topic Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points? in Credit Cards

What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

redpat — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 10:55:07 GMT

There might be changes on 4/16.

Sitting on 247,568 points -

If I move all to Marriott for air & hotel packages/ certificate (I have never book one), are the miles put into my AA and I get a Marriott certificate for stays that are good for a year? Is this better than transferring to AA w/ 25% bonus?

I should do something rather than wait w/ announcement coming on 4/16? I think this maybe a prelude to the Amex cards coming out.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

UpperNwGuy — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 11:25:41 GMT

Why not just move all the points over to the American AAdvantage program immediately and start afresh with Marriott once the dust settles? Airline miles are usually more valuable than hotel points.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 14:48:08 GMT

Why not just book a hotel? You can always cancel the booking and get the points back if they don't screw you over on the point system.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 15:52:43 GMT

While there may be changes announced next week according to the rumors, they're not going to take effect immediately.

The majority of my Starpoints have been moved to Marriott and redeemed for 2.33-2.66 cpp Marriott (or 7-8 cpp Starpoints) on Category 8 or 9 properties during periods of highest demand. The best way to redeem them is going to depend on where you're going, when you're going and how you're getting there. Converting to 740,000 Marriott points would open up a LOT of possibilities with the 7 night certificate and miles. But if you're going somewhere exotic, 300k+ miles with a Starpoints transfer to Alaska would permit two 1st Class US-to-NZ round-trips on Cathay or Qantas, for example. Granted, you would have miles leftover so you could also consider doing two of the hotel + 120k miles packages (depending on Hotel category you want, you may have miles left over to covert 1:1.25 with the bonus) and then you'd get the same r/t 1st tickets on Qantas and have 7 nights each in Auckland and Christchurch to explore both the north and south islands.

Again, the best use is going to depend on where/when/how. Alternately, if you can find a Category 1 PointsSavers Reward you can combine that with the 5th night free for reward redemptions and stay for 47 nights.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 16:09:15 GMT

I need to decide as well. Have right at 300k points. Question for anyone. Are all the SPG properties going to become Marriott ones? If so, I might convert to Marriott points and would have 1.2 million of those which should let me book something very nice for a week. I also like the idea of transferring to Alaskan Airlines as @K-in-Boston suggests as I have another trip to Australia in the works but it is very very difficult to get first class Qantas reward tickets.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 16:17:01 GMT

I would like to see some sources for these "rumors" because I cannot find anything.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 16:26:46 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I would like to see some sources for these "rumors" because I cannot find anything.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Cards/Leaked-New-Combined-Marriott-SPG-Status-Tiers/td-p/5217817

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 16:59:10 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I need to decide as well. Have right at 300k points. Question for anyone. Are all the SPG properties going to become Marriott ones? If so, I might convert to Marriott points and would have 1.2 million of those which should let me book something very nice for a week. I also like the idea of transferring to Alaskan Airlines as @K-in-Boston suggests as I have another trip to Australia in the works but it is very very difficult to get first class Qantas reward tickets.

HOw did you get 300k points? And converting would give you 900k Marriott points. I think you could get much more than a week., Marriot gives you fifth night free on award bookings.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

SkyCommander — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 19:23:53 GMT

I'm considering moving 30k of my points to some kind of airline to get 35k which will get me 1 way to Japan in economy and use my Amex points for the return. A few thousand leftover will just go to Marriott account. I also have the problem of should I renew my SPG Amex as that fee will come up in June.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 19:51:55 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I need to decide as well. Have right at 300k points. Question for anyone. Are all the SPG properties going to become Marriott ones? If so, I might convert to Marriott points and would have 1.2 million of those which should let me book something very nice for a week. I also like the idea of transferring to Alaskan Airlines as @K-in-Boston suggests as I have another trip to Australia in the works but it is very very difficult to get first class Qantas reward tickets.
HOw did you get 300k points? And converting would give you 900k Marriott points. I think you could get much more than a week., Marriot gives you fifth night free on award bookings.

Both myself and g/f got the personal and business cards at 35K points each for 140K and combined them into my account Some stays contributed points. Also bought some points recently as they were 2.2 cpp which is lower than I value them so... Also have added quite a few from my Diners Club card. It's not a 1:1 exchange but that's the card we use quite a bit for groceries that earn 3X points per $1 spend.

Will still need to decide if the Marriott transfer is the route that I want to go. Have an existing 325K Marriott/Ritz points so the 1.2 million points would give us a nice trip but I need to familiarize myself with the vacation packpages that they offer. I had been planning on possibly using the SPG points for a stay in Bora Bora and that's why I asked if all the SPG properties are going to become part of Marriott .

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 20:09:35 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
I need to decide as well. Have right at 300k points. Question for anyone. Are all the SPG properties going to become Marriott ones? If so, I might convert to Marriott points and would have 1.2 million of those which should let me book something very nice for a week. I also like the idea of transferring to Alaskan Airlines as @K-in-Boston suggests as I have another trip to Australia in the works but it is very very difficult to get first class Qantas reward tickets.
HOw did you get 300k points? And converting would give you 900k Marriott points. I think you could get much more than a week., Marriot gives you fifth night free on award bookings.
Both myself and g/f got the personal and business cards at 35K points each for 140K and combined them into my account Some stays contributed points. Also bought some points recently as they were 2.2 cpp which is lower than I value them so... Also have added quite a few from my Diners Club card. It's not a 1:1 exchange but that's the card we use quite a bit for groceries that earn 3X points per $1 spend.

