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There are now 48 UK hotels (up from 4) who take your SPG Amex credit card free night voucher

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American Express has announced two changes to the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express credit card in the run up to the merger of SPG and Marriott Rewards next month.

One change is a statement of the obvious – the earning rate will move from 1 SPG point per £1 to 3 ‘new scheme’ points per £1.  This is in line with the 1:3 exchange rate being used by all other ex-Starwood partners.

The second change impacts the free night voucher that comes with the card.  Before I get to the details, I just want to run over the card again because this is the least-understood member of the Amex’ ‘miles and points’ portfolio.

I am obliged to remind you that the representative APR on this card is 39.7% variable, including the annual fee, based on a notional £1,200 credit limit. The interest rate on purchases is 22.9% variable.

Why I consider the Starwood Amex card to be a wasted opportunity

The SPG American Express card could have become a strong No 2 in UK loyalty credit cards behind the British Airways American Express Premium Plus.  Unfortunately, the benefits package just failed to hit the right note.

This was the original SPG Amex benefits package pre 2017:

10,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points (= 10,000 airline miles) as a sign-up bonus

1 point per £1 spent – worth around 1.5p if used for Starwood hotel stays, or 1p if converted to airline miles

You received Starwood Gold status for spending £15,000 – but this has no real benefits now that everyone who books direct gets the only real Gold perk of free wi-fi

You received a free weekend night in a Category 1-4 hotel for spending £25,000 per year

Last year a new benefit was added:

You receive double points for spending at Starwood or Marriott hotels (2 SPG points per £1, equal to 6 Marriott Rewards points, so about 3p of value per £1) until 31st December 2018

Where did this benefits package go wrong?

It is the free night benefit that really confused me.  Unless you can charge business expenses to a personal credit card, I think that you would need to be earning £150,000 per year in order to make £25,000 of discretionary spending on an American Express card.  This substantially limits the market for the Starwood card, assuming cardholders intend to trigger the free night.

No other UK credit card requires such a high spend target to trigger a reward.  And no other spend-related reward is so useless.

There were few decent SPG properties in Europe in Categories 1-4 which would accept the voucher.  The ONLY UK hotels in Category 1-4 are the Sheraton Skyline, Sheraton Heathrow and Aloft at the Excel conference centre and in Liverpool.  These are not, to put it mildly, top weekend break destinations.

Even then, it is only one free night.  At a weekend.  It is unlikely the cash cost of such a room would be more than £100 – a poor return on £25,000 of card spend.

SPG American Express card UK

What is changing with the free night voucher?

As I noted above, at present there are a grand total of FOUR UK hotels where you can use the free night voucher.  You can of course use it globally, at any Starwood hotel which costs up to 10,000 points per night (so 30,000 ‘new scheme’ points equivalent).

From August, the free night voucher will be valid at any Marriott or Starwood hotel costing up to 25,000 points per night.

This is nominally a downgrade, since at present it is valid at any hotel costing up to (the equivalent of) 30,000 ‘new scheme’ points.  I don’t want to dwell on the downgrade element too much, however, since many lower-standard hotels are getting cheaper under the new scheme.  Three of the four UK hotels currently bookable with the voucher will remain bookable – only the Sheraton Skyline at Heathrow falls away.

However, there are 45 upsides

Whilst the free night voucher will only be valid at hotels costing up to 25,000 points per night (compared with 30,000 points now), there is a LOT more opportunity to use it because the Marriott portfolio is also available to you.

