What Can You Do With 35,000 SPG Points?

American Express has increased the sign up bonuses to 35,000 points on their SPG co-branded cards. Both cards earn 1x point per $1 spent and the personal card requires $3,000 in spend and the business card requires $5,000 in spend. So you’ll actually end up with 38,000 or 40,000 SPG points depending on what card you apply for (consider using one of our readers referral links, you’ll receive the same bonus and they’ll receive 5,000 points)

[Read: How To Get ‘Matched’ To The 35,000 American Express SPG Offers]

Let’s take a look at what those points will actually get you.

Hotel Redemption

Personally I think the best use of SPG points are for award stays at SPG properties. Unlike other hotel loyalty programs, I’m actually able to find properties in their lower categories that I’d like to stay at and their most expensive properties aren’t massively overpriced (for the most part).

This is what their award chart looks like:

• Category One: 2,000 points (weekends) or 3,000 points (weekdays)
• Category Two: 3,000 points (weekends) 4,000 points (weekdays)
• Category Three: 7,000 points
• Category Four: 10,000 points
• Category Five: 12,000-16,000
• Category Six: 20,000-25,000
• Category Seven: 30,000-35,000

If you had the business card you could score 20 free nights at a category one property on the weekends, or one free night at a category seven property with some left over points. I typically find anything under category three or four to be good value, but I prefer more nights at basic properties than fewer nights at more luxurious properties.

Redemption Rules

• As long as a standard room is bookable with cash, then you can also book it with points
• There are no black out dates
• Room tax and service charges included

Fifth Night Free Benefit

If you have an award stay for five nights or more, then your fifth night will be free. Unfortunately this benefit isn’t available on category one and two properties. With 40,000 points you’d have enough for five nights (including the free night) at a category four property.

Transfer To Airline Partners

SPG allows you to transfer your SPG points to their airline travel partners at a rate of 1:1 (for most partners). They also offer 5,000 bonus miles for every 20,000 SPG points you transfer (25% transfer bonus). This means that 40,000 SPG points would net you 50,000 airline miles with any of their transfer partners. I find SPG points more valuable than airline miles (much more difficult for me to earn and I already have an excess of airline miles) but a lot of people disagree with me, especially when you account for the 25% transfer bonus.

Transfer Partners

SPG has a total of 33 airline transfer partners currently. They are as follows (all transfer rates are 1:1 unless otherwise specified), thanks to the useful Frequent Miler master transfer list for making this easier.

SPG Airline Transfer Partners (1:1 unless otherwise specified)
AeroMexico	Asiana Airlines	Korean Air
Aegean Miles+Bonus	British Airways Executive Club	LAN Airlines LANPASS Kms
Aeroplan/Air Canada	Cathay Pacific Asia Miles	Lufthansa Miles and More
Air Berlin	China Eastern Airlines	Qatar Airways
Air China Companion	Delta Air Lines SkyMiles	Saudi Arabian Airlines Alfursan
Air France KLM Flying Blue	Emirates Skywards	Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
Air New Zealand & Air Points (65:1)	Etihad Airways	Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan	Gol Smiles	United MileagePlus (2:1)
Alitalia MilleMiglia	Hainan Airlines	US Airways Dividend Miles
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club	Hawaiian Airlines	Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
American Airlines AAdvantage	Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank	Virgin Australia Velocity
Avianca LifeMiles

Transfer Rules

• Starwood Preferred Guests can transfer up to 79,999 of their Starpoints® per transaction per program within a 24-hour period
• Only one airline transfer transaction per member, per airline program, is permitted within a 24-hour period
• Name must be the same on both accounts
• Transfer minimums are based on your elite status with SPG:
  • No minimum for Platinum members (on most airlines)
  • 1,5000 minimum for Gold members
  • 2,500 minimum for Preferred members
• United and VARIG, each have a maximum transfer amount per transaction of 94,998 Starpoints (79,998 from member plus 15,000 transfer bonus) for a maximum of 47,449 miles due to their 2:1 transfer ratios
• Air New Zealand has a maximum transfer amount per transaction of 39,975 Starpoints (34,975 from member plus 5,000 transfer bonus) for a maximum of 615 Air Points due to its 65:1 transfer ratio

SPG Moments

Another lesser known/used option is to use your SPG points to bid on SPG moments. Sometimes you can find good deals on unique experiences/tickets, but the more popular options seem to go for a lot of points.