If you travel a lot, CSR is an excellent deal, even with that fee. Like you say, the fee is really only $150, because who doesn't spend at least $300 on some kind of travel in a year? But then you get 3x points on the travel, and then on top of that they count 1.5x when you book travel with those points. I only use my points to book hotels and flights, so to me the points are worth a lot more than most other cards. I travel a and eat out lot so my overall average point per dollar spent is around 2, and then every time I book stuff I'm getting 1.5x, so in the end I'm sitting around 3 points per dollar spent, which is around $2000 worth of points per year for me. On top of all that, you get airline mileage and hotel points on stuff you booked with points, which I never got with my airline cards that just give straight miles.