AMEX Starwood BVG Card, Earn 1.25 miles/dollar! No Fee 1st yr

[PowerMac4Ever]

Originally posted by: HarryK
I've currently got an Amex corp gold card that costs me something like $75/year, can I transfer my AmEx reward points from that card to the Starwood if I were to get the Starwood card?

Thanks

You should be able to transfer the points. I would call them though

 

[brock]

The Starwood card is ineligible for the Membership Rewards program. I'd suggest getting the Starwood and applying for Blue (blue regular, not blue cash), which has no annual fee and is also eligible for Membership Rewards.

 

[50]

My wife wants to get one credit card and cancel all her others. She wants one that gives frequent flyer miles. My question is, I don't pay attention to this much but is AMEX accepted at most retailers?

 

[dealonfire]

Originally posted by: PowerMac4Ever

Originally posted by: HarryK
I've currently got an Amex corp gold card that costs me something like $75/year, can I transfer my AmEx reward points from that card to the Starwood if I were to get the Starwood card?
Thanks

no. cannot transfer Membership reward points to starwood points.

also, there is no reason to get the Blue, it has membership rewards OPTIONS program, each reward options point only worth .5 miles.

 

[brock]

also, there is no reason to get the Blue, it has membership rewards OPTIONS program, each reward options point only worth .5 miles.

oh, didn't realize that blue was only eligible for MR options. yet another reason to stick with AX "classic"

 

[HarryK]

Originally posted by: dealonfire

Originally posted by: HarryK
I've currently got an Amex corp gold card that costs me something like $75/year, can I transfer my AmEx reward points from that card to the Starwood if I were to get the Starwood card?
Thanks

no. cannot transfer Membership reward points to starwood points.

also, there is no reason to get the Blue, it has membership rewards OPTIONS program, each reward options point only worth .5 miles.

So confusing. Okay, so are the rewards from the "membership rewards" program any different than the rewards from the "membership rewards options" program?

My concern here is not to rack up more points, but to simply not lose the ones I've got. So I'd get the Starwood to replace my current Amex Corp card but get the Amex Blue to keep ahold of my 25,000 points. Would that work?

 

[dealonfire]

no. cannot transfer Membership reward points to starwood points.

also, there is no reason to get the Blue, it has membership rewards OPTIONS program, each reward options point only worth .5 miles.[/quote]

So confusing. Okay, so are the rewards from the "membership rewards" program any different than the rewards from the "membership rewards options" program?

My concern here is not to rack up more points, but to simply not lose the ones I've got. So I'd get the Starwood to replace my current Amex Corp card but get the Amex Blue to keep ahold of my 25,000 points. Would that work?[/quote]

You might want to contact amex csr about that. You can always redeem your membership reward points for miles for some airline's mileage program. I think delta, AA are good choices.

 

[Linux2003]

I got this card earlier this month and registered on the Starwood site for their SPG program, now will this conflict with the automatic enrollment when I got approved for this card? BTW I'm on vacation and have not been able to check if I received any mailings about this program.

 

[kissdisap]

Just spoke with a AMEX rep yesterday about converting my Blue points over to Starwood points. Bottom line (as I understand it) is that although it is 1:1 and no fee, your Starwood points would be good ONLY for Starwood resort hotels. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, the rep said that they are planning on removing Best Value Guarantee from all personal cards and offer it only on Corporate cards, but he did not have a specific timeframe for this to occur, just that it is their intention. So those of you who have Starwood, make the most of your BVG before it goes the way of the do-do bird.

Still debating if I want to bother signing up for this since they are just going to be taking BVG off soon anyway.

 

[dealonfire]

Originally posted by: kissdisap
Just spoke with a AMEX rep yesterday about converting my Blue points over to Starwood points. Bottom line (as I understand it) is that although it is 1:1 and no fee, your Starwood points would be good ONLY for Starwood resort hotels. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Also, the rep said that they are planning on removing Best Value Guarantee from all personal cards and offer it only on Corporate cards, but he did not have a specific timeframe for this to occur, just that it is their intention. So those of you who have Starwood, make the most of your BVG before it goes the way of the do-do bird.

Still debating if I want to bother signing up for this since they are just going to be taking BVG off soon anyway.

The AMEX rep you talked to clearly doesn't know about the Starwood frequent guest program. With the amex starwood card, you can only earn starwood points. However, being able to transfer points from starwood program to 25 major airline mileage program is a feature of the starwood frequent guest program.

Also, when you transfer 20000 points to miles, starwood give you 5000 bonus miles, meaning 20000 points get you 25000 miles. This is also a feature of the starwood program.

 

[dealonfire]

Originally posted by: Linux2003
I got this card earlier this month and registered on the Starwood site for their SPG program, now will this conflict with the automatic enrollment when I got approved for this card? BTW I'm on vacation and have not been able to check if I received any mailings about this program.

Call amex csr, and ask them what is the starwood preferred guest program account number that is linked to your starwood credit card account.

 

[SuperShaz]

I've read nothing but praise for this card on multiple forums, but It is very hard to judge if this card is right for me. Those of you who are saying that the $30/year fee is definitely worth it, how much do actually put on your cards each year? Because if you guys are filthy rich and spend $20k a year and stay at starwood hotels all the time, then I can understand your enthusiasm.

If I got on this program I would probably only spend about $6000 a year on my card. So I would probably have to save up for multiple years before I got a vacation's worth of free hotel time. I don't travel a lot and when I do travel I don't stay at fancy hotels. So if I got this card, the idea would be that I'd be saving up for a vacation that probably won't happen for a couple years.

So what say you? Should I just stay with my 1% cash rebate cards?

 

[dealonfire]

There is a new double points promotion coming up for starwood credit card holders.

Since each 1 starpoint essentially is worth 1.25 miles, double points would mean you earn 2.5 miles per dollar spent!

2.5 miles at 1.5 cents per mile, that's 3.75 cents.. or 3.75% return! that's probably why we don't see this kind of offer for the starwood credit card often.

EARN DOUBLE STARPOINTS® WHEN YOU SHOP WITH YOUR CARD FROM JUNE 15 TO JULY 15, 2004

BUT.. unfortunately, This offer is only available to Cardmembers with billing addresses in the greater Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., or Los Angeles areas....

 

[JJordan]

I do not know if this promotion is still good or not but I signed up in December and it still worked - 4000 miles for signing up.
https://www66.americanexpress.com/cards/Applyfservlet?csi=6/12901/b/58/2392758868/239131130659/0/n