Update: This offer is expired.                                                                               ———————————————-

For a limited time, American Express has raised the bonus on the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) credit card to 30k bonus points! This credit card normally comes with a 25k bonus. With this offer you will receive 10,000 bonus points after first purchase and an additional 20,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 within the first 6 months of card opening.

The bonus has been raised on both the Consumer card and the Business card!

The Starwood American Express credit card is from the best overall credit cards for your average daily spending.

Not all “points” are created equal. Starwood points are the most valuable and flexible from all the different points out there.

Here’s what they can be used for;

1. FREE Hotel Stays: SPG points can be redeemed for hotel stays at over 1,100 hotel properties worldwide. Starwood has great award availability with no blackout dates. If there is a room available you will get it.The Starwood hotel chain includes Westin, St. Regis, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Le Meridien, Loft, W Hotels, The Luxury Collection and element hotels.

Free nights start at just 2,000 points a night for weekend redemption’s or 3,000 points a night for weekday redemption’s at category 1 hotels. Category 2 hotels are 3,000 – 4,000 points a night, Category 3 are 7,000 points a night, Category 4 are 12,000 points a night, Category 5 are 20,000 points a night, Category 6 is 20,000 points a night and Category 7 is 25,000 points a night.  (If you are a gold member redemption’s will be less 250 points).

For instance the Le Meridein Dead Sea hotel normally costs about $500 a night but is only a category 1 hotel so a free night will be just 2,000 – 3,000 points a night respectively!

2. Cash and Points! Many times when redeeming for free nights, there is also a Cash & Points redemption option. This option allows you to use a small amount of points with a cash (in USD) outlay. For instance you can redeem for a free night at the Sheraton Providence Airport Hotel for just 4,000 points a night or just 2,000 points + $35 or for instance the Le Méridien Vienna for either 12,000 points per night or 6,000 points + $110. Since the Cash & Points is always priced in USD, this can save you a bundle in Europe where everything is normally priced in Euro/Pound.

3. Airline Transfers. The SPG points can also transferred to 28 different airlines most at a 1:1 ratio, additionally when transferring to many airlines, you will receive a 5,000 mile bonus when you transfer 20,000 points in one shot.

Below is a list of airline transfer partners and the transfer ratio;

1. Aeroplan/Air Canada 1:1
2. Air Berlin 1:1
3. Air China Companion 1:1
4. Air New Zealand & Air Points 65:1
5. Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan 1:1
6. Alitalia MilleMiglia 1:1
7. All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club 1:1
8. American Airlines AAdvantage 1:1
9. Asia Miles 1:1
10. Asiana Airlines 1:1
11. British Airways Executive Club 1:1
12. Delta Air Lines SkyMiles 1:1
13. Emirates Skywards 1:1
14. Flying Blue 1:1
15. Hawaiian Airlines 1:1
16. Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank 1:1
17. King Club Miles 1:1
18. LAN LANPASS 1:1.5
19. Mexicana Frecuenta 1:1
20. Miles and More 1:1
21. Qatar Airways 1:1
22. Saudi Arabian Airlines Alfursan 1:1
23. Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 1:1
24. Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus 1:1
25. US Airways Dividend Miles 1:1
26. United Mileage Plus 2:1
27. VARIG Smiles 2:1
28. Virgin Atlantic Flying Club 1:1

5. SPG Flights. Generally not the best redemption, but Starwood lets you use points for 1 cent each towards booking revenue airline tickets (meaning you get the miles and elite status for the flights) on over 350 airlines.

6.  Gift Cards. You can also redeem your starpoints (though I’m not sure why you’d do this) for gift cards at a 1 cent per point ratio.

Other Benefits:

Elite Status. By having the SPG credit card you’ll get credit for 2 stays/5 nights towards Starwood elite status. If you have both the consumer card and the business card you’ll get 4/10 nights towards elite status.

Earn 2x points at Starwood properties. You’ll earn at least 2 points per dollar spent on Starwood purchases. Regular Starwood Preferred Guest members get 2 points per dollar spent at Starwood hotels. If you have the SPG card, that increases to 4 points per dollar, and if you have elite status it’s 5 points per dollar spent.

Amex Promo’s. This is not exclusive to the SPG card, but Amex offers from time to time very lucrative promotional offers, such as the $25 back per amex (Including authirized user cards) credit card for the small business saturday promo etc;

Acesse to Amex protection. American Express return protection and warranty protection are second to none in the credit card industry. I’ve returned multliple items to Amex after the merchant refused to take it back – many times Amex even let me keep the item. Same with warranty protection. Amex doubles the manufacturers warranty up-to 1 year. Both Warranty protection and Purchase protection are seamless.

Bear in Mind:

If you had this card within in the last 12 months Amex will most likely not give you the bonus offer. Though there is always the Business version of the card that you can apply for.

This card charges 2.7% foreign transaction fees.

There is an annual fee of $65 which is waived for the first year. After the first year is up, you can make back the annual fee by adding multiple “Authorized Users” on your account and using those cards for promo’s like the “Small Business Saturday” promotion where you’ll earn $25 per card!