150 free Starwood Preferred Guest points for everyone

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• Tom C says:

  14 Oct14 October 08:00

  Interesting security questions. Looks more like data mining to me.

  • Think Square says:

    14 Oct14 October 08:16

    Can you do anything useful with 150 points? I don’t expect to ever stay in one of their hotels.

    • harry says:

      14 Oct14 October 08:25

      Best thing is to wait until SPG Amex runs the bonus 20,000 + 5,000 points = 25,000 Avios promotion on taking out card (which comes around regularly) and add any free SPG points to this that you have collected during the year.

      One of the easiest ways to get a chunk of Avios for a small spend target.

      • Rob says:

        14 Oct14 October 08:50

        That offer is NOT coming back. Trust me.

        • harry says:

          14 Oct14 October 08:52

          What’s the best we can hope for?

        • Rob says:

          14 Oct14 October 10:43

          10,000.

          If that 20k offer came back, I could do 1,000 sign-ups within 24 hours. 990 of those people would cancel within 3 months because the card is useless and has no decent benefits to justify the fee. Amex isn’t going to foot that bill.

          (Well, perhaps not 1,000. But quite a lot!)

        • harry says:

          14 Oct14 October 11:04

          Then there’s hope, as Starwood themselves might have a budget for it and consider that a membership drive is worth the extra cost. They are obviously quite active in their marketing initiatives.

        • Rob says:

          14 Oct14 October 11:25

          No, I am big friends with the SPG team in Brussels and big friends with the Amex people on Buckingham Palace Road and I am telling you that (unless someone is told to hit a cardmember sign up target or lose their job) it isn’t coming back!

          You also need to remember that Starwood may well cease to exist within the next 12 months.

        • Alan says:

          20 Oct20 October 01:05

          I totally agree re the percentage that would sign-up and cancel, but given that do you have any insight from either team as to why they don’t make it more attractive as a card? It just seems bonkers to have such a useless one on offer! (glad I snagged 2x bonuses previously!)

        • Graeme says:

          14 Oct14 October 11:40

          So now is as good a time as any! Do they have any rules (or guidelines) about churning?

        • Rob says:

          14 Oct14 October 11:46

          You can re-apply 6 months after cancelling. It makes no difference what other Amex cards you may or may not have.

        • Graeme says:

          14 Oct14 October 12:01

          Thanks Raffles.

        • Graeme says:

          14 Oct14 October 09:36

          Do you mean the 20,000 points sign-up bonus, or the conversion bonus? Is it likely to stay at 10,000/11,000 for the foreseeable future? It’s been low for an age, I’ve been hanging on for another bonus.

        • Kathy says:

          14 Oct14 October 11:49

          I’m glad I got it while I had the chance! I ended up getting about 30,000 Avios from it as there was a conversion bonus offer not long after my points posted. Happy days!

    • Roger says:

      14 Oct14 October 09:04

      Extend the life of existing points that might otherwise expire?

  • Fenny says:

    14 Oct14 October 19:55

    I couldn’t answer half the questions – “favourite brand of luggage”??? – and most of the other answers were the same. It wouldn’t let me put the same answer for 2 questions, so favourite city, first flight and top of my travel list are not actually accurate answers!

• Richard says:

  14 Oct14 October 08:58

  There’s a targeted offer on US Amex Membership Reward points transfers to SPG until the end of the month. You get 2:1 instead of 3:1.

  • Rob says:

    14 Oct14 October 10:42

    US only. Never been a UK Starwood bonus AFAIK.

• shutter says:

  14 Oct14 October 10:05

  How long do the points take to show up?

• Frenske says:

  14 Oct14 October 11:47

  Completely OT but we are finally using the Shangri-La points for a dinner in Ting in The Shard. Does anybody know which one gives the best views e.g. St.Paul/Westminster direction. Ting Restaurant or Ting Lounge?

  • AndyGWP says:

    14 Oct14 October 15:59

    We went the restaurant (35th floor, right?) and had views of London Bridge / out east.

    Haven’t been the lounge I’m afraid

• Kathy H says:

  14 Oct14 October 12:00

  How long would you expect both of the free point offers to take to appear on an SPG account?

  • Rob says:

    14 Oct14 October 12:22

    The 200 were very quick, I got mine in a few days. Not sure about this one.

• Jon says:

  14 Oct14 October 12:24

  Raffles, you said ‘Starwood may well cease to exist in the next 12 months’ – can you elaborate? I’m sitting on a huge pile of Starpoints and just earned Platinum – has it all been in vain?

  • RIccati says:

    14 Oct14 October 14:36

    The mergers talk is actually supportive for the company.

    Most likely outcome is that nothing will happen/change on this 12 horizon. When it changes, the new, merged, business might want to adopt SPG points programme. It’s efficient and accurate in how promotions are run and credited. Quality of the processes is much better.

    “Lifetime Platinum” status might be at risk (if there is no equivalent in the new scheme) reminding us that no business offer/benefit lasts “lifetime”.

• Thomas says:

  14 Oct14 October 20:32

  Went online and added/answered the security questions.
  Now on updating Award Wallet it stops 4 times to ask my newly added answers before updating my points.

  • Graeme says:

    15 Oct15 October 10:12

    It only asked me each one once on the app. Haven’t tried the site yet.

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