I love credit cards so much!

[Judique]

The SPG cards give you an extra point. Say you buy $682.50 worth of Starpoints with your SPG AMEX (either personal or business, doesn't matter). You get 683 points for the normal 1x purchase, then an additional 683 pts for buying it with your SPG AMEX. Make sure when you buy, that you pick the Starwood AMEX option for payment.

That said, DH got the bonus points on his Starpoint purchase last month on his SPG Biz, but I have not, so I need to follow up on that.

Also check portals for points.com for extra cashback.

I'm actually surprised your husband got bonus points. I've only gotten 1 point in the past.

 

[speedyfishy]

Looking at my informed delivery and saw I have a welcome hit from life lock which I've never signed up for. Noticed it also has American airlines on the envelope. Quite curious to see what they've got going on. Seems like it should really just be a solicitation since they wouldn't have a way to sign you up through the ff program without you knowing.

I got one of these the other day but it was with United. I thought I signed up for something by the envelope saying welcome kit. The offer said I would get 16000 United Miles for trying it. I was interested until I read the terms on the bottom. the terms basically said to get those miles I needed a premium membership for awhile.

 

[pillow]

How many stays do you have with SPG?

SPG = only 4 stays

 

[wendow]

I guess I was thinking the new spg offer was a $200 statement credit. Not $100 credit and then another $100 if you make a purchase at one of their properties in the next 6 mos. seems even worse. So glad I went for the card Monday night!

 

[1st*toright]

Travel news - just one month until my Moab trip to Arches and Canyonlands. Very excited about this. It has been crazy at work and I really need a break.

Moab is on my list. I was thinking it might be a good place to use a Marriott package. Is a week too long there I wonder? We like to travel around and rarely spend that long in one place.

Dead Horse point is so beautiful, make sure you go to the actual point, we stopped at the visitor center and thought we were at the "point" but luckily discovered it was a short drive away. I wish I knew how to add photos, I think some of the Dead horse point ones are my favorites from our whole trip.

We just did Moab/Arches/Canyonlands plus some of the other UT parks. We only had 2.5 days in Moab - not nearly enough. Arches is cool (did some longer hikes, plus just went over a couple times near sunset and did some short walks), and there is an insane amount to explore in Canyonlands - Island in the Sky/Dead Horse point is the only area we got to, but there is so much more to see. Every place we went, we wished we had more time!

We stayed at the Fairfield Inn and the Spring Hill Suites - Fairfield in was fine, Spring Hill Suites was really good (we got upgraded to a family suite, which was lots of space and well laid out). They share a pool - a real hit with my little one. I could see making Spring Hill Suites your base camp for exploring all around there - if you don't mind some driving, there are plenty of day-tripable places that are amazing, and could work for a full week, I think. We had a great trip - you will have so much fun!

 

[peel]

Looking at my informed delivery and saw I have a welcome hit from life lock which I've never signed up for. Noticed it also has American airlines on the envelope. Quite curious to see what they've got going on. Seems like it should really just be a solicitation since they wouldn't have a way to sign you up through the ff program without you knowing.

I see one in my informed delivery too, and I don't really have any skin in the AA game, so I think it's just a solicitation.

 

[platamama]

I'm actually surprised your husband got bonus points. I've only gotten 1 point in the past.

I purchased Starpoints on sale last year (bought with my personal SPG), and again this year (one on DH SPG Biz, one on my SPG Biz), for both DH and my accounts separately for 4 different transactions. I've gotten 2x points from Starwood 3 out of the 4 times. I'll be following up on the missing one. I want it in my account before 8/1!

 

[jhoannam]

Have there been any rumors as to when the Marriott certificate & miles package will change? Are we thinking August?

 

[mhartman09]

He got really sad because he likes the fancy metal feel to the card. I feel kind of bad because it is maybe the one thing that excited him about this CC game.

When we PC'd DH's CSR to a CF, he was sad about loosing the metal card that people often comment on. When his CF came in, I put that in my wallet and he's kept using the CSR card he had. It still works with no issues. This might be an option for your DH.

