Multiple Uses For The Starwood American Express Card
As I’ve mentioned, my favorite travel rewards card is the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card. Some people may have gotten it for the $100 sign-up bonus, but I’ve been using mine a lot recently and wanted share the many other ways that it can be utilized. It’s the Swiss Army knife of travel cards. 
With it:
- You can “top off” several different frequent flier accounts to get to that coveted reward ticket level.
- You can convert just a few miles to keep your other miles from expiring.
- You can get 1.25 miles per dollar spent, 25% more than most other airlines cards.
- It’s a cheap way to get free nights at decent hotels.
Starwood Points Convert Easily to Frequent Flier Miles
The first reason why this card is so useful is that Starwood points (or Starpoints) can be converted on a 1:1 basis on most major domestic airlines and several international ones, including Alaska, American, Delta, Northwest, Hawaiian, and US Airways/America West. That means 1 Starwood point = 1 frequent flier mile. The ratio is lower (2:1) for Continental and United.
Reaching Your Next Free Flight Award
I’m sure most people have faced this - you’re only a few thousand miles short of a free ticket, but you need to buy a ticket and would really like to make it free. Although there are other options that involve spending money, you can simply “top off” your balance by transferring as little as 1,500 miles to the specific airline programs that you want. You can even convert a specific number of points. Just need 2,854 miles here and 1,567 somewhere else? No problem.
Keep Your Miles From Expiring
With most airlines, your miles expire after three years of inactivity. Delta now only gives people two years. But any activity counts (not only flying), so I quickly transferred 1,500 miles over last month to save 20,000 points from expiring.
Recently, I transferred over another ~25,000 points (30,000 miles, see below) to add to those existing 20,000 Delta miles to get 50k for two free award flights to a wedding this summer. Delta was the only who had a free ticket to this location, so the flexibility was handy.
Better Than Other Airlines Cards - Earn 25% More Miles
I notice a lot of people with airline-specific credit cards, for example from Delta, American, or United. These cards seem alright, and they often give out generous sign-up bonuses. But every one of them only earns 1 mile per dollar spent, and only for that specific airline.
Like with those cards, this card gives you 1 Starwood point for $1 spent. But with the Starwood card, for every 20,000 points you convert, you get an additional 5,000 point bonus. So 20,000 Starwood points = 25,000 miles (free ticket) on all the airlines listed above. That’s 25% more miles per dollar than those airline-specific cards, and their annual fees are all higher than the Starwood’s $30!?
Also A Great Hotel Rewards Card
I know this is less popular, but I always like having some Starpoints in case I need a hotel room. Starwood hotels include Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, St. Regis, and W Hotels. For personal travel, I usually go for the most basic one, the Four Points. These are still nicer than Holiday Inns and such, and you can book them for as little as 2,000 Starpoints per night. All room taxes are covered when you stay, and there are no blackout dates unlike other hotel programs. If there is an empty room, you can get it no matter what the regular price is. I have gotten the equivalent value of 4 cents per points. If you compare that to the usual 1 cent per point from a generic cash back card, that’s like 4% back!
Finally, if you travel for business this can be a great way to rack up some flexible points. Use this card for work expenses, and also try to stay at Starwood hotels if you are offered the option. Sheratons and Four Points are primarily targeted towards business travelers anyways.
Free 10,000 Starwood points + 1st Year Free At Sign-up + Possible 15,000 Bonus points
The American Express Starwood Card is currently giving out 10,000 Starwood points for signing up and making a purchase. That’s 4,000 more than what they offered before. The first year is free, and after that the annual fee is $45. This the only card that I’ve ever paid an annual fee for. (Alternatively, 9,500 points can also get you a $100 Amazon.com gift certificate.)
Update: I see that just started offering an additional 15,000 Bonus Starpoints when you spend $15,000 in 6 months. That’s on top of the standard 1 point per dollar spent. So spend $15,000 in 6 months and and get 15,000 normal points from spending + 15,000 points from spending bonus + 10,000 sign-up bonus = 40,000 points! Enough to convert to 50,000 miles, or two free domestic roundtrip tickets.
There is also the AmEx Starwood Business Card, which is offering an additional 10,000 free Starpoints. If you applied for both, you’d get 20,000 Starwood points, which could get you 25,000 airline miles, enough for a free ticket. Remember, anyone can apply for a business credit card.
