Payment options to maximize credit card points
For those of you who play the points game, I am wondering about your strategies to maximize points. With an upcoming $25K final payment for K & T excursion, I have a choice of paying with Chase Sapphire Reserve (CSR), or Citibank Prestige. I tend to think CSR is better for points accrual over Prestige given the larger pool of transfer partners, but in some cases, more points can be earned with CSR. Trip insurance benefits are not a big deciding factor since I have purchased the Tauck package. CSR offers 3 points per dollar on all travel purchases, while Prestige offers 3X for charges through travel agencies and only 1X for travel in general (query - how does a Tauck charge come through?). However, Prestige also offers 5X on purchases at Cruise lines. I presume that a direct payment to Tauck is considered a tour company and not an agency, but wonder what your experiences are since how it posts is an important consideration? My travel agency bills itself as a cruise agency, and I wonder if that would post as a travel agency charge, a cruise (though incorrect), or whether payments via an agency port out and ultimately come through Tauck, presumably as a tour operator. Given the Covid pause, I have lost track of how payments come through. With 5X offered for cruise lines, there could be an extra 2X on the line depending upon how things post. Thanks for your insights. It feels good to talk about travel again.