SPG points are on sale until May 31. 35% deal. Anyone need to top off at 3 to 1 before Aug 1?

Ugh, I knew I should have waited a bit longer. I just purchased a small amount of points last week to book 2 rooms at the Swan for an adults trip in Sept. My SIL will be paying me for the points purchase anyway since it was for her room and I just needed to top off my account, but it's bugging the crap out of me that I paid full price just last week.

 

[disneymagicgirl]

My DH also got a $1k limit. So crazy!

Grrrrrr! Why oh why? I feel your pain!

YES! The spg biz said 2-3 days, took a week and the personal said 7-10 and it was overnighted

Ok, really dumb question, how do you know if they did a hard pull? Can you tell so soon after applying?

I get emails from my credit monitoring places pretty quickly.

DH has only had his SPG Biz card for a month and did the online request to increase his limit and within seconds his limit was approved for the increase. With 7k to spend, I wanted enough room in the limit to meet the spend without having to make multiple payments.

The CLI button showed up for my biz acct quickly too. I am not pushing it because I don’t want to do Anything to possibly thwart increasing my personal CL. Hopefully I get the button on it too in a couple weeks!

 

[pillow]

I was only ever gold once so I'm no expert, but with that many night credits I think you should be shooting for Platinum Elite at 50 nights before Dec 31st so you would have that status for all of 2019 - and here's where I don't know Marriott's program - is it calendar year? I think so but I haven't looked it up. And will all nights from both programs combine - hope they do for you, because if I had 37 nights by mid april - I would make a point of getting me some higher status.

I need to figure this out. I don't even quite understand how I accumulated the nights at Marriott. I haven't actually paid cash for a stay in years. I guess they came from points stays and credit card bonuses. Guess I need to figure out what I would actually get as Marriott Platinum under the new program and if its worth working toward. Seems I would need to be classified as Gold by 8/1 though to get mapped to Platinum. This gives me a headache!

 

[1st*toright]

So for those that understand elite status at SPG and/or Marriott . . . is there an opportunity for a higher status with the merger? I don't travel enough to get status anywhere, so I typically just ignore status requirements. But, given that Marriott Gold will map to Marriott Platinum, does it make sense to shoot for Gold before 8/1? This is what I have currently:

Marriott: 27 nights + 3 coming prior to 8/1 (a 4th night will be ON 8/1)
SPG: 10 nights

Total combined = 40 nights prior to 8/1.

What does this mean? Would I need 10 more nights to be classified as Marriott Gold by 8/1 which will map to Marriott Platinum under the new program. Is this worth trying to do? Just thinking through this figuring out if there is opportunity here.

I am doing the same calculations - I had given up on hitting enough nights to renew as Marriott Gold this year (needing 50 nights) because it wasn't really worth a lot, and I stay at both Starwood and Marriott. I think that getting Platinum status would be worth it, if you will be traveling a good amount and are able to stay at Starriotts in the next year. You get some guaranteed suite upgrades (which I never got when I was Marriott Platinum, but did get when I was matched to SPG Platinum), plus breakfast lots of places, plus bonus point earn on all stays.

I'm not exactly sure, but I think the way it is going to work is that on 8.1 all your elite nights from both SPG and Marriott will go into one account. You will be matched to status based on your status at that moment (so Marriott Gold --> new platinum, Marriott Silver 25+ nights --> new gold). But then you earn nights jointly between the 2 programs for the rest of the year, and that will determine your 2019 status. So if you make it to Marriott Gold by 8.1, you'd be platinum right away, or you could continue to earn the last 10 nights between 8.1-12.31 and turn platinum when you hit 50 nights (which would make you platinum for 2019 as well).

I'm looking at my year, and I think I can make it to Platinum again, but it is going to mean burning a good amount of points on free stays (which fortunately do count towards elite nights). It will be nice to be Platinum for the last 4 months of the year, in any case.

Oh - an Marriott has always been calendar year - so your status is good for the next year. In the past, status downgrades have happened as of February 1 (so you get 13 months after the year you earn status).

