100,000 Bonus Points with the Starwood Luxury Card, You Might Only Have Two Days to Apply!

The much anticipated Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card from American Express is now available, although I am slightly disappointed with the sign up offer. The card launched with a 100,000 welcome offer, but I was hoping for at least 125,000 points! And while 100,000 points might sound like a lot just remember that not all points are created equal and these are now Marriott points which are worth 1/3 of the legacy SPG point.

Key Link:

• Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card from American Express – Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on the card within the first 3 months. $450 annual fee.

Card Benefits

With a $450 annual fee, this offer does come with some valuable benefits that will most likely outweigh the annual fee:

$300 statement credit: You can receive up to $300 in statement credits per year for purchases made directly at participating SPG or Marriott hotels. You can use this credit towards the cost of the hotel room or any incidentals put on your hotel bill. All you have to do is put the charge on your credit card and you’ll automatically receive the credit. My assumption is if you are interested in this card, you stay at Starwood or Marriott properties. And even if you use points to pay for your room, this can still cover incidental charges.

Free night award: While all Marriott and SPG cards will come with a free night award, the one coming with this card can be used at more properties due to the higher cap. After every account year, you’ll receive a free night that can be used at a hotel up to 50,000 points. For a standard room, this means you can stay up to a category 6 which is most likely over $250 a night (and in many cases even more). 

Elite status: This card comes with automatic Gold Elite status and if you spend $75,000 on the card within a calendar year you’ll be bumped up to Platinum Elite status.

Lounge access: This card comes with Priority Pass Select Airport lounge access which is a very popular benefit with credit card these days. This will allow you and 2 guests free access to participating lounges. A great benefit if you do not already have a card that comes with this benefit, but theres a good chances you already have this access.

Complimentary global entry: You will receive a statement credit for the $100 Global Entry fee. You can receive this statement credit once every four years. All you have to do is put the application fee on your credit card and you’ll see the statement credit. If you already have Global Entry you can use it for someone else.

Earning Points

With this card you’ll now be earning Marriott points which are valued somewhere between .7 cents to 1 cent per point. So the 100,000 points for the sign up bonus is worth somewhere between $700 and $1,000, but of course can be worth much more depending on how you redeem your points. You’ll also earn the following number of points with category spend:

• 6x points at Starwood and Marriott hotels
• 3x points at U.S. restaurants
• 3x points on airfare charged directly by the airline
• 2x points on all other purchases

Personally, I would expect more from such a premier card and it definitely will not be a card that I use on my every day purchases or even some of the category bonuses. There are definitely other cards out there where I can earn a lot more points based on the value of each point.

Who Is Eligible?

On August 26th, Chase will be restricting Marriott and Starwood applications. For this particular card, you will not be eligible if you…

• Currently have or have had any of the following Cards in the last 30 days
  • The Ritz-Carlton Rewards Credit Card from JP Morgan
• OR have acquired any of the following Cards from Chase in the last 90 days
  • The Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase
  • The Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase
  • The Marriott Rewards Premier Business Credit Card from Chase
• OR have received a welcome or upgrade offer for any of the following Cards from Chase in the last 24 months
  • The Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Credit Card from Chase
  • The Marriott Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase
  • The Marriott Rewards Premier Business Credit Card from Chase

Fortunately, you still have today and tomorrow to apply for the card without the above restrictions. If you are ineligible for the card due to one of the above, then I do suggest applying now. If you will still be eligible post August 26th, then you might want to hold off to see if a better offer comes along. In my household, I am waiting to apply but we upgraded my husbands account to this offer. You can look at all the restrictions being put in place for all of the Starwood and Marriott cards here.

Will you be applying for this card?

Key Link:

• Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card from American Express – Earn 100,000 bonus points after spending $5,000 on the card within the first 3 months. $450 annual fee.

Disclosure: Information about this card has been collected independently by Deals We Like.