I just want to write a quick reminder to those of you who don’t currently have the American Express SPG Starwood Preferred Guest credit card yet…APPLY SOON to get 30,000 bonus points for getting the card! The offer expires September 4! The offer is good for both the business and personal cards.
I wrote about the card more in depth in an earlier post but here’s a quick summary of my favorite aspects of the card…
A FREE FLIGHT–You can transfer 20k points to 30 different airline frequent flier programs and get a 5k bonus by doing that, which means you can get a free round trip coach ticket in the continental U.S.
FREE HOTEL NIGHTS or deeply discounted rates at many Starwood properties around the world (Sheraton, FourPoints, Le Meridien, Westin, W, St. Regis, etc.). ThePointsGuy had a contest a few weeks ago with contestants posting the best redemption values using points or cash & points…check it out because it’s really fun reading to see how far your miles can go and to know that you don’t have to dream about it…you can do it! (That is, do it if you get the card before the 30,000 bonus deal expires.)
Here’s the redemption chart from Starwood — redemption chart
HERE’S THE CATCH — In order to get the full bonus, you must spend $5000 in the first 6 months of having the card. I absolutely do not want to encourage you to rack up credit card debt on this card or any other card. But, if you use the card for everyday purchases like groceries, gas, cell phone, gifts, etc. you will most likely spend $5000 in six months and simply pay it off as you go each month. In the end, you have no debt and free travel! (The second catch is that there’s an annual fee the second year.)
TO APPLY FOR THE CARD, you can find a friend or family member who already has the card and they can refer you so they will get 5,000 bonus points (they will LOVE you for that). If you don’t know of a friend who has the card, you can send me an email and I’ll be your friend and refer you (and I will LOVE you for that). Or, you can go to several frequent flier travel blogs and sign up through the links on those sites — MillionMileSecrets, ThePointsGuy, FlyerTalk, etc.