Just looking at the UK, these hotels will now be bookable on the SPG Amex free weekend night voucher:

  • Aberdeen Marriott
  • AC Hotel Birmingham
  • AC Hotel Manchester Salford Quays
  • Aloft Liverpool (reviewed here)
  • Aloft London Excel
  • Bexleyheath Marriott
  • Beardsall Priory Marriott
  • Bristol Marriott City Centre
  • Cheshunt Marriott
  • Courtyard Aberdeen Airport
  • Courtyard Glasgow Airport
  • Courtyard London Gatwick
  • Durham Marriott
  • Forest of Arden Marriott
  • Glasgow Marriott
  • Hanbury Manor Marriott
  • Heathrow / Windsor Marriott
  • Hollins Hall Marriott
  • Huntingdon Marriott
  • Leeds Marriott
  • Leicester Marriott
  • Lingfield Park Marriott
  • Liverpool Marriott City Centre
  • London Marriott Twickenham
  • Manchester Airport Marriott (photo below, reviewed here)
  • Meon Valley Marriott
  • MOXY Aberdeen Airport
  • MOXY Glasgow
  • MOXY London Excel (reviewed here)
  • MOXY London Stratford
  • MOXY Heathrow Airport
  • Newcastle Gateshead Marriot Metro Centre
  • Newcastle Marriott Gosforth Park
  • Northampton Marriott
  • Peterborough Marriott
  • Portsmouth Marriott
  • Preston Marriott
  • Renaissance London Heathrow
  • Residence Inn Aberdeen
  • Sheraton Heathrow
  • Sprowston Manor Marriott
  • St Pierre Marriott
  • Sunderland Marriott
  • Swansea Marriott
  • Tudor Park Marriott
  • University Arms, Cambridge
  • Waltham Abbey Marriott
  • Worsley Park Marriott

This is obviously a substantial improvement – we have gone from 4 UK hotels where you could use your free night voucher to 48.

However, the point of my original argument still stands.  Spending £25,000 on an Amex card is NOT easy – and your only reward is a free weekend night at a relatively low-rent hotel …..

Manchester Airport Marriott

Should you consider getting the SPG Amex card?

Yes.

The free night benefit may be rubbish (it IS rubbish, let’s be honest, and remains so even with another few thousand ‘cheap and cheerful’ potential places to use it) but here’s why the card makes sense for many readers:

You can get the Starwood Amex irrespective of what other American Express cards you hold

Even if you already have a Gold / Platinum charge card and a British Airways American Express card, you can still get the sign-up bonus on the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card.

It comes with a good sign-up bonus worth 10,000 Avios

The sign-up bonus is 10,000 Starwood Preferred Guest points.  This increases to 11,000 points if you use a refer-a-friend link – email me at rob at headforpoints.com if you want a link.  10,000 SPG points convert into 10,000 miles with 29 airlines, including Avios and Virgin Flying Club.  In the merged SPG / Marriott scheme, it will be worth 30,000 points.  Used for hotel rooms, you should get £150 of value from that.

There is a low spend target to trigger the bonus

You only need to spend £1,000 within 90 days to receive the 10,000 Starwood points (30,000 ‘new scheme’ points) as a sign-up bonus.   This should not be tricky for most Head for Points readers, given that the BA Premium and Gold / Platinum cards have far higher thresholds.

It is a good way of earning airline miles if your airline no longer has a credit card

Now that Emirates, Etihad, Lufthansa, American and United no longer have UK credit cards, the Starwood Preferred Guest Amex is the best way to earn miles in these programmes.  There are also 20+ other airlines who never had a UK credit card, such as Air Canada and Qatar Airways, where this credit card is the best way to earn miles in the UK from day to day spend.

The £75 annual fee is refundable pro-rata if you cancel

You can cancel the card at any point and receive a pro-rata refund of the annual fee.

If you collect Marriott Rewards points, it is a great way to build up your balance.

Just don’t focus too much on spending £25,000 on the card to trigger the free night voucher, because there are far better places to put your long-term spending …..

My full review of the Starwood Amex credit card is here.  You can apply for the card here.

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Comments (100)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Sandgrounder says:
    3 Jul3 July 05:34

    ‘These are not, to put it mildly, top weekend break destinations!’
    I see you did a copy and paste on that one from last time- Liverpool IS a top weekend destination!

