what's the highest sign up bonus ever for spg?

[Anonymous]

Old medical bill..

[Christina_xyt]

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@mongstradamus wrote:

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@Christina_xyt wrote:

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@Anonymous wrote:
Generally speaking the SPG is fot wealthy people who spend a lot of money and/or people who stay at fancy hotels.

The card has no category bonus at places like grocery stores, gas stations etc. you earn 1 point everywhere. So the only way to rack up the points is to put a huge spend or to stay at starwood hotels.

Now, yes you can get great value out of SPG points by staying at fancy hotels, but i think most middle class people would prefer to get more nights at a mid tier or budget friendly hotel instead.

I would suggest you get the starwood card for the bonus, splurge on a nice hotel stay and then cancel. For a primary spend card use something else

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I think that you opinion is very valuable.. I never got the marriot (i think i can get instant approve) card because i feel that i usually wont stay in expensive hotel like that.. thanks for pointint it out!!

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I think SPG card is most valuable when you can trasnfer to one of their airline partners. I still think they do if you transfer 20k miles you get 25k miles is that still the case?

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MMM isn't points more valuable when used for hotels? (as some folks said in this thread)?

[red259]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I believe 35K has been the largest public offer. 

30K usually comes around once a year in the summer. 

SPG points are worth more than any other credit card currency, so comparing to other cards is not quite fair. 

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True but also keep in mind they are harder to earn as well. You can pile up URs pretty quickly with all the different products and signup offers and bonus categories. With SPG its a bit different. 

[Repairman]

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@Anonymous wrote:
Generally speaking the SPG is fot wealthy people who spend a lot of money and/or people who stay at fancy hotels.

The card has no category bonus at places like grocery stores, gas stations etc. you earn 1 point everywhere. So the only way to rack up the points is to put a huge spend or to stay at starwood hotels.

Now, yes you can get great value out of SPG points by staying at fancy hotels, but i think most middle class people would prefer to get more nights at a mid tier or budget friendly hotel instead.

I would suggest you get the starwood card for the bonus, splurge on a nice hotel stay and then cancel. For a primary spend card use something else

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All of Starwood's hotels are not fancy or for the "rich." Brands like Four Points, Element, Aloft and Sheraton and even Westin offer affordable, lower end options. Not to mention cheap third party rates can always be found, and while you won't earn any bonus points through 3rd party bookings, you still would through any incidental charges on site.

[Repairman]

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@Sharingan wrote:

35k is the largest I have seen as well. 

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How long ago / often was that?

[Sharingan]

Last time I saw this offer was a year ago, and it was quite popular with rewards users. I believe it was a referral email for 30k points, but was generally viewed as or advertised as 35k points because of the 5000 point gift to the person who sent you the referral, as well as getting 5000 SPG points for spending the $5000 necessary to meet the spending requirements for the sign up bonus. 

I've stopped following this card since I removed it from my portfolio, and I can no longer get the bonus due to lifetime rules. It's so difficult to accumulate points with the SPG card... trade off being that points are worth significantly more than points from other hotel programs.

[Repairman]

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@Sharingan wrote:

Last time I saw this offer was a year ago, and it was quite popular with rewards users. I believe it was a referral email for 30k points, but was generally viewed as or advertised as 35k points because of the 5000 point gift to the person who sent you the referral, as well as getting 5000 SPG points for spending the $5000 necessary to meet the spending requirements for the sign up bonus. 

I've stopped following this card since I removed it from my portfolio, and I can no longer get the bonus due to lifetime rules. It's so difficult to accumulate points with the SPG card... trade off being that points are worth significantly more than points from other hotel programs.

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Yea, it's funny, because I wanted this card for years, and now that I'm finally getting ready to apply, I realize how hard it is to earn points. One possibility I was considering though, was getting the card for the signup bonus and then PC it before the AF to an AE...do you think that would be doable?

[Sharingan]

A lot of people get it just for the sign up bonus. I kept mine for 2 years before I realized that it wasn't a good fit any longer. I've tried out many hotel cards, and I've been trimming the ones that aren't going to work for me. Hyatt is my favorite without a doubt, so that's a keeper. I didn't try to PC my SPG because there's nothing left from AmEx that I could PC it to that's useful to me. I would imagine that the Blue Cash series is available to PC to, but I can't speak from experience . AmEx seems reluctant to PC anything to the Everyday cards, so I doubt that's an option.