I carry a fair number of AF cards each year. Some I keep because the benefits outweigh the fee for me. Some are just around for a year and then get cancelled, to be churned again or downgraded for a year to be upgraded with a bonus down the line. With regards to the CSR, I have never looked at how much I spend in travel to make it worth keeping. One can earn 3x on the CIP for travel purchases and that's only a $95 AF. Granted, the travel protections are not the same. I have always recommended that one look at how many URs are being redeemed through the travel portal at .015 with the CSR vs .0125 with the CSP to determine if it is worth keeping.
The important thing to look at is what does it cost you per year to redeem your UR points through the travel portal? It is very possible that keeping a CSP or CIP over a CSR is actually costing you more money. This is especially true for those who are redeeming for paid seats on flights via the UR portal.
Math: $550 AF on CSR - $300 travel credit you are spending anyway = $250. Difference between $250 CSR - $95 CIP/CSP = $155.
Let's say you are going to redeem a $500 RT flight for a party of 2. That's $1000. If you hold a CSP or CIP that should cost you 80,000 UR points since you can redeem at .0125 with those cards.
If you hold a CSR those flights would cost you 66,667 points. That is a difference of 13,333 points which is equivalent to $166.66 in the CSP/CIP UR portal. So holding the CIP or CSP over the CSR just cost you $166 in points. When you factor in the $155 difference between a CSR over a CSP/CIP then it still costs you an additional $10 to keep a card with a "lower AF" over the higher AF card. That is just one redemption example. How much is it costing a family of 4 to keep the lower AF card? How much does it cost folks who are redeeming well beyond $1000 annually via the UR travel portal?
AFs are part of my travel budget. We also have DVC. Between all the DVC contracts and various hotel cards with FN certs, we aren't spending much on accommodations. DVC dues are another story. I pay our DVC dues annually with Disney GCs. I purchase many at 5x UR points from Office Supply stores with my Chase Ink Plus (current closest equivalent would be the Chase Ink Cash). I will also purchase them throughout the year at a discount of 10% or more using Chase offers and Amex offers. Buying Disney GCs for DVC dues,
ABD or
DCL at 5x bonus categories on the Ink+/CIC, Freedom cards do help make a up a good portion of the URs we earn each year. We also use the Disney GCs to pay for food and merch while we are in WDW or DLR. I try to get as close as possible to 5x on all spend. Lastly, don't forget shopping through the UR portal to earn additional URs. This game definitely requires spreadsheets at some point. Hope this helps