    Agreed there are better places to put your 25k spend, but do you really need to earn £150k to spend £500 a week? I can think of loads of couples earning £60-70k between them who easily blow through more than this. But then, this is the frozen north where decent houses don’t cost quite so much.

    • BJ says:
      3 Jul3 July 05:48

      I was hoping something might appeal for a 7 night travel package but I don’t think so. Looks like Paris it will be, just hope I do not need a visa by the time it comes round.

    • RIccatti says:
      3 Jul3 July 06:05

      Aloft Liverpool became disproportionally expensive for cash rates.

    • Rob says:
      3 Jul3 July 09:26

      £70k is £48k take home. No way you could do £25k Amex in that after housing costs, bills, loan repayments etc. Unlikely to even have £25k left.

      • Sandgrounder says:
        3 Jul3 July 09:43

        Not for 2 people it isn’t! 2x35k is 54k take home. That is 4.5k per month, even 48k is 4k. Allowing for a bit of equity, you could easily have a nice 4 bed detached in the North for 200k mortgage, 1k per month. 1k is generous for bills. Easily leaves 500pw for food, petrol, eating out, clothes etc. Different situation if you live in London and send kids to private school though granted.

        • Mr(s) Entitled says:
          3 Jul3 July 11:28

          Shhhhh. Don’t give away our secrets to those in the (deflating) London Bubble!

        • Anna says:
          3 Jul3 July 11:58

          Agreed, though the mortgage on our 4 bedroom Northern house is only £500 pm. Pay pretty much everything on credit cards now, easily put £2 – 3k per month through.

        • Jon says:
          3 Jul3 July 16:45

          Yes, stop it Sandgrounder, they’ll all move up. If you’re based in London/SE in my line of work you get an 20% pay weighting. They can shove it. I take home 20% less and live like a feckin king compared to my S/E based colleagues.

    • RussellH says:
      3 Jul3 July 12:03

      Yes, Liverpool IS definitely a good weekend break destination.

      And Saturday night cash prices at the Aloft can be well in excess of £150 if Liverpool FC are at home. A friend had to pay over £100 for both Fri and Sat in February this year, booking probably a month in advance.
      Other friends who joined us later had to go to the Premier Inn, as they only wanted the one night and the Aloft was not taking one night bookings.
      3000 SPG points / weekend night there (still, till the end of this month, I think) is rediculously cheap – not that I am complaining!

  • Jim says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:34

    Is there a new Marriott creation credit card comming this summer? How will it compare to this one or the ihg premium MasterCard?

    • RIccatti says:
      3 Jul3 July 06:44

      I wouldn’t expect much. Marriott is all about extracting cash.

    • Rob says:
      3 Jul3 July 09:23

      August. Probably same as the old one, so 1 point per £1 with a 10k sign up bonus. No free night offer. Silver status included.

      • RussellH says:
        3 Jul3 July 12:05

        But maybe they might drop the 2000 point annual bonus for new card holders?

      • lev441 says:
        3 Jul3 July 17:13

        Not great compared to the SPG amex!

  • Amit says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:44

    How do I refer myself for this card from my wife’s gold? It never seems to be an option

    • ah says:
      3 Jul3 July 07:04

      send yourself a referal link for a gold card & then select another card by comparing cards.

    • Polly says:
      3 Jul3 July 07:04

      Easy. Email a link from her gold to your email, or use same one… then scroll down to other cards and chose spg.

  • Cdd says:
    3 Jul3 July 06:45

    I’m a bit confused by this article. Have the changes to the UK Amex been formally announced? Is points earning not being devalued like happened to the US card? What about the free elite night credits? Or is this unrelated news?

    • Ian says:
      3 Jul3 July 07:17

      Points earning is not being devalued.
      There are no free elite night credits with the UK SPG Amex.

      • Joe says:
        3 Jul3 July 07:44

        This is one thing I was hoping would change, to make it easier to jump from gold to platinum. The Marriott website on the UK SPG card still hasn’t been updated (it doesn’t even mention the earning rate) so I’m still hoping the change could still come, but perhaps that’s wishful thinking!

