LAST DAY to apply for the Starwood Amex with 20,000 points (if you were targetted)

Back in early December, many of you have received an email from Starwood offering a sign-up bonus of 20,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points if you sign up for the SPG American Express card.

The offer closes today, January 6th.

This deal should be a no-brainer as long as you can spend the required £2,000 within three months.

As long as you received the email (and still have it so you can use the special link) – and meet the £30,000 household income requirement – you can get the bonus.   It doesn’t matter if you already have a British Airways American Express, Amex Gold, Amex Platinum etc.  You still qualify for the bonus.

The Amex homepage for the card is here.  This does not show the 20,000 points bonus however. 

I am obliged to tell you that the representative APR is 39.7% variable, including the annual fee, based on a notional £1200 credit limit.  The APR on purchases is 22.9% variable.

Who are SPG / Starwood Hotels?

Starwood Hotels is the chain behind Sheraton, Westin, W, St Regis, aloft and The Luxury Collection.  Their loyalty scheme is called Starwood Preferred Guest.

The company is currently in the process of being taken over by Marriott which makes this sign-up bonus even more bizarre.  We have not seen an offer this generous since November 2013.

Why is this credit card offer so attractive?

The obvious thing to do with your Starwood points is to use them for free nights at Sheraton, Westin, W, aloft etc hotels. Here is the SPG reward chart if you want to see how far 20,000 points will get you – there are also some examples on the Amex website if you scroll down this page.

When my wife got this bonus, I redeemed them for a hotel in Greece that got me £370 of value for my sign-up bonus – see here for that story.

However, you can also convert your 20,000 SPG points into 25,000 airline miles – including 25,000 Avios.

Starwood points convert into airline miles at the rate of 1:1, which is exceedingly generous for a hotel loyalty programme.  The even better news is that when you convert 20,000 points at once, you receive an additional 5,000 airline miles as a bonus.

Your 20,000 SPG points sign-up bonus would therefore get you 25,000 Avios.

SPG has a huge number of airline partners. 20,000 SPG points will get you:

• 25,000 Avios points
• 25,000 Virgin Flying Club miles
• 25,000 Miles & More miles
• 25,000 American Airlines miles
• 25,000 miles with Air Canada, airberlin, Air China, Alaska, Alitalia, ANA, Asia Miles, Asiana, China Eastern, China Southern, Delta, Emirates, Etihad, Flying Blue, Hawaiian, Japan Airlines, Qatar, Saudi Arabian, Singapore, Thai, US
• 12,500 United miles
• 37,500 LAN LANPASS miles
• 385 Air New Zealand points

The card is especially valuable if you want to generate some miles in one of the airline partner programmes apart from Avios.  There aren’t that many easy ways to earn, for example, 25,000 Miles & More or Aeroplan miles from the UK. 

What are the terms and conditions of the card?

The most important thing to know is that there is no restriction on getting the SPG Amex if you already have a British Airways, Amex Platinum, Amex Gold or any other American Express card.  You are OK to apply.

The only people who cannot apply are those who have cancelled the SPG Amex in the last six months.

Here are the facts on the card:

• You receive 20,000 SPG points when you spend £2,000 within 3 months
• You earn 1 SPG point per £1 spent going forward
• There is a £75 annual fee
• There is a pro-rata fee refund if you cancel the card
• £30,000 household income requirement (note household income, not personal)

What else do I need to know?

There are some other interesting benefits to bear in mind:

You receive Preferred Guest Plus status in the SPG programme, which offers you some extra benefits when you stay at any of their hotels

If you spend over £25,000 in a year, you receive a voucher for a free night in a Starwood Category 1-4 hotel.  This is not terribly exciting, to be honest, as Category 1-4 hotels are generally not the greatest.

If you spend over £15,000 in a year, you will receive Gold status in the Starwood Preferred Guest programme.  This is the mid-tier status level, and gives you bonus points on each stay plus other benefits.  (You do not receive free breakfast or free internet, however.)

Starwood points can be transferred – for free – between two members who live at the same address. If you were both targetted, you can get a card in the name of your partner, move the points to your SPG account and then redeem them into your airline account

How to apply

You MUST use the link in the email sent to you by American Express back in early December.  This is the only way to receive the 20,000 points.

Do yourself a favour.  Open a Starwood Preferred Guest account before you apply.  Do not wait for American Express to open one for you, as it generally leads to complications.  Open one now and then put the number on the application form for the credit card.

Remember that the offer closes at midnight tonight.

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Want to earn more points from credit cards? – March 2023 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.

SPECIAL OFFER: Successfully apply for either of the Barclaycard Avios credit cards by 2nd April 2023 and you will be entered into a free draw to win ONE MILLION AVIOS! Full details are on the application forms here (free) and here (paid). This competition is exclusive to Head for Points readers. T&C apply.

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:

Until 30th March 2023, the sign up bonus on American Express Business Platinum is increased to 120,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. The bonus on American Express Business Gold is increased to 60,000 Membership Rewards points – click here. T&C apply, see the application forms for details.

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.