The Offer
Direct link to offer (scroll to bottom for business card).
- Receive a sign up bonus of 30,000 SPG points after $3,000 in spending on the Personal ($5,000 spending requirement for Business) version of the American Express Starwoods Preferred Guest credit cards. Annual fee of $95 is waived the first year
Card Benefits
August 11th new benefits were added to both the personal & business cards and the annual fee was increased to $95 on both cards. Below is a list of all the benefits each card currently offers.
Personal
- No foreign transaction fee
- Boingo internet access for up to four devices
- Premium in room internet at all SPG hotels
- Earn 2x points on all SPG purchases
- Earn 1x points on all other purchases
Business
Same benefits listed as the personal card above, but also comes with free Sheraton club access .
Our Verdict
I find SPG points to be quite valuable, this 30,000 point sign up bonus comes around only once a year usually so if you’re interested in picking up some SPG points then now is the time to do so. I think the best use of points is for SPG stays, but you can also transfer to airline partners. If you transfer 20,000 points you receive a transfer bonus of 5,000 additional miles. American Airlines is also currently offering an additional 5,000 mile bonus (20,000 SPG points = 30,000 AA).
I find airline miles too easy to earn and SPG points more difficult, so I’d recommend keeping the SPG points but this will depend on your personal preference. Keep in mind you can only get the sign up bonus on American Express personal cards once and on the business card you can’t have or had the product in the past twelve months.
It’s interesting that the Business card now has a minimum spending requirement of $5,000 and the personal card has a spending requirement of only $3,000. This makes sense as the Business card now has additional benefits and the reason given was that Business cardholders spend more on their card on average compared to Personal cardholders.
This deal is supposed to run until September 14th, 2015.
Hat tip to reddit.com/r/churning user thepointschaser
