UPDATE: This offer has expired.
The 100,000 point increased offer from the Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express OPEN is coming to an end in just a few days! While this sounds like an unbelievable offer for those who are familiar with the Starwood program, this is actually their common “increased” offer. Remember, now that Marriott and Starwood are combined, this is really giving you Marriott points which are worth a third of what legacy Starwood points. If you are still thinking in terms of SPG points this is equivalent to 33,333 points. In the past, when Starwood increased their welcome offer you’d receive 35,000 bonus points, so this is pretty close to their normal increased bonus.
Card Benefits
With this card you’ll now earn:
- 6 points per dollar spent at SPG and Marriott properties
- 4 points at U.S. restaurants, U.S. gas stations, wireless telephone services purchased directly from U.S. service providers, and on U.S. purchases for shipping
- 2 points for all other eligible purchases
One NEW benefit with this card is that you’ll now receive a 1 free night certificate every year after your card account anniversary. So even though this card comes with a $95 annual fee, you can easily make up the fee plus more with the free night certificate. While this certificate is capped at a hotel reservation costing 35,000 points, this still includes a decent number of properties. As you can see from the chart above, this gets you up to a category 5 property during standard award pricing or a category 4 property during peak pricing. In 2019, peak vs. off peak pricing will be introduced and we have not yet seen how often a hotel turns on their peak pricing.Â
I know that I will absolutely get more then a $95 value out of my free night certificate. There actually happens to be many hotels in NYC that are at a category 5 level and since I visit NYC at least once a year, this will allow me to get a hotel room in Manhattan for less then $100 – something that is not very easy to do!
Another perk with this card is that you’ll receive complimentary Silver elite status just by being a cardmember and if you spend $35,000 on the card on eligible purchases in a calendar year, you’ll receive Gold elite status.
Are You Eligible for this Card?
Since this is an American express credit card, you are not eligible for the sign up bonus if you’ve received one in the past due to their “once in a lifetime” rules. However, you are eligible if you’ve had the personal version of this card in the past since they are different products.
Back in August, Marriott also started restricting cards you could apply for, so you you will NOT be eligible for this card if you…
- Currently have or have had any of the following Cards in the last 30 days:
- The Marriott Rewards Premier Business Credit Card from Chase
- The Marriott Rewards Business Credit Card from Chase
- 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
- OR have received a welcome 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
Overall…
I personally already have this card and will definitely be keeping onto it for the free night certificate. But if you have never had this card, receiving the 100,000 bonus points is a nice perk in addition to the free night certificate — both the points earned and free night certificate can be used at both SPG and Marriott properties.
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