Find more in Credit Cards, Frugal Living | 1/14/07, 9:21pm | Trackback
January 15th, 2007 at 8:26 am
This seems like an interesting offer. I like the 1.25% back. I am a big fan of the Alaska Airlines card. It offers a $50 companion fare every year which ends up being hundreds of dollars in savings. They are currently offering 20,000 miles if you sign up for the card by 1/31/07. Alaska’s frequent flyer flights start at 20,000, so you essentially get a free flight for signing up. The annual fee is $75 but well worth it for the companion fare alone.
January 15th, 2007 at 8:30 am
When you open a Business Card (such as the Amex SPG Business Card), do you make your first purchase, which kicks in the 10K SPG points, relate to your sole proprietorship (e.g. an eBay purchase)? Or does it really not matter?
January 15th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
If you are a sole proprietorship, there is no legal distinction between you the person and you the business. Therefore, you can make any kind (biz or not) of purchase on the card. I used to mix them all the time, before I got serious about separating business and personal transactions for accounting purposes.
January 15th, 2007 at 10:11 pm
The AMEX Starwood Business card terms and conditions clearly state “I … REPRESENT THAT THE CARDS (sic) WILL BE USED FOR COMMERCIAL OR BUSINESS PURPOSES”. Thus using the card for personal purchases is a violation of the cardmember agreement.
Further, all business expenses/income from a sole proprietorship must be reported to the IRS (Schedule C), if I’m not mistaken. If you do not submit a Schedule C with your taxes, it would be easy for AMEX to say that your charges were not in fact “for commercial or business purposes” in the case of a dispute. If you argue that the expenses were for your business, then you might be in trouble with the IRS.
January 16th, 2007 at 2:51 am
You’re right, I shouldn’t be so loose with my comments. Obviously, the card is designed to be used for business purposes. But the line between business and personal is very blurry for sole proprietorships. Just because something is not able to be claimed on an IRS return doesn’t been it’s not a business-related expense. Keeping personal and business expenses completely separate for sole proprietorships is really difficult, and I’m sure very few people are completely successful and I doubt the credit card companies expect us to be so.
But back to the main point - AmEx is not going to question what you made your first purchase for. I’ve got plenty of bonuses to prove it. I usually just buy some gas or pay part of my cell phone bill as soon as I get the card.
I’ve never let a credit card company see my tax returns, and I don’t plan to
January 16th, 2007 at 6:21 am
These cards say that since these are business cards, they are not eligible for certain consumer protections? Does anyone know which protections we lose? I saw this disclaimer either with AmEx (Open) site or Citi business card site. I was not able to pin-point what we lose when we switch to biz cards.
January 16th, 2007 at 10:38 am
When I looked at the offer, it says 1 point for every dollar.. did they change this?
January 16th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
There some consumer protections that the law doesn’t force business cards to provide, like being able to dispute a purchase with XX amount of days. I’m pretty most companies still allow disputes, it’s just not mandated by law and specific are different. Given the choice though, you should make big purchases with a personal card just in case. I still use my business card all the time though, since I do have a business that’s not a sole proprietorship.
You do get 1 starpoint per $1 spent. If you transfer 20,000 points, they give you a 5,000 bonus. (Transfer 40k, get 10k, and so on.) If you transfer less, there is no bonus. Hope that clears it up.
January 16th, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Darn you, Jonathan.
I am trying to be good and not open any more accounts for a couple years. Why must you always post such tempting credit card information?
January 16th, 2007 at 5:38 pm
[…] Multiple Uses For The Starwood American Express Card ? My Money Blog (tags: credit finance tips) […]
January 19th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
I’ve been using this card for years, and it is one of the best deals around. I would add info about Starwood’s Nights & Flights program, which means that you can pay for virtually an entire 5-night vacation with points. I’m saving up for a trip to Fiji — only 10,000 to go!
January 22nd, 2007 at 6:52 am
When you open a personal and business card, is there one annual fee ($75), or two ($150)?
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:04 pm
My mistake….my previous question should be $30 for one and $60 for two.
