UPDATE: Offer now expired.
Today is the final day to take advantage of the enhanced sign-up bonus on the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card and Business Card from American Express.
Starwood points are great for booking Starwood hotel properties, but they are also a valuable means to top up your mileage balances in 30 airline loyalty programs, including many not reached by American Express Membership Rewards or Chase Ultimate Rewards.
> Read More: List of Starwood Airline Transfer Partners
Remember that for every 20,000 Starpoints transferred, a 5,000 bonus is awarded, such that you are essentially getting 1.25 airline points per dollar you put on the Starwood (with the exceptions noted on the chart here). This is not a card to use if you are collecting only United points, but if you have a US Airways Barclays MasterCard or Lufthansa Miles&More World MasterCard, this is a nice card that can top up either account.
Point transfers can take up to two weeks (a transfer to Aeroplan once took three weeks while another time it took one day), but in my experience US Airways transfers usually take about one week to process. With that in mind, the smart strategy is to get your point balance up to the required redemption level before you spend time on research–no use taking a day out to find the perfect space when the points might not hit your account for 10 days.
Here’s some more detail about the card and the present bonus offer–
- Starpoints® bonus: earn up to 25,000 bonus points: 10,000 after your first purchase and another 15,000 after you spend $5,000 within the first 6 months of Cardmembership
- Earn 1 Starpoint® for each dollar of eligible purchases
- Earn more Starpoints for hotel stays (up to 5 Starpoints per dollar)
- $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65
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