What is the best replacement for your Starwood Preferred Guest American Express credit card?

As we covered last week, American Express has written to holders of the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card telling them that the benefits package is changing on 26th February.

The card is being rebranded as the Marriott Bonvoy American Express on that date.  Here is a summary of the changes:

The name of the card will be changed to the Marriott Bonvoy American Express card

The earning rate will be slashed by 33%, from 3 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1 to 2 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1

The earning rate at Marriott Bonvoy hotels will remain 6 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1

Instead of giving all cardholders Silver Elite status, you will receive 15 elite night credits per year.  This will trigger Silver Elite status anyway, but also means that you are 15 nights closer to Gold Elite, Platinum Elite or Titanium Elite status.  

The annual fee remains at £75

Here is the new design:

Quite a few readers who have the card have said that they will not be keeping it when the changes come into effect.  I can understand why, because a 1% return – based on my valuation of Marriott Bonvoy points of 0.5p – is difficult to justify with a £75 annual fee.

(There are other readers, of course, who now want to get the card because of the addition of 15 elite nights.  Anyone who could easily achieve 35 Marriott Bonvoy nights per year, including reward stays, would be able to earn Platinum Elite status with the extra 15 elite nights from having the credit card.)

I thought I would have a look at the best alternatives if you have decided that you can’t justify keeping your SPG Amex.

What is your best alternative to the Starwood Preferred Guest American Express card?

There are a number of ways of looking at this.  Let’s run through them.

Scenario 1:  You want a card which still lets you earn Marriott Bonvoy points at a decent rate

The good news is that there are other ways to earn Marriott Bonvoy points from a credit or charge card in the UK.  The earning rate is not too shabby either.

For modest spenders, my preferred choice would be the American Express Rewards Credit Card.

This card is FREE FOR LIFE so, once you’ve got it, you don’t need to worry about any ‘first year free’ deal expiring.  Importantly, the card earns 1 American Express Membership Rewards point per £1 spent.

This is the same earning rate as American Express Preferred Rewards Gold (£140 after the free first year) or American Express Platinum (£575 per year) so you can see how attractive it is.

1 Membership Rewards point gets you 1.5 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1.  This is lower than the 2 Marriott Bonvoy points per £1 on the SPG / Bonvoy Amex BUT you are not paying the £75 annual fee.   For anyone spending less than £30,000 on the SPG / Bonvoy Amex per year, the American Express Rewards Credit Card is likely to be a better deal.  (I calculate £30,000 as the break-even figure based on the Bonvoy Amex earning an extra 0.5 points, which I value at 0.25p, per £1 spent.)

Of course, I am placing no value on the extra benefits offered by the Marriott Bonvoy Amex:

6 points per £1 at Marriott hotels

Gold Elite status for spending £15,000 per year

A free night in a hotel costing up to 25,000 points for spending £25,000 per year

….. but I am also placing no value on the fact that Amex Membership Rewards points can also be converted into Hilton Honors and Radisson Rewards, giving you more flexibility for free nights.

There are two other options for earning Membership Rewards cards – either American Express Preferred Rewards Gold or American Express Platinum.

As I said above, these cards also give you 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent, and they convert at 2:3 into Marriott Bonvoy.

Preferred Rewards Gold is free for the first year.  You won’t qualify for the sign-up bonus if you have the SPG Amex, but you WILL receive two free airport lounge passes.  Arguably, one plan would be to get Gold for a year to get the airport lounge passes and then move on to the ‘free for life’ Amex Rewards Credit Card after 12 months.

The Platinum Card is a totally different proposition, as you’d expect for a £575 fee.

You WILL qualify for the 30,000 Membership Rewards points sign-up bonus (which converts into 45,000 Marriott Bonvoy points) even though you have the Starwood Amex.  You are only disqualified if you have held a Green, Gold, Platinum, Centurion or Amex Rewards card in the last 24 months.

The Platinum Card also comes with Gold Elite status in Marriott Bonvoy, along with status in Hilton Honors, Radisson Rewards, MeliaRewards, Shangri-La Golden Circle and Taj InnerCircle, the latter via a guaranteed Shangri-La match.

Our full review of American Express Platinum is here.  This article explains how I justify The Platinum Card fee.

