Why 2 people + 2 Starwood American Express cards = 25,000 Avios points or other miles

Long term readers may recognise that I ran a version of this article last year.   The reason I have updated it today is that there is no guarantee that the Starwood Amex will continue beyond the end of 2018 when the Marriott Rewards and SPG programmes merge into a new loyalty scheme.

If you haven’t taken advantage of the SPG Amex credit card sign-up bonus yet then you should be thinking about it.  The ability for a couple to pick up 25,000 Avios – or perhaps other more valuable miles – very easily is not one you should pass by, especially if you have already earned a recent bonus from American Express Gold and a British Airways American Express.

What can Starwood Preferred Guest do for you?

Starwood Preferred Guest, the loyalty scheme for Sheraton, Westin, W, aloft etc – is an oddity amongst hotel programmes.  Whilst it works in the same way as other schemes, with different tier levels and an earnings rate based on spending, it is a standout programme for two reasons:

The exceptionally generous transfer rate of Starwood points to airline miles.  This starts at 1:1 and goes as high as 1:1.25 if you convert in chunks of 20,000

The ludicrously high redemption rates required for high end properties.  A night at the Gritti Palace in Venice (below) will set you back 30,000 Starwood points, for example – you could get 35,000 Avios if you transferred them across instead of taking the free night. 

Starwood also has another interesting tweak, which is the subject of this article. It is possible to transfer Starwood Preferred Guest points from one member to another, for free.  Any amount, as long as it is a multiple of 1,000.  No need for matching surnames. The only rule is that both accounts must have had the same home address on file with SPG for at least 30 days.

You can do the transfer online with minimum fuss.  The link is here.   Transfers take around 5 days.

The obvious reasons for doing this are:

• to reach a targeted award more quickly, or
• to move a handful of points from someone else who will never get enough for a redemption, or
• simply making your household life easier by keeping all points in one persons name.

But the main reason is this …..

The key reason for a UK reader, though, is this.  It allows you to persuade your partner / parent etc to take out the Starwood American Express credit card, bank the 10,000 SPG points sign-up bonus for spending £1000 and then transfer the bonus to you.

The representative APR on the card is 39.7%, including the annual fee, based on a notional credit limit of £1200.

20,000 Starwood points can be transferred into 25,000 Avios or other airline miles as you receive a 5,000 mile bonus.

This is more beneficial than sending just 10,000 SPG points to an airline account which gets you only 10,000 miles.

Starwood has a huge range of airline partners – almost 30.  Whilst most HFP readers focus on Avios, this is also a way of topping up a balance in another programme where it is harder to earn miles in this country.  Picking up 25,000 Lufthansa Miles & More miles this way, for example, would be a real boost given the dearth of other options.

The SPG card comes with a £75 annual fee – full details are in my review of the Starwood American Express card here.  As with all Amex cards, you can cancel for a pro-rata fee refund at any time.

SPG is also a roundabout way to transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to an airline account in a different name.  You would move them from an Amex account to your SPG account, then across to the SPG account of the other person, and then into their airline account.  The problem, of course, is the 2:1 conversion rate from Amex which means you lose out compared to converting directly from Membership Rewards to an airline.

Remember that you can also convert Marriott Rewards points to Starwood Preferred Guest at a ratio of 3:1.  This is another way of topping up a Starwood account to get it to the magic 20,000 point threshold where you trigger the 5,000 bonus airline miles.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – April 2024 update

If you are looking to apply for a new credit card, here are our top recommendations based on the current sign-up bonuses.

In February 2022, Barclaycard launched two exciting new Barclaycard Avios Mastercard cards with a bonus of up to 25,000 Avios. You can apply here.

You qualify for the bonus on these cards even if you have a British Airways American Express card:

You can see our full directory of all UK cards which earn airline or hotel points here. Here are the best of the other deals currently available.

Earning miles and points from small business cards

If you are a sole trader or run a small company, you may also want to check out these offers:

SPECIAL OFFER: Until 12th May 2024, the Capital on Tap Business Rewards Visa card is offering a bonus of 30,000 points, convertible into 30,000 Avios. You must have a Limited Company to apply. Click here to learn more and click here to apply.

For a non-American Express option, we also recommend the Barclaycard Select Cashback card for sole traders and small businesses. It is FREE and you receive 1% cashback on your spending.