Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Business Credit Card Review
The Amex Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card is a powerhouse business rewards card if you’re into redeeming your rewards for hotel stays. Starwood owns a number of premier brands, including: Meridien, Westin, The Luxury Collection, aLoft Hotels, Four Points (Sheraton), Sheraton, Element by Westin, St Regis, and the W Hotels.
The source of this plastic’s power doesn’t come from years spent on the planet Krypton, nor is it derived from the sheer number of SPG points you earn. Rather, the secret is in the potential redemption value of each SPG point earned. PlasticIQ has estimated that Starpoints are worth 2.26 cents each when redeemed for stays at Starwood hotels. Impressive, most impressive…
| GENERAL | |
| Rewards Program | Starwood Preferred Guest |
| Credit Level Required | Excellent |
| EARNING STARPOINTS | |
| Base Rewards | 1 Starpoint per dollar of spend. |
| Bonus Categories | 4 points per dollar of spend at Starwood Hotels and Resorts (5 points if you have Starwood Preferred Elite Status) |
| Sign Up Bonus | 10,000 Starpoints after 1st purchase |
| Spend Range Bonus | 15,000 SPG points after spending $5,000 within 6 months of account opening. |
| Other Bonuses | On account opening and the beginning of each future calendar year, you’ll receive 5 nights towards your Starwood Preferred Guest Elite Business Status |
| Points Expiration | Points do not expire. |
| REDEEMING STARPOINTS | |
| Redemption Methods |
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| Highest Value Redemption Method | Redeeming for Starwood hotel stays (see below for more info) |
| Redemption Bonuses | Earn an additional 5,000 Starpoints when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints to any of 30+ airlines |
| FEES AND OTHER | |
| Annual Fee | $65 (waived 1st year) |
| Foreign Transaction Fee | 2.7% after converting to USD |
Going a Bit Deeper on Earning Starwood Rewards with the SPG Amex Card
If you’re serious about amassing a large number of SPG rewards which you can then deploy, like a digital army, for free stays at Starwood hotels around the globe, then for sure you’ll need a Starwood credit card in your arsenal–just belonging to the loyalty program itself won’t be enough.
If the Starwood business credit card was a story, then the protagonist would be the sign-up and spend range bonuses (so, 2 protagonists–perhaps a romcom?), which, combined, give you a nuclear-warhead-esque yield of 25,000 Starpoints. At a value of 2.26 cents per point, that’s a cool $565 in savings that you otherwise would have shelled out on SPG hotel rooms.
The actual base rewards are 1 SPG point per dollar of spend (although again if you use for hotels, that’s like earning 2.3% cashback). You also earn a total of 4 SPG points for every dollar of spend at Starwood hotels (although hopefully that will be minimal since you’ll be using your Starpoints to stay for free at SPG locations.
5 Nights Towards Elite Business Status
No, Elite Status does not mean you’ll all of a sudden become an elite commando, or be whisked away by helicopter from some corporate highrise. It just means you’ll get treated a little bit nicer, maybe get a nicer looking room with fewer stains.(ewww, sorry). So, every year you have the Starwood Business Credit Card, you’ll get 5 nights towards the next status level (to be clear, these are NOT free nights, you can think of them as special points that help you move up in status). The details of how many points are required to move to the next level, along with commensurate benefits, can be found in our detailed post, Starwood Preferred Guest Program Review.
So What Can You Get with your Starwood Preferred Guest Points?
Starpoints can be redeemed through the SPG website for a variety of rewards, including hotel stays (of course!), airline tickets, and gift cards. You can even transfer your SPG points to any one of more than 30 frequent flyer programs, mostly at a 1:1 exchange rate.
However, according to our own analysis of the value of Starpoints, your best bet is to redeem your SPG points for hotel stays at Starwood properties, where they are valued at around 2.26 cents each. Gift card redemptions represent the worst strategy (imagine placing your Spy in the front row in a game of Risk), at roughly 1.05 cents per SPG point.
Getting Starry-Eyed Over the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card
Well, there you have it. If you’re pre-disposed to staying at Starwood Hotels, and want to rack up more SPG points, then the American Express SPG Business Card may be right for you–as long as you primarily redeem your points for SPG Hotel stays.
The 25,000 SPG points that can be earned through a combination of sign-up and spend-range bonuses is also no laughing matter, and could ultimately save you more than $500 in Starwood hotel stays.
It would have been nice to see some additional earnings power on the Amex SPG Card (for example, 2 points at gas and restaurants, etc), but alas you only earn extra points when you stay at a Starwood property. But overall this is a highly performant card, and we generally recommend it.
| Amex Starwood Preferred Guest Business Card |
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| Apply for the Amex Starwood Preferred Business Credit Card |
Last Reviewed: 1/8/2012