Invited to Apply for Amex SPG!!! Is it a good card to have??

[CreditScholar]

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@Open123 wrote:

All things being equal, I think this is Amex's best card.  The value of the points are the highest of any card, especially if you redeem with the "cash + points" feature.  The 25% bonus when transferring to airlines is a very nice touch too.

If you check nerdwallet, the average return on spending with this card is around 2.7%.

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+1. SPG is Amex's best product, and it's the one most commonly held by Amex employees (about 40%). While Amex platinum and PRG also have a good reputation, the SPG appeals to a wider audience because of the lower AF and versatility of the points.

Starwood hotels that I've stayed in have been nothing short of great, save one. That was the Walt Disney World Dolphin, and it's not their fault that dozens of kids kept on running, screaming and cartwheeling in the lobby. They had a gymnastics tournament there the week we stayed. Everywhere you went was crowded with packs of tween and teen girls, so we promptly changed hotels after the first night.

[Anonymous]

One thing to consider is how much you will actually spend on this card (since a lot of people divide their spending among multiple cards). The 25% bonus on FF transfers only kicks in if you transfer at least 20K points. For example if you only anticipate pushing through $10K each year it would take 2 years just to reach that.

The appeal of this card is that Starpoints are valuable enough where you can amass a good amount of reward stays through credit card spend alone. A lot of other hotel programs have heavily inflated points such that earning 1 point/dollar on purchases is not a good deal.

Some caveats:

-This card has a 2.7% forex fee, even at international Starwood properties. For $30 more per year you may consider the Chase Sapphire Pref for international travel, if that is your thing.

-You get no annual free night certificate or elite status with this card. Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, and Priority Club cards all give one or the other, or both.

[Open123]

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@Anonymous wrote:

One thing to consider is how much you will actually spend on this card (since a lot of people divide their spending among multiple cards). The 25% bonus on FF transfers only kicks in if you transfer at least 20K points. For example if you only anticipate pushing through $10K each year it would take 2 years just to reach that.

The appeal of this card is that Starpoints are valuable enough where you can amass a good amount of reward stays through credit card spend alone. A lot of other hotel programs have heavily inflated points such that earning 1 point/dollar on purchases is not a good deal.

Some caveats:

-This card has a 2.7% forex fee, even at international Starwood properties. For $30 more per year you may consider the Chase Sapphire Pref for international travel, if that is your thing.

-You get no annual free night certificate or elite status with this card. Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, and Priority Club cards all give one or the other, or both.

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This card is certainly made more appealing with the 10k + 15k signup bonuses.

For int'l hotels, the best option would be to use "points + cash" to minimize the forex fee, in addition to counting as a stay towards gold/platinum.  However, I do agree that when this isn't an option, the rewards are less attractive after factoring in the forex fees.

For anyone who travels a few times per year at Starwood properties, the accelerated points an add up quickly.  However, I do agree that if one spends $10k per year total and never at Starwood properties, there are considerably better options than this card with it's fee.

[LS2982]

That's looks like a great card Ron!! And the bonuses are very nice as well!!

[FrugalRican]

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@Open123 wrote:

For anyone who travels a few times per year at Starwood properties, the accelerated points an add up quickly.  However, I do agree that if one spends $10k per year total and never at Starwood properties, there are considerably better options than this card with it's fee.

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Read the whole thread and was gonna see if someone stated this.

I definitely agree with Open on that.

[Smerri1029]

One thing I don't like about Starpoints versus UR or MR Points is that they can take up to a week to transfer.

I transferred 10k to British Airways back in November and it took 6 - 8 days for them to show up in my account where UR and MR are both instant. After a week that award seat could be gone. That was my biggest issue with Star points. Other than that it trasfers to a bunch of airlines and 20k + 5k is great. Just make sure if you were to transfer 100k+ you would do it in two installments as that's the cap for the extra 5k per 20k.