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For each of the past two years, Amex has offered a 50% bonus on Membership Rewards points transferred to Starwood Preferred Guest, and it looks like that bonus is back — but it appears to be more targeted than in years past.
Through November 17, 2016, targeted Amex Membership Rewards-earning cardholders can earn 500 Starpoints for every 1,000 MR points they transfer — a 50% bonus. Only one member of the TPG team was targeted for this offer, which leads us to believe it’s very limited. To check if you were targeted for the bonus, log in to your Amex account, attempt to initiate a transfer and see if you notice a bonus message on the SPG option.
To initiate a transfer, click the Transfer Points option and input just how many Membership Rewards points you’d like to transfer. You can earn Amex Membership Rewards points with credit cards like the Amex Platinum Card, Amex Premier Rewards Gold Card, Amex EveryDay Preferred Credit Card, Enhanced Business Platinum Card from Amex OPEN and the Business Gold Rewards Card.
Is It a Good Deal?
In his most recent valuations, TPG values Membership Rewards points at 1.9 cents each and Starpoints at 2.7 cents each. So while on the surface this might not seem like the greatest deal, you can get some great value out of your Starpoints by using them toward awesome award redemptions.
For example, you can redeem your Starpoints for a stay at a high-demand property during a peak time — New York on New Year’s Eve or Chicago during the World Series. In addition, SPG’s Moments program also allows you to redeem your Starpoints for some once-in-a-lifetime experiences, like a tennis clinic with Andy Roddick, VIP access at sporting events and much more. You can also transfer Starpoints to Marriott at a 3:1 ratio.
As long as you’re getting more than 3.8 cents in value for you SPG points, or if you have a specific redemption in mind that you find to be especially valuable, this bonus could be a great time to transfer your Amex points to SPG. Generally, we don’t see bonuses like this between SPG and Amex all too often, so this could be a good time to transfer your points if you’re targeted. To earn Starpoints in most cases, however, you’re best signing up for the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express, which comes with a sign-up bonus of 25,000 points after you spend $3,000 in the first three months.
Source: thepointsguy.com