 

[Calfan]

Looking at my informed delivery and saw I have a welcome hit from life lock which I've never signed up for. Noticed it also has American airlines on the envelope. Quite curious to see what they've got going on. Seems like it should really just be a solicitation since they wouldn't have a way to sign you up through the ff program without you knowing.

I got one of these the other day but it was with United. I thought I signed up for something by the envelope saying welcome kit. The offer said I would get 16000 United Miles for trying it. I was interested until I read the terms on the bottom. the terms basically said to get those miles I needed a premium membership for awhile.

I see one in my informed delivery too, and I don't really have any skin in the AA game, so I think it's just a solicitation.

We signed up for LifeLock after my SSN was "borrowed" to file fraudulent tax returns, and we absolutely hated it. You couldn't pay me enough to ever sign up for LifeLock again. I would constantly get alerts without any substantive information, so I was constantly having to log into my account to see what the alert was all about, and it was always activity that I recognized and wouldn't have bothered logging in if they would have just provided a little more detail in their alerts. I feel just as secure without LifeLock given the security settings/alerts I've put on our bank accounts and ccs.

 

[platamama]

I've spent a lot of time on the phone with AMEX today about my personal SPG. HUCA 3x and chat. Eventually, I got the same offer as @kmc8826, 7000 pts for $500 spend and paying the annual fee. The stupidest part of this conversation: "This card earns you 2 points per $1! That's better than the 1 point per $1 you are getting now!" Eee-diots. I told her she was being disingenuous.

I'm so torqued at them right now, because if someone opened this card 8 months ago (Aug 2017) they would be getting the free night when their AF hits in Aug 2018, but I don't get that free night even though I've had the card for 7 years. I tried the "well 35,000 Marriott points is closer to 12,000 Starpoints currently so that would seem more in line with what newer cardholders are getting the equivalent of" but she said she can't change the offer that's on my account.

@GZanta77, I'm leaning toward the cancel camp too.

I have to decide by 4/26 (30 days post closing date of statement with AF). I'll consider the new "luxury" SPG AMEX when it comes out. Fortunately, DH & I both have the SPG Biz so non-category spending can go there (after I finish the $17K MSR I have on AMEX right now...only $4K done so far, geez AMEX makes it hard).

Ok, I've had a day to cool down. And run thru some numbers.

Over the 7 years of having this card, I've saved $985 on AMEX Offers. I've paid $450 in AFs (the AF went from $65 to $95 in 2016). Winner: Me by $535. That's on top of the value I got out of the points over the years (business class TATL flight, hotels).

I have the 7000 bonus point retention offer for spending $500 in the next month and paying the $95 AF. Looking at the AMEX Offers on my card right now, I can utilize those for the $500 spend while receiving $100 back. I'm purposely choosing ones that I can get cash money back from reselling. The 7000 Starpoints = 21,000 Marriott points will top off my balance for another Marriott travel package.

Am I justifying this to myself? Why yes, yes I am.

@Albort Thanks for sharing the photos of what Lvl 3 looks like, so I can monitor how these purchases go.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

Have there been any rumors as to when the Marriott certificate & miles package will change? Are we thinking August?

So I've read through the Points Guy interview from here: https://thepointsguy.com/news/marriotts-david-flueck-combined-program-questions/

I'll share a couple of thoughts that tie directly and indirectly to your comment. I had been meaning to post this for awhile anyways

EDIT: I also realize I didn't directly answer your question...I can assume from all of this that the change to that program will be announced prior to August and go into affect in August when the new award chart is in place.

We’re taking all hotels and placing them in the new award chart, and as we started to do this we found more properties moving down in cost than are moving up. Where properties fall in the charts will be announced in about six weeks — we have 6,500 hotels to get through so it’s a long process. And not only are prices going down, but we have the off-peak prices [which SPG members have never had].

• To me - this means that they are looking at each property independently and assigning it to the appropriate category. It doesn't sound like they are taking all Marriott Cat 5 and putting them all in the new Cat 4 for example. They may have started with a premise like that but there is obviously thought going into it.
• I like the statement of "more properties moving down in cost than are moving up" - if that turns out to be a lie, they would look terribly bad, so why lie about it?