January 22nd, 2007 at 2:08 pm
Yes, both are free for the 1st year, and $30 each afterwards. If you have a business this can be written off as a business expense, but if you really don’t need two then I’d just get the bonus and cancel the extra card.
February 28th, 2007 at 10:54 am
I have one comment about: “no blackout dates unlike other hotel programs. If there is an empty room, you can get it no matter what the regular price is.”
This only qualifies for the “standard room” or some wiggle word to that effect. Meaning..if they don’t have a “standard room” available, you won’t get a room. The property decides what a standard room is. It is generally not a problem but book early to avoid this problem.
March 16th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
Not all room taxes are covered when you stay! Always check the fine print
March 28th, 2007 at 9:14 am
Suppose I apply for both personal and the business card, how can I combine the points to be used appropriately? For example, I am looking at staying at a hotel that costs 7K points per night and I would like to do it for 3 nights. Assuming I get 1K points by using the card, how can I combine the 2 cards? Anyone know the answer to this?
Thanks.
August 11th, 2007 at 11:26 am
Please can you help me out, how can i get the $100 Amazon gift card.
” 9,500 points can also get you a $100 Amazon.com gift “
Thanks
August 11th, 2007 at 2:15 pm
Just log into your account at the Starwood Preferred Guest website at SPG.com and go to Quick Links, then Redeem Starpoints, then Redeem With Partners (Amazon), and there you go.
“$100 Amazon.com? gift certificate - 9500 STARPOINTS”
August 11th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
Satish - Just give them the same Starwood Account number, and they will all end up at the same account. It’s like frequent flier miles.
September 18th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Two questions:
1) Can I cancel this as soon as I get the $100 gift card with my first purchase? I don’t want to pay an annual fee. Do I have to wait until I’ve had it for a minimum amount of time before I can cancel it? What if I have it for 12 months, then wait a few days to cancel? Will I be charged an annual fee for the second year since I had it more than 12 months?
2) I can’t figure out what the big deal is about getting 15,000 starwood points by spending $15,000. Every dollar you spend you get at least one point, right? At least that how it is with every other card I’ve had or looked at. So if I spend $14,999, shouldn’t I get 14,999 points, and if I spend $15,001, shouldn’t I get 15,001 points? What’s so special about the $15,000 mark, and the six months thing?
September 18th, 2007 at 6:42 pm
Brent -
1) Yes, you can cancel it anytime during the 1st year and not be charged an annual fee. They charge it only after a year.
2) It’s a bonus 15,000 points. So spend $15,000 and get 15,000 points from spending + 15,000 points from bonus + 10,000 sign-up bonus = 40,000 points! Enough for 50,000 miles, or two free plane tickets.
September 18th, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Thanks Jonathan, for the clarification. Now that I read it again I don’t know how I missed that. Now I need to figure out if I can get 15 grand on it in 6 months. They don’t allow you to pay your mortgage with a credit card, do they?
November 5th, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Does anyone have experience transferring points to Northwest? How long did it take for the miles to show up? The website says it “may take 2-4 weeks” to process the request, I want to get a free ticket, but if it takes 4 weeks the frequent flyer seat may be gone.
December 7th, 2007 at 4:27 pm
Thanks for the info. Just signed up for this card. I’ll have no problem getting the extra 15,000 because i have to tuition for grad school.
January 15th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
[…] Multiple Uses For The Starwood American Express Card » My Money Blog - Trying to figure out best way to earn points/miles. This seems like a good option. […]
February 1st, 2008 at 4:09 pm
I just applied for (and was approved) this new Starwood AMEX card.
I understand if I spend $15K in 6 mos, I get a bonus 15K points, so I
stand to earn a total of 40K pts, which I can convert to 50K miles. So by my calculation, I earn approx 3.3 mi/$$ spent. This is pretty darn good.
However, once I fullfill that 6-mos spending bonus, then I only earn 1.25 mi/$$ (assuming I convert 20K pts at a time). I typically look at FF miles as worth approx 1-2 cent (eg 25K miles = a $250 to $500 air ticket value). Thus, once I’ve hit that 6-mos spending reward, the Starwood rewards would be worth less than my current Costco/AMEX Cash Rewards card which currently pays 2 cents per $$ on hotels/air fare, and 3 cents/$$ on dining.
