Category Archives: Starwood (SPG)

Reader Question: When Will The Starwood Hotel (SPG) 30,000 Point Bonus Come Back?

Posted on June 16, 2013 by | 8 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily and I get a commission for links to the Starwood hotel cards in this post.  But read this post if you were thinking of applying in the next few months!]

Million Mile Secrets reader goals^n^dreams commented on an old post on the American Express Starwood Hotel (SPG) 30,000 point signup bonus :

When will 30000 bonus come back again? do you know? I am waiting for this!

I don’t have any inside information, but the American Express Starwood Hotel (SPG) 30,000 point signup bonus has always appeared in the 2nd half of the year.

fgfg

Starwood Preferred Guest Includes 9 Different Hotel Chains

Starwood Preferred Guest hotels includes Aloft, Element, Four Points, Le Meredien, Sheraton,  St Regis,  The Luxury Collection, Westin and W brand hotels. Continue reading →

→ 8 Comments

Posted in American Express, Starwood (SPG)

News You Can Use – 10,000 Club Carlson Points & More…

Posted on May 14, 2013 by | 5 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

1.  Earn 10,000 Club Carlson Per Two-Night Reservation

Loyalty Lobby reports that Club Carlson has a 10,000 points bonus for each stay of 2 or more consecutive nights, from May 13, 2013 to July 21, 2013.  Registration is required before the stay, and can be done here.

Club Carlson 10,000 Points Promotion

Club Carlson Two Nights 10,000 Points Promotion

Per the Terms and Conditions, the rate booked must be eligible for earning points, so reservations made through third-party sites like Priceline or Orbitz may not be eligible.

Club Carlson is the hotel loyalty program for Country Inns and Suites, Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Inn by Radisson,  and Park Plaza, so points you earn can be redeemed at any of these hotels.

2.  Rental Car Promotions

Deals We Like highlights a boatload carload of current rental promotions for Avis, Budget, Enterprise, and Hertz. Continue reading →

→ 5 Comments

Posted in American Express, Avis, British Airways, Budget, Credit Cards, Enterprise, Rental Cars, Starwood (SPG)

News You Can Use – 1,000 Free Marriott Rewards Points, Chicago Cubs Suites and More…

Posted on April 9, 2013 by | 10 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

1.   1,000 Free Marriott Points for Your Baseball Stories

According to NotiFlyer, Marriott is giving away points for submitting stories of your baseball memories. 

Submit your baseball memories and stories to Marriott’s Rewards Insiders Forum, between now and April 14th, and you will earn 500 Marriott Rewards points per story, up to a maximum of 1,000 points in honor of the movie 42.

The terms say that stories have to be at least 50 words and not longer then 1,000 words.

Marriott 42

2.   4x JetBlue TrueBlue Points Continue reading →

→ 10 Comments

Posted in Hilton HHonors, Jet Blue, Marriott, Starwood (SPG)

News You Can Use – US Air and American Airlines Share/Purchase Bonuses, Starwood & Hilton Promotions & Andaz Maui Hotel

Posted on April 4, 2013 by | 14 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

1.   50% Bonus on US Airways Miles Shared or Transferred from Hotels

Now through April 30, 2013 US Airways is offering a 50% bonus for sharing miles.

You can earn only 25,000 miles as a bonus, so you’re effectively paying ~2.27 cents for 1 US Air mile.  So you’d have to share 50,000 miles to max out on the share mile bonus.  2.27 cents per mile is more than other US Air promotions, but it could be worth it to top off for an award.

US Airways

50% US Air Share Bonus

Loyalty Lobby writes about a 50% bonus when you transfer your hotel points to US Air.  US Airways hotel transfer partners include Best Western, Choice hotels, Club Carlson, LaQuinta, Marriott, Starwood, and Wyndham . Continue reading →

→ 14 Comments

Posted in American Airlines, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt, Starwood (SPG), Uncategorized, US Air

Points Envy’s Newsreal

Posted on March 3, 2013 by | Leave a comment

Note: This post is satire and you shouldn’t follow any of Points Envy’s suggestions, nor should you break the law.  Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental.

A lot of exciting things have happened in the Points World over the last week or two, and this week at Billion Mile Secrets we are bringing you up to speed on some of the most significant developments.  As President Thomas Jefferson once said, “Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own points balances.  E pluribus unum.”

  • Delta Airlines and Starwood Preferred Guest have teamed up, creating an unlikely alliance between the most valuable hotel loyalty program and the least valuable frequent flyer program.  We only hope that SPG has a solid prenup in place. Continue reading →

→ Leave a comment

Posted in American Express, Club Carlson, Delta Skymiles, Starwood (SPG), Ultimate Rewards, Uncategorized, US Bank

News You Can Use – Southwest Fare Sale, Hyatt Spring Promotion, Starwood Points for Delta Flights, 20,000 Points for Canadian American Express, 100% Bonus on Transferring Avianca Miles & 500 Delta Miles for WilliamPaid

Posted on February 7, 2013 by | 9 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

1.   Southwest Fare Sale.   Deals We Like reports that Southwest has a fare sale with flights ranging from $49 to $149 for a 1-way flight.  And don’t forget to register for double points on Southwest via this link as well!

You have to purchase your ticket by Thursday (today) February 7, 2013, 11:59 pm Pacific Time for travel between April 3 through June 8, 2013.

Hyatt Summer 2013 Promotion

Southwest Fare Sale

Southwest has a revenue based frequent flyer program, so a fare sale means that both cash AND award bookings using points will cost less!

