Starwood Credit Card 30,000 Point Offer is Back!

UPDATE: This offer is expired

The annual Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card American Express offer of 30,000 points is back! To receive this offer you actually need to be referred by an existing member as there is currently no direct sign up link. This is a win-win offer – the person who refers you gets 5,000 points and you get 30,000 points after meeting the minimum spend requirement. This card offers no annual fee for the first year and then $65/year.

If you want me to send you a referral link, send me an email at dealswelike@gmail.com. I promise to send you the link promptly! I can send you the link for the personal card (I thought Mr. Deals had the business version of the card, but I was wrong!). Please also include your first and last name. Or, if you have friend with this card hit them up for the link so they can get the referral bonus!

Typically this offer is at a steady 25,000 bonus points but once or twice a year they bump up that bonus and give new applicants an extra 5,000 points. There is both a personal and business version of this card, both with the same offer (and yes, you can get both cards for a total of 60,000 points!). To receive this offer you must be approved by June 30, 2014.

Offer includes:

• 10,000 SPG points after your first purchase using the card
• 20,000 SPG points after you spend $4,500 in the first 3 months on the card
• No annual fee for the first year – $65/year every year after

I personally got this card many years ago during the same 30,000 offer and go back and forth between this card and my Chase Sapphire Preferred for most of my every day spend (that is unless I am trying to meet minimum spend on another new credit card or if there is a bonus on a certain spend category!). Every day spend are those categories where there is rarely a bonus regardless on the card you use (bonus categories typically include travel, groceries, gas, etc.). I find SPG points extremely valuable since you get 1 point for every dollar spent and the number of points needed to redeem is much lower than Marriott and Hilton (Marriott you get 1 point per $1 for your everyday spend with the card and Hilton it really depends on the card you have, at best you get 3 points per $ for your everyday spend). Starwood has some great category 4 and 5 properties out there where you only need 10,000 and 12,000 respectively to get a free night. In Asia there are also some gem category 1 and 2 hotels! It then jumps to 20,000 points for category 6 hotels (which can still be a great value internationally) and then an unreasonable amount for their category 7 hotels (their highest category). You also receive your 5th night free when redeeming at category 3-7 hotels. A huge benefit of SPG is that you can redeem a combination of cash and points at many hotels for a much better value. Click here to view the redemption options.

Additionally, if you prefer miles you can transfer to many airlines for a 1:1 ratio and get a 5K bonus for every 20K increments transferred over. This can be a great value and makes the Starwood card more valuable on your everyday spend then any other airline card. This will give you much more flexibility and a 25% increase in miles if you decide to redeem your points for flights. In this past there have also been a few bonuses for transferring points to miles, although these have been sparse.

Disclosure: The referrer receives 5,000 bonus Starwood points up to 55,000 points a calendar year.