@icyhot wrote:Like Ive said on previous posts I stay at hotels a lot. My ideal hotel card would be Choice but, Barclays. I've seen so many people rave about SPG but it didn't spark my interests because I thought all their hotels were like $300 a night (lol, so wrong) and weren't in my area. Well there are several Starwood hotels in my area and within my price range. I've been eyeing the Marriott card for the LONGEST and the free room is great, but now the SPG is a good contender. So in my considerations I've gathered the following:
Marriott vs SPG
50,000 bonus points at $1K spend plus 1 free room vs 25,000 bonus points at 3K spend
Free rooms start at 7,000 points vs 3,000 points, so essentially both give 8 free rooms
Annual free room vs no annual free room
Both transfer to Amtrak
$85 vs $65 AF
Both 5 points per dollar spent at properties, however Marriott gives 5 points as a member, SPG only gives 2
i have the CSP to transfer to Marriott if I end up getting the SPG, so far can't find anything to transfer to Starwood
Theyre seriously neck and neck, I want to get both TBH. But I'm planning on axing my AAdvantage to make room for one more AF. Don't want too many. I just can't decide. They both seem so great.
Marriott points are worth much less than SPG points. Tramsferring UR points to Marriott is not a very good redemption value (hyatt would be better in that case). I wouldn't transfer SPG points to Amtrak. SPG card allows transfer to a whole bunch of different airlines and the hotel redemptions are a good value as well. Its a decent card for non-category spend and if you are actually staying at SPG properties you can earn a decent number of starpoints which again have much more value than marriott points. I have the spg card and I was marriott platnium elite.
;
Transfer/conversion value isn't necessarily the problem. Upon quantifying the value of Marriott points in terms of dollars and cents, I believe 0.5-1.0 cents per point was a typical approximation the last time I checked. If that is okay with you, then by all means transfer to Marriott. SPG and Hyatt are typically around the 1.8-2.2+ cents per point range.
You can do so much better with UR points than to transfer them to Marriott 
.
@icyhot wrote:
@red259 wrote:
@icyhot wrote:Like Ive said on previous posts I stay at hotels a lot. My ideal hotel card would be Choice but, Barclays. I've seen so many people rave about SPG but it didn't spark my interests because I thought all their hotels were like $300 a night (lol, so wrong) and weren't in my area. Well there are several Starwood hotels in my area and within my price range. I've been eyeing the Marriott card for the LONGEST and the free room is great, but now the SPG is a good contender. So in my considerations I've gathered the following:
Marriott vs SPG
50,000 bonus points at $1K spend plus 1 free room vs 25,000 bonus points at 3K spend
Free rooms start at 7,000 points vs 3,000 points, so essentially both give 8 free rooms
Annual free room vs no annual free room
Both transfer to Amtrak
$85 vs $65 AF
Both 5 points per dollar spent at properties, however Marriott gives 5 points as a member, SPG only gives 2
i have the CSP to transfer to Marriott if I end up getting the SPG, so far can't find anything to transfer to Starwood
Theyre seriously neck and neck, I want to get both TBH. But I'm planning on axing my AAdvantage to make room for one more AF. Don't want too many. I just can't decide. They both seem so great.
Marriott points are worth much less than SPG points. Tramsferring UR points to Marriott is not a very good redemption value (hyatt would be better in that case). I wouldn't transfer SPG points to Amtrak. SPG card allows transfer to a whole bunch of different airlines and the hotel redemptions are a good value as well. Its a decent card for non-category spend and if you are actually staying at SPG properties you can earn a decent number of starpoints which again have much more value than marriott points. I have the spg card and I was marriott platnium elite.
UR to Marriott transfer is 1:1. I don't really want to transfer points to airlines becuase I never book directly through airlines. I just have the Delta card for the free checked bag and priority boarding lol
The 1:1 isn't really the relevant value. Some basic values that have been circulated this year has a marriott point being worth .07 and a starpoint being worth 2.4 (over three times the value). I don't really understand your logic about not wanting to transfer points to airlines because you never book through the airlines. If you have the points then you are booking an award ticket so it wouldn't really matter since your not paying for the ticket in cash anyway.
@icyhot wrote:
You have to book airfare through the airline to use miles, yes? I don't do that. I book flights through AAA. I book hotels directly through the hotel so hotel points are more useful to me. I don't get the 0.7 cents to 2.4 cents value part or why that matters. I just want enough points to book free rooms
Icy, it matters because you would be imposing your own nerf on your CSP by devaluing your UR points if you transfer them to Marriott. You'd be better off cashing them out than transferring them to Marriott in most scenarios. It is your decision and your points, however. Most people do try to make the CSP a better value than a <1% card, which is why you saw the cents per point approximations in the previous posts. By comparison, Hyatt points are worth quite a bit more; and substantiate any recommendations that it might be a better card for you if you don't want the Marriott card. SPG is good program as well if you can push a lot of money through the card.
How about you go for both of the cards?! 
There are many differences between the two, but also be aware that SPG only has 1,236 properties worldwide versus Marriott, which has a little over 4,000 properties. I found it a tad difficult to stay at SPG when going to certain places because they just didn't have one nearby, so I end up using my Hilton card or groupon deal. Also found it more difficult to get gold status compared to my Ritz-Carlton (spend $30,000 per year vs. $10,000). The points are great though and transferability to airline partners is awesome. Also read somewhere SPG properties tend to be of higher-end, geared towards luxury (Of course, Marriott has theirs too). Look at the Hotel Alfonso XIII; it's awesome! I still think you should get both 
@negg wrote:Marriott has litterly made every courtyard, and marriot brand cat 6 or higher. Getting harder and harder to find cat 5 to use your free night. My free nit expires in July and I'm going to lose it. So keep this mind. Not my ordeal but the category BS Marriott doing now.
Let's not go crazy with statements like this. I just looked at a cat 2 courtyard for memorial day weekend. Last year I used my two certs up in Maine at a Fairfield and really cashed in since it was up in a large tourist area. However, people should keep in mind that a free night certificate with marriott is not likely to work in a big city with prime locations.