Starwood just came out with a new promotion where you can purchase SPG points at a 35% discount! This offer is available to everyone and you can purchase up to 30,000 points through May 31, 2018.
If you go all in it will cost you $682.50 to purchase 30,000 points. If you are looking to travel in the near future, do the math and see if purchasing points is cheaper then paying for the hotel outright. Or, with the future changes coming in August with Starwood and Marriott, there is a really good chance that purchasing points could save you a ton of money on future travel. In August, 30,000 points will transfer to 90,000 points. Since 1 SPG point = 3 Marriott points. Below is the new award chart, but unfortunately the list of which hotels belong in each category is still TBD – although we have been told that we will receive that information in May prior to this promotion ending. 
Some things to know with this promotion:
- The maximum number of points you can purchase in a calendar year is 30,000 points
- You can purchase points in increments of 500
- Points take up to 24 hours to deposit into your account
- Your Starwood account must be activated for at least 14 days
- Purchase points here
Pros/Cons of Redeeming Points:
- You will still get stay/night credits even when redeeming (pro)
- You will not get the points (con)
- If there is a bonus at the time, you will be ineligible when redeeming points (con)
- If you are using all points, you will not have to pay any taxes (pro)
- If using cash + point, you sometimes need to pay tax on the cash portion, but since this is on such a smaller amount you will not have to pay the full tax on the regular rate and at some resort and city locations this can be extremely high (pro)
- At some hotels, you do not have the pay the resort fee if using points to redeem for your stay (pro)
So unless there is some unbelievable promotion going on, or the cost of purchasing points is close to the cost of actually paying for the stay, definitely use points when it is cheaper. This is a really good opportunity to purchase points for cheap!
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Jen, you’ve always preached not purchasing points speculatively. Would this be an exception to the rule?
@Tom – This is a tough one! I definitely do not suggest purchasing just to purchase, but with this situation it might be different – of course depends on the person. I’ll put together a blog post within the next few days on my thoughts about it!