  • $49 or 2,280 points for flights up to 500 miles
  • $89 or 4,680 points for flights 501 miles to 1,300 miles
  • $119 or 6,480 points for flights 1,001 miles to 1,500 miles
  • $149 or 8,280 points for flights more than 1,501 miles Continue reading →

→ 9 Comments

Posted in American Express, Avianca, Avianca, Hyatt, Southwest, Starwood (SPG)

How to Keep your Hotel Points from Expiring Without Staying in a Hotel!

Posted on January 30, 2013 by | 14 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on Facebook or Twitter!

Hotel Points expiration

I’ve written about how to keep your airline miles from expiring without flying.  Here’s how to keep your hotel points from expiring without staying in a hotel!  Points expire in most US based airline program after 12 to 24 months of no earning or redemption activity.

Some programs like Choice and Wyndham hotels expire after 2 and 4 years and there is nothing you can do to extend the expiration, so you might as well use them before they expire.

Award Wallet is a good tool to track your miles and points balances and expiration dates.

Hotel
Expiration Policy
Choice Hotels On December 31st, 2 years after you earned the points.
Club Carlson24 months of not earning or spending points
Hilton 12 months of not earning or spending points
Hyatt Gold12 months of not earning or spending points
Marriott24 months of not earning points
Priority ClubPoints Never Expire
Starwood Hotels12 months of not earning or spending points
WyndhamPoints expire after 4 years and you can't do anything to extend them beyond 4 years.

However, they will expire sooner (in 18 months)of not earning or spending points

But it is really, really easy to keep your hotel points active WITHOUT staying in the hotel!

Sometimes, all you need to do is to make an award booking and cancel it later, for free!  This will generate redemption activity when you make the award and earning activity when you cancel the award and reset the point expiration clock.  But be sure to check the cancellation policy when you book!

You can easily extend the expiration by buying something cheap or making a $1 donation from the airline’s online shopping mall, or using a credit card to keep your points active!

1.   Choice hotels International

hotel points expiration

→ 14 Comments

Posted in Choice Privileges, Club Carlson, Hilton HHonors, Hyatt, Marriott, Priority Club, Starwood (SPG), Wyndham

News You Can Use – Priority Club & Starwood Award Changes, Iceland Air Redemptions, & Staying Healthy with a Points Obsession

Posted on January 19, 2013 by | 13 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

1.   Priority Club.   Via Mommy Points, Priority Club announces their new award chart.  And the bargain hotels, like the Priority Club hotels in New York now require more points.

Priority Club hotels include Candlewood Suites, Crowne Plaza,  Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Hotel Indigo, Intercontinental Hotels & Resorts, and Staybridge Suites brand hotels.

However, TJ on Miles & Points writes that there are some deals to be had like the InterContinental in Tahiti or Bombay for 25,000 points.

Loyalty Lobby has a list of the old award rates.  If the number of points for a hotel has decreased, just cancel your existing award and rebook at the lower rate.

If the amount of points for a hotel which you wanted to book has increased,  call Priority Club (before March 18, 2013) and ask them to book you at the lower rate.

2.  Starwood Cash & Points Award Change.   One of the best hotel deals is the Starwood Cash & Points awards where you can book a room at a Starwood hotel with a combination of Starwood points and a cash co-pay.  These awards let you stretch out the value of your Starwood points, and Emily and I spend a lot of time in Europe after I graduated thanks to cash and points awards. Continue reading →

→ 13 Comments

Posted in Alaska Airlines, Iceland Air, Priority Club, Starwood (SPG)

The Best Credit Cards to Use With American Express Bluebird

Posted on October 25, 2012 by | 107 Comments

[Disclosure:  Emily & I get a referral for all the credit cards in this post except for the Delta Platinum (better offer than my referral link), Chase United Explorer, Chase United Club, Chase British Airways, Fidelity American Express, & Capital One Venture cards.]

There are many different debit and credit cards which you can use with American Express Bluebird, so let’s take a look at a few different options.  We’ll look at credit cards today and debit cards tomorrow.

After all, you don’t want to buy thousands of dollars worth of Vanilla Reload packs from CVS, Walgreen’s or other locations. with just a single credit card.

American Express Bluebird Credit Card

Which Cards to Use With American Express Bluebird?

Using different cards will help reduce the potential of attracting attention with Chase since you are spreading your purchases among different cards. Continue reading →

→ 107 Comments

Posted in American Airlines, American Express, Big Spenders, British Airways, Business Credit Cards, Chase, Citibank, Credit Cards, Debit Cards, Delta Skymiles, Hyatt, Mortgage, Pre-Paid Debit Cards, Southwest, Starwood (SPG), United Airlines

News You Can Use – Up To 50% Off Select Starwood Hotel Award Redemptions & United Elite Status Auction

Posted on October 19, 2012 by | 2 Comments

Don’t forget to follow me on  Facebook or Twitter!

1.   Up to 50% Off Starwood Hotel Redemptions.   One Mile at a Time reports that you can get up to 50% off some really nice Starwood hotel redemptions for stays between October 21, 2012 and December 20, 2012.

2.  United Elite Status Auction.  There is an auction for United elite status on Milepoint which ends at 2:00 pm today (Friday, October 19, 2012).  You can get up to United 1K status which will last untill January 2014.

* If you liked this post, why don’t you join the 7,000+ readers who have signed-up to receive free blog posts via email (only 1 email per day!) or in a RSS reader …because then you’ll never miss another News You Can Use update!

→ 2 Comments

Posted in Starwood (SPG), United Airlines