Scenario 2:  You want a credit card to collect hotel loyalty points in general

If you are prepared to swap from Marriott Bonvoy points, there are other options open to you.

All of the American Express options above remain attractive because, as well as transferring to Bonvoy, Membership Rewards points also transfer to Hilton Honors (at 1:2, so 2 points per £1 spent) and Radisson Rewards (at 1:3, so 3 points per £1 spent).

Hilton Honors does not have a UK credit card at the moment.

The only direct Visa / Mastercard option is via the IHG Rewards Club Mastercard (1 IHG Rewards Club point per £1) or the £99 IHG Rewards Club Premium Mastercard at 2 points per £1.

There is a sign-up bonus on these cards.  The free IHG Mastercard comes with 10,000 IHG points.  The £99 Premium card comes with 20,000 IHG points.

I rate these cards highly.  The IHG Rewards Club Premium Card won ‘Best UK Travel Rewards Credit Card (Editor’s Choice)’ at the Head for Points Travel & Loyalty Awards 2019.  It is a good package:

you get a decent sign-up bonus of 20,000 IHG Rewards Club points

the points you earn from spending count for status

you get Platinum Elite status (benefits here) in IHG Rewards Club for as long as you hold the card

you get a voucher for a free night EVERY YEAR as long as you spend £10,000 on the card – which is easier to do, on a Mastercard, than it is with American Express

Our full review of the IHG Rewards Club Premium Mastercard is here.

It is also worth noting that the Virgin Atlantic credit cards, which I outline below, let you transfer your Virgin Flying Club miles into Hilton Honors (at 2:3) or IHG Rewards Club (at 1:1) points.  You lose a lot of value compared to using the miles for flights, however.

Scenario 3:  You simply want the most rewarding credit card per £1 spent

Without a doubt, the two Virgin Atlantic Mastercards are the most generous Visa or Mastercard products available – either the Virgin Reward Mastercard (free, 5000 miles bonus) or Virgin Reward+ Mastercard (£160, 25000 miles bonus until 28th February – see here).

You get 0.75 miles per £1 on the free card and 1.5 miles per £1 on the paid card.  This is FAR better than any hotel card, assuming you value a mile at 1p.  The only downside is that, with no short haul routes, you are unlikely to earn enough miles purely from the credit card to get a good redemption so the cards are best suited to regular Virgin flyers.

The British Airways American Express cards offer a similar return – 1 Avios per £1 on the free card and 1.5 Avios per £1 on the £195 Premium Plus card.  Most HFP readers understand the value of these cards, and I would stress that – because of the 2-4-1 voucher – the Premium Plus card is the most generous travel credit card in the UK.  A Mastercard or Visa would obviously be more flexible, but if you are swapping out of the Starwood Amex then this is presumably not a concern for you.

You WILL qualify for the 25,000 Avios sign-up bonus on the BA Premium Plus Amex despite having had the SPG Amex.  You are only disqualified if you have held either of the BA cards in the last 24 months.  However, you will NOT qualify for the 5,000 Avios bonus on the free BA Amex card.

I would also recommend that high spenders take a look at the Lufthansa Miles & More Global Traveller card (review here).

You earn 1.25 miles per £1 spent on their Mastercard, which is an excellent result given the £79 annual fee.  As with Virgin Atlantic, the real value in Miles & More comes from long-haul redemptions.  You need to see a way of getting to 50,000+ miles, either from card spend or a combination of spend and Star Alliance flying, before you can get a decent redemption.

The best non-Amex cards for an Avios / Asia Miles / Singapore Krisflyer / Etihad Guest collector are the HSBC Premier Mastercard or HSBC Premier World Elite Mastercard.   The basic card earn 0.5 miles per £1 (no annual fee) whilst the £195 World Elite card earns 1 mile per £1.   You need to have the financial resources to open a HSBC Premier current account to qualify, however.

The Marriott Bonvoy Amex – love it or list it?

If you are high spender, or value the 15 elite night credits towards status, the Marriott Bonvoy American Express may continue to be your card of choice.

With the earning rate being cut by 33% on 26th February, however, you may find needs better met by one of the alternatives above.

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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.