel
portal where there's going to be those
price drop and price matching benefits
as well. For transfer partners, you
don't really have any standout options,
but they are still solid except for the
fact that you're missing those three
major hotel brands here as well. And
then for authorized users, you can add
up to four of those for no additional
cost, even though again those free
benefits like airport lounge access for
those authorized users is going to be
going behind a payw wall very soon in
early 2026. You do also get a cell phone
protection benefit here, which doesn't
get talked about that much, but it is a
nice added feature. So, I'm going to
give the Venture X a 3.5 out of five
stars here for its ecosystem based on
its simplicity, its low cost, and the
multipliers that the Capital 1 Duo
covers. And the only reason I'm not
making it a four out of five is because
it's also worth mentioning that Capital
1 is kind of notorious for being
difficult to get approved for, even when
you have a great credit score and a
history of responsible credit card
usage, which I'll touch more on in just
a minute. That's going to give the
Venture X a 20 out of 25 possible stars,
which helps it to take the lead over the
City Strat Elite for now. But let's see
if Chase or AMX can beat that next. So
for the Chase Sapphire Reserve, it's
going to be no secret that I really like
the fact that Chase has Hyatt as a
transfer partner, and that's going to
make them the only points currency other
than Built Rewards that transfers
directly over to Hyatt, which still has
the highest and most consistent
redemption values compared to other
hotel brands. Chase also has a bunch of
other airline transfer partners that
you'll find with other points
currencies, as well as United and
Southwest, which are fan favorites for
those who fly on those airlines a lot.
Then there's also a points boost feature
for booking travel with points inside
the Chase travel portal that can be good
sometimes but not always, which I
covered in a separate video that I'll
link to down below. But then an area
where Chase is currently struggling that
they don't really seem to want to
address is going to be within the
multipliers that are found in the Chase
Trifecta ecosystem. So with a setup like
the Chase Trifecta, you could have the
CSR along with the no annual fee freedom
unlimited and the Freedom Flex. And then
just like these other same issuer
setups, you can then combine and pull
together your ultimate rewards points
earned across these different cards to
then redeem with the transfer partners
or points boost features on the Sapphire
Reserve. However, the problem with those
other Chase credit cards include the
fact that the Freedom Unlimited only
earns 1.5x points per dollar in the all
other category as a catchall card in the
setup. And that's pretty much below the
going rate of 2x that other cards like
this earn. Another problem is that
there's no steady grocery or gas
category found within the Chase
trifecta. So, even though all three
cards here earn 3x back on dining,
there's really no point in having all
that overlap when those grocery and gas
multipliers are missing. Sure, you can
usually find groceries and gas making
their way into one of the rotating 5x
category slots on the Freedom Flex at
some point almost every year, but that's
only going to get you 5x Ultimate
Rewards points for one quarter out of
the year on that stuff. So, that's going
to end up hurting the overall Chase
ecosystem score for the Sapphire
Reserve. The card also charges $195 for
authorized users. And then I can mention
that there's some other minor benefits
unlocked after 75k of spend in a
calendar year as well. But to me, those
aren't really going to be great selling
points here. So overall, I'm going to
give the Sapphire Reserve a three out of
five stars, which is propped up by the
fact that they do have height as a
transfer partner. And that's going to
bring their total up to 18 out of 25
stars, putting them in second place. So
can the American Express Platinum card
finish strong to close out first place?
Well, to me, I think that is going to be
kind of tough when their ecosystem has
the big challenge of high annual fees to
overcome. The AMX Platinum can be paired
with the AMX Gold, which has a $325
annual fee and even more credits to
manage. So, even if you run your numbers
and you truly do believe that you're
getting positive value from the many
credits across those two cards, you'd
still have to be paying $1,220
upfront every year in fees, and a lot of
people are just not willing to do that.
American Express, unfortunately,
introduced the credit card world to the
world of coupon booking, and now there's
really no going back, as other issuers
have begun to see just how profitable
this business model can be. So, like it
or not, if you're going to be in the MX
ecosystem, then you're going to have to
be someone who is very organized and
someone who also wants to keep track of
several monthly, quarterly, semiannual,
or annual credits. There's also always
the option to go down to the cheaper AMX
green card as well at $150 per year. But
the downside here is that if you want to
get the signup bonuses on the green, the
gold, and the platinum, then you have to
go in that order, or otherwise,
according to the terms and conditions,
that could prevent you from getting a
bonus if you tried going in the opposite
order. Additional platinum cards are
going to cost you $195 as well, and
that's a price you're going to have to
pay if you want to bring along your
player two with you into AMX Lounges.
So, I'm going to give the AMX Platinum
card a three out of five stars here for
their ecosystem because the gold card is
a powerful card for earning points. But
again, that's a lot of credits to keep
track of, and that's not going to be
right for everyone. So, that brings the
MX Platinum up to a total of 17 out of
25 stars, putting it into third place
overall. And that makes the Capital 1
Venture X the winner here with the Chase
Sapphire Reserve coming in second. and
the City Strata Elite coming in last.
Now, personally, even though I love the
Venture X, my own favorite card out of
these four is going to be the Sapphire
Reserve. There's a few good reasons why,
which are purely based on my own
experience and my own personal
situation. So, just remember that going
forward that this might not be true for
you. But, the Venture X is a great card
and my wife has it in our own two-player
setup. However, like I mentioned,
Capital 1 can be a bit challenging when
it comes to getting approved. And that's
something that I've experienced
firsthand because I've been denied twice
for this card, making it the only two
credit card denials I've ever had. They
told me that I had too many revolving
credit card accounts on my credit
report. And they're really the only
issuer that seems to have a problem with
that because I never miss payments. And
I'm always managing my utilization and
being responsible with all that stuff.
And I'm also not alone in getting denied
by Capital 1 for reasons like this
because I constantly get messages and
comments from other people with similar
stories. Now, as always, your mileage
may vary with stuff like this. But then
the other reason here why the Sapphire
Reserve is going to be my own personal
top pick out of these four cards is
because they're the only card out of
these four that have their own airport
lounges and they still allow free guest
access. Unfortunately, I do feel like
this is going to go away at some point
in the future just because they do want
to avoid overcrowding. But for right
now, my home airport here in
Philadelphia has the largest Chase
Sapphire Lounge. That's my favorite that
I love to visit all the time when I'm
traveling. And I do also like earning
points within the Chase and Built
ecosystems because of Hyatt being a
transfer partner with them. I also
personally do get enough value to
justify the annual fee on the Sapphire
Reserve, even though I don't love the
fact that it's now a coupon book. But I
want to make it clear that my feelings
could change for this card over time as
I use it in my day-to-day life. So, let
me know what you guys think about these
four travel credit cards down below.
Which ones do you have and which one do
you think is best? Be sure to comment
your thoughts because those data points
and opinions on all this stuff is going
to be truly helpful for other people out
there to make their own decisions. And
again, while you're down in the comment
section, make sure to go ahead and
download that free PDF summary of this
video that's going to highlight all the
features and benefits of these cards in
one place. But as always, thanks so much
for watching.