So it seems the way to get the maximum out of the card is to charge like crazy the first 6 mos so I can earn that spending bonus. After that, this Starwood card seems no better than any other Reward card.
At least that’s how I see it.
Anyone have more info or a different view?
Thanks
Scott
February 1st, 2008 at 4:28 pm
But you get 1.25 miles/$ on all purchases, not just travel and restaurant purchase. So you can still put travel and dining on the Costco if you want, but put the rest on Starwood.
But for sure, try to get the $15,000 for first 6 months.
10,000 initial bonus + 15,000 spending bonus + 15,000 standard 1pt/$ award = 40,000 Starpoints = 50,000 miles = 2 free roundtrip tickets (maybe worth $1,000 to you!)
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:08 pm
[…] first year during the 0% period. I only tolerate annual fees for excellent rewards cards like the Starwood American Express Card. In this case, it is […]
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:54 pm
[…] American Express Starwood Card Review (Airline/Hotel Rewards) […]
April 7th, 2008 at 4:48 am
[…] use, they might become suspicious. I have sent it to my American Express Starwood card which I already use regularly as a rewards card, and they’ve never given me a hard […]
April 19th, 2008 at 4:59 am
[…] spending + 15,000 points from spending bonus = 40,000 Starpoints = 50,000 frequent flier miles on a bunch of different airlines, which is two free domestic roundtrip tickets! Alternatively, every 9,500 Starpoints can be […]
July 7th, 2008 at 4:04 am
[…] Better Credit Card For Delta Junkies You can get 1.25 Delta Skymiles per dollar spent with the Starwood American Express Card, which is 25% more than the 1 mile per dollar from the regular Delta SkyMiles Gold AmEx (which a […]
July 9th, 2008 at 9:30 am
I applied for both the regular starwood card & business one, got the 20,000 points on each sign up, and used it for Sheraton hotel stays (they didn’t charge me any hotel taxes either)
For a $130 room, it’s like getting it for $30-$60 a nite paying with just points (rooms are 3,000-10,000 points a nite) great deal! Sure beats using points for Amazon. I’ve gone on totally free vacations with this card deal, also using Amtrak gift certificates from AMEX’S Membership Rewards program on other cards (i don’t fly anymore so the miles points are not of interest)
July 11th, 2008 at 7:22 am
Riddle me this…I am very busy and cannot stand paying bills. If I have all of my bills, including mortgage, directly drawn from my AMEX, then pay AMEX 1 big check at the end of the month, will I earn the 1:1 ratio? If that’s the case, that would be several thousand points per month. Does anyone have experience with this?
July 23rd, 2008 at 4:42 am
[…] card is still one of my favorite rewards credit cards, due to it’s flexibility in earning both frequent flier miles and hotel awards. If you sign up now, you can earn a free 10,000 Starpoints after your first purchase, good for […]
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:40 pm
Jonathan,
You mentioned “I see that just started offering an additional 15,000 Bonus Starpoints when you spend $15,000 in 6 months.”
Could you please let me know the link for detailed information about this offer?
Thanks so much for all the valuable information about this card.
July 23rd, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Naresh - The information is on the new card application page. Look on the left-hand side.
“Earn 10,000 Starpoints® with your first purchase - enough for up to 3 free nights at a Category 1 or 2 hotel. Plus - earn an additional 15,000 Starpoints when you spend $15,000 in 6 months.”
September 7th, 2008 at 5:47 pm
Nice post. I love to travel and I love Starwood Amex Express card. Last time, I used my points and got a ticket for free and have a wonderful time - a vacation for free! I highly recommend this card specially for traveling entrepreneurs.
September 29th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Lance -
No. I tried to do this earlier and failed. You earn points only for purchases of goods or services. You can’t earn points for paying your mortgage, student loans, etc. with it.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Lance & Kate:
There are some bills you can pay using your *wood cc, and earn StarPoints. I have my local phone bill and cable bill automatically charged to the card. Also my newspaper subscription. All these earn me points every month.
Scott
October 7th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Am I readng this correctly? To qualify, you must spend $15000 in the first 6 months? How?
Also, is there a card where you can charge mortgage and pay it off each month? (to get the points/miles/etc.?)