      • Cdd says:
        3 Jul3 July 08:44

        Is it known that points earning is not being devalued – I haven’t seen that announced anywhere, and this site is vague on whether it is quoting the old rate or reaffirming the old rate. Given what has happened to the US/Canada cards I think this is pretty significnat information!

        • Andrew S says:
          3 Jul3 July 10:15

          Existing SPG Amex UK card holders have had the terms amended on their latest statement to the effect that the earn rate is now £1 = 3 new scheme points, instead of the old £1 = 1 starpoint. I.e. No change in earning

  • ah says:
    3 Jul3 July 07:22

    I think what gets missed with the SPG is
    Amex points convert 2 points to 1 SPG point.
    So the SPG card is a good way of collecting SPG points
    £1 = 1 point on SPG card, compared to £2 = 1 point on an Amex members rewards points.

    I am sitting on a stack of airmiles & switched to hotels. SPG seem to give me a better £/point options when looking at destinations compared to Hilton for example.
    Stayed in San Francisco last week & managed to get 4 nights in a grand deluxe room for 54,000 points (12,000 for basic room + 1500 for upgrade room to deluxe room + SPG status (elite plus rather than just elite) that comes with the credit card for grand deluxe upgrade). Cash bookings was pushing $350 a night with the taxes because it was pride weekend + some a large house builders convention.

    • Alex W says:
      3 Jul3 July 07:54

      I don’t think it’s been confirmed yet that UK Amex MR will be convertible into the new Marriott scheme. Likely it will be 2:3 though.

      • Rob says:
        3 Jul3 July 09:17

        Not 100% confirmed but would be shocked if you couldn’t.

        • ah says:
          3 Jul3 July 10:30

          Yes, 2:3 is more likely when its Marriot.
          2 members points = 1 SPG point
          1SPG point = 3 Marriott points
          so 2 amex members points = 3 marriott points

  • E says:
    3 Jul3 July 07:36

    There looks like a gap in the earning rate change. For example, if your statement date is 15th July, the points from 15th June to 15th July will go across to your SPG account. They will equate to 3 Marriott points/£1.

    Spending on the SPG Amex adds an amount of points to be transferred on your Amex on a daily basis. So the points from 15th July to 1st July will not go to your SPG account as that won’t exist when the monthly statement is produced but will go to the Marriott account. These will still only have been logged by Amex as 1/£1 not 3/£1, unless Amex apply a multiplier of 3 at the 1st August date. Only the spending from 1st August will show on the Amex account as 3/£1. Just might be worth bearing in mind if you’re making a big purchase in that gap.

    • E says:
      3 Jul3 July 07:37

      Oops, meant the points from 15th July to 1st August…not 15th July to 1st July…

  • Eugene says:
    3 Jul3 July 08:04

    I thought there was also a quirk where you could get 5000 point bonus if you transferred 20,000 SPG points to another scheme? I thought I could transfer 10k Amex MR across, add to the 10k awarded then get 25k in for example Emirates scheme. Anyone done this? Is it still a feature of the new scheme Rob?

    • Ian says:
      3 Jul3 July 08:06

      Yes you get 5k bonus airline miles for every 20k you convert. But your 10k MR points will convert 5k starpoints not 10k

    • TGLoyalty says:
      3 Jul3 July 08:37

      As long as they are not an MR partner then yea it’s a good idea but if they are then nope as you’ve just moved 20k MR to gain 15k miles vs the 10k you’d get anyway from just converting the SPG you have.

      • Eugene says:
        3 Jul3 July 11:08

        Thanks. In that case its just take the sign up bonus and churn to the Mrs.

    • Rob says:
      3 Jul3 July 09:17

      Yes, still there as 60k points will get you 25k miles.

  • Simon says:
    3 Jul3 July 08:13

    O/T any idea of which BA planes have WiFi ? Specifically G-VIIN.

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