My Family’s Strategy with Applying for the SPG Luxury Card

The Starwood Preferred Guest Luxury Card from American Express launched just a few days ago and I must admit I am disappointed with the offer. Related post. While a 100,000 point offer looks great on paper, we need to remember that this is now 100,000 Marriott points NOT 100,000 Starwood points. This means it is the equivalent to 33,333 SPG points which is definitely not a strong offer for a premier card – in the past non-premier Starwood credit cards would offer up to 35,000 SPG points. And we have also seen non-premier Marriott cards offering 100,000 point offers. When other premier cards have launched in the past, they typically come with a 100,000 point offer but those points are worth significantly more. Remember, not all points are created equal! Earning 100,000 Chase Ultimate Rewards or American Express Membership Reward points are worth way more then 100,000 Marriott points. But, for some, the sign up offer doesn’t matter – this is their only opportunity to apply for the card for awhile due to the restrictions being put in place for the Marriott and Starwood credit cards starting tomorrow, August 26th.

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.

My Families Strategy

Since I am not over the moon with the sign up offer, I do not feel the need to hurry up and rush to sign up. Fortunately, neither my husband or I are restricted with applying in the future so we do not need to apply by the August 26th date. I am hoping that we will see a higher sign up offer in the future, but I have no insider information to know if that will actually happen. I also am not looking to wait more then 6 months to get the card since I have some open slots available available in my Chase “5/24” count.

When checking my husbands account, I noticed that we was able to upgrade his current Starwood American Express personal card to the Starwood Luxury card with the same 100,000 point bonus. My account, on the other hand, only had a measly 15,000 point upgrade offer tied to it. For us, upgrading his account works better. There is no hard pull (thus will not increase his Chase “5/24” numbers) and we were looking to cancel one of the SPG credit cards anyways. I was able to upgrade his account and was immediately approved. Since he is the one traveling for work quite often and staying at Starwood hotels, this works out as we will get the $300 statement credit quite quickly. To check your upgrade offer, sign into your American Express account online in your current SPG Personal account click the “Upgrade Card” link in the lower right hand side.

For me, I am holding off on applying. I am keeping my fingers crossed on a better offer and will wait until the end of this year at most. Since this current offer goes until the end of October, I do not foresee an increased offer (if any!) until the December timeframe. But maybe I have high hopes and this will be the best we will ever see – I sure hope not though!

What is your strategy? Will you be applying or keeping your fingers crossed for a better off one day?

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. This post contains affiliate links for the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card by American Express.