Will still need to decide if the Marriott transfer is the route that I want to go. Have an existing 325K Marriott/Ritz points so the 1.2 million points would give us a nice trip but I need to familiarize myself with the vacation packpages that they offer. I had been planning on possibly using the SPG points for a stay in Bora Bora and that's why I asked if all the SPG properties are going to become part of Marriott .

There has been no mention anywhere that any of the (formerly) Starwood-owned properties would not become Marriott properties.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

simplynoir — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 20:23:39 GMT

All I know is the recent potential announcements has me finally looking at travel spots to use my SPG points especially once my sisters hit their SUBs (assuming they haven't already I need to ask them). Started asking the family where they like to go for suggestions last night so we'll see how that goes.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 20:46:52 GMT

Agreed @simplynoir. Whatever announcement may or may not be made next week, I seriously doubt that it will be in place immediately. But if they're moving to revenue-based redemptions and cutting Gold/Platinum benefits, I may begin looking elsewhere. The rumors make it sound like someone at Marriott took a look and said "What are the best parts of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest? OK, those are gone!" There was a comment made by someone somewhere else that rather than making this an expansion on everything that made people loyal to these brands, that it was more about removing a competitor.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

simplynoir — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 20:53:41 GMT

Yeah, I remember that comment being made over on the DoC article and on the churning reddit. I'm seriously not liking this if all holds up. The new tiers I think are a compromise between the two programs so I don't have much of an issue with that but the dynamic pricing is the point that has left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm hoping as someone theorized on FT that they're using the "leak" to test the waters on how the travelers will receive the news and will adjust accordingly.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 21:06:46 GMT

@K-in-Boston wrote:
Agreed @simplynoir. Whatever announcement may or may not be made next week, I seriously doubt that it will be in place immediately. But if they're moving to revenue-based redemptions and cutting Gold/Platinum benefits, I may begin looking elsewhere. The rumors make it sound like someone at Marriott took a look and said "What are the best parts of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest? OK, those are gone!" There was a comment made by someone somewhere else that rather than making this an expansion on everything that made people loyal to these brands, that it was more about removing a competitor.

Hope you're right. I would go crazy if any changes were immediate without prior knowledge of them. I would hate to be screwed by not doing something now which I'm really not ready to do.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

simplynoir — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 21:07:43 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@K-in-Boston wrote:
Agreed @simplynoir. Whatever announcement may or may not be made next week, I seriously doubt that it will be in place immediately. But if they're moving to revenue-based redemptions and cutting Gold/Platinum benefits, I may begin looking elsewhere. The rumors make it sound like someone at Marriott took a look and said "What are the best parts of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest? OK, those are gone!" There was a comment made by someone somewhere else that rather than making this an expansion on everything that made people loyal to these brands, that it was more about removing a competitor.
Hope you're right. I would go crazy if any changes were immediate with prior knowledge of them. I would hate to be screwed by not doing something now which I'm really not ready to do.

It's why I went ahead and started planning for it. Better to be prepared for a possibility than be caught unawares. I ideally wanted to use these points at the end of the year but who knows now.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

K-in-Boston — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 21:13:47 GMT

@simplynoir wrote:
Yeah, I remember that comment being made over on the DoC article and on the churning reddit. I'm seriously not liking this if all holds up. The new tiers I think are a compromise between the two programs so I don't have much of an issue with that but the dynamic pricing is the point that has left a bad taste in my mouth. I'm hoping as someone theorized on FT that they're using the "leak" to test the waters on how the travelers will receive the news and will adjust accordingly.

If that's true, hey Marriott there are a bunch of us that are ready to abandon ship and go with the new sheriff in town:

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

SkyCommander — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 22:13:58 GMT

I'll see your HOJO Amex and raise you a premium Motel 6 visa infinite.

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 23:21:52 GMT

I just got the SPG Amex card last month and I should have my SUB by June. I should have atleast total 35,500 points by then (7500 referral bonus+3000 spend+25000 SUB)

Ill likely use all of my points to book a 5 night stay in New Orleans for Mardi Gras next March.

I really want to keep the card because I love how valuable the points can be but the uncertainty of what Marriott will do concerns me.

Also, If you pre booked an award stay for next year and the programs combine this year, will your reservation be grandfathered in?

Re: What are you doing w/ your SPG points?

red259 — Tue, 10 Apr 2018 23:42:48 GMT

We don't know what the changes are going to be, but I think its going to be negative no matter how you cut it. Someone posted a question about marriott packages. I used this package in the past. For 270k Marriott points I got 120K Alaska airline miles and a 7 night cert at a cat 1-5. I paired this off with a signup bonus on an alaska airline card. This allowed me to fly from NY to Tokyo (2 night layover) then on to hanoi via JAL in F (not all programs let you build in stopovers - AA won't if its longer than 24 hours). I also flew back to NY Hong Kong to NY in CX F. All of this was from the marriott package and one alaska airline card signup. I didn't use the cert on that trip. I believe I used the certificate on a trip to Europe and it covered four or five nights for me in Istanbul (think I got at least $460 on the cert in value and could have gotten more if I stayed the full 7 nights but I wanted to move on). I did these trips last year so not sure if there have been any devaluations, but at the time I get a lot of bang for my points. Its def worth looking at the marriott packages to see if you can leverage them.