DEAD – Sign Up bonus is now back down to 25,000 Bonus Points
The Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card and the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express are each offering 35,000 bonus Starpoints. This is the highest offer ever for either of the cards. The usual public offer is just 25,000 points and rarely it goes up to 30,000 points. The latter is the offer that I signed up for.
These bonuses don’t seem very enticing when you look at the number alone, but SPG points are pretty valuable. You can usually get a value of over 2 cents per point and sometimes even close to 3 cents. There’s a lot of great SPG properties and each credit card will get you more than enough points for a top Category 7 hotel. With both cards (about 80K points after spend) you can book 4 nights at a Category 6 hotel, like this amazing Sheraton Maldives. Read more about 2016 SPG Category Changes Taking Effect March 1st.
SPG points are also valuable when transferred to most frequent flyer programs. You receive a 25 percent bonus for each 20,000 points that you transfer (United excluded).
Both cards come with a $95 annual fee that is waived for the first year. I’d strongly suggest applying for the cards. But, keep in mind that you can only get a sign up offer once per lifetime for personal and now the business Amex cards as well. Both offers end on 03/30/2016.
Personal Amex SPG
Get 35,000 bonus Starpoints after you use your new Card to make $3,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Offer ends 03/30/2016.
- Apply Here (my referral)
- Earn 2x points on all SPG purchases
- Earn 1 Starpoint for all other purchases
- No foreign transaction fees
- Free in-room premium internet
- Receive credit for 5 nights and 2 stays each year toward SPG Elite status
- Unlimited Boingo Wi-Fi on up to four devices at more than 1,000,000 Boingo hotspots worldwide (Enrollment required)
- $95 Annual Fee waived the first year
Business Amex SPG
Get 35,000 bonus Starpoints after you use your new Card to make $5,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Offer ends 03/30/2016.
- Apply Here (my referral)
- Earn 2x points on all SPG purchases
- Earn 1 Starpoint for all other purchases
- Access to Sheraton Club Lounge
- No foreign transaction fees
- Free in-room premium internet
- Receive credit for 5 nights and 2 stays each year toward SPG Elite status
- Unlimited Boingo Wi-Fi on up to four devices at more than 1,000,000 Boingo hotspots worldwide (Enrollment required)
- $95 Annual Fee waived the first year
Earn 5,000 Per Referral, Up To 110,000 Total
If you already have the cards then you can refer friend and family and you’ll earn 5,000 per referral. You can use this American Express “Refer a Friend Page” to send referrals by email. You can either log in with your online account information, or enter the card information. It showed up on my SPG account (in Account Details page) as a banner on right hand side.
You’ll receive 5,000 Starpoints (“Referral Bonus”) for each new Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card or Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card application you refer that results in an approved account. In each case up to a maximum of 55,000 Starpoints per calendar year for each version of the Card.
You’ll see an earned bonus on your statement within 8 weeks after your friend is approved as long as your account is in good standing. Not that those you refer may not receive the referral e-mail if they previously opted out of receiving e-mail marketing communications from American Express.
Recently Applied For Inferior Bonus? Call To Get Matched!
Looks like there’s some success with calling in to get matched for this SPG offer if you already applied for the lesser 25K or 30K offers. It’s not guaranteed that you will get fully matched, but you can still try to get some extra points.
Call in and be polite. If you’re offered 3K or 5K points instead of 10K, ask for a manager to have a better shot. You’re most likely to get courtesy points if you applied recently, preferably this year, but doesn’t hurt to try even if you’ve had the card for a few months. I applied for both cards back in September, but I’ll give it a shot anyway.
Update: I was able to get an extra 3,000 points (instead of 5,000) as a “one time only courtesy” by using live chat.
HT: doctorofcredit