People love the Marriott Flight and Hotel packages — are those going away?
DF: No, they’re not. And that’s going to be great news for our SPG members. The travel packages are one of the richest ways that members can redeem on the Marriott side, so we’re keeping those across the program.
TPG: And the SPG Nights and Flights?
DF: It’ll stay as well and move into these travel packages, we’re going to combine them.
TPG: Are the package prices changing?
DF: It’s a good question because as we combine the two programs, we are trying to align them where we can, so we’ll have that information when we roll out our award chart.

• So obviously Nights and Flights is something people see a lot of value in. Marriott acknowledges it - and they say that they are keeping it intact and combine the SPG nights and flights program into there as well.
• They do acknowledge the prices will have to change - but we all expected that. The thing about this is, the Marriott pricing on this was formulaic. It was easy for anybody to dissect exactly how they came to the pricing AND it will be very easy for us to dissect if this is a negative change. They've done a good job so far avoiding negative publicity on this and I'd imagine they want to continue to do so.
• The point above is huge in this though - and that is, what category do your desired properties end up in? The thing I'm closely tracking is where will they slot Swan and Dolphin and what does a nights and flights look like with that property

I shared this the other day and I'll share again with another idea - IF Marriott keeps the calculation roughly the same here is what the new Nights & Flights could look like at the 120,000 mile redemption level:

IDEA 1: (moves the lowest tier to Cat 1-4 which would look similar to the existing program)
270k = 7nights at Cat 1-4 + 120k miles
330k = 7nights at Cat 5 + 120k miles
420k = 7nights at Cat 6 + 120k miles
480k = 7nights at Cat 7 + 120k miles
630k = 7nights at Cat 8 + 120k miles
This chart would get a 10% kicker on miles w/ United and get cut in half on the miles for Jetblue.

IDEA 2: (keeps the lowest tier at Cat 1-5 which would be slightly negative but probably not affect many people)
330k = 7nights at Cat 1-5 + 120k miles
420k = 7nights at Cat 6 + 120k miles
480k = 7nights at Cat 7 + 120k miles
630k = 7nights at Cat 8 + 120k miles
This chart would get a 10% kicker on miles w/ United and get cut in half on the miles for Jetblue.

 

[Lain]

Which cards give bonus points for this spend?

I mean, when you purchase points through points dot com, does it map to a bonus category for any cards? Does it post as a travel expense or get bonus on CIP or something like that? Or counts as an SPG spend, so it gets 2x SPG points through an SPG CC?

The SPG cards give you an extra point (like Judique said). Say you buy $682.50 worth of Starpoints with your SPG AMEX (either personal or business, doesn't matter). You get 683 points for the normal 1x purchase, then an additional 683 pts for buying it with your SPG AMEX. Make sure when you buy, that you pick the Starwood AMEX option for payment.

That said, DH got the bonus points on his Starpoint purchase last month on his SPG Biz, but I have not, so I need to follow up on that.

Also check portals for points.com for extra cashback.

Like @platamama and @Judique already answered, buying Starpoints from points.com will earn you 2x Starpoints on the Amex SPG cards. Alternatively, points.com earns 3x UR on CIP. And yes, check shopping portals for points.com.

 

[SouthFayetteFan]

So I've read through the Points Guy interview from here: https://thepointsguy.com/news/marriotts-david-flueck-combined-program-questions/

I'll share a couple of thoughts that tie directly and indirectly to your comment. I had been meaning to post this for awhile anyways

We’re taking all hotels and placing them in the new award chart, and as we started to do this we found more properties moving down in cost than are moving up. Where properties fall in the charts will be announced in about six weeks — we have 6,500 hotels to get through so it’s a long process. And not only are prices going down, but we have the off-peak prices [which SPG members have never had].

• To me - this means that they are looking at each property independently and assigning it to the appropriate category. It doesn't sound like they are taking all Marriott Cat 5 and putting them all in the new Cat 4 for example. They may have started with a premise like that but there is obviously thought going into it.
• I like the statement of "more properties moving down in cost than are moving up" - if that turns out to be a lie, they would look terribly bad, so why lie about it?

People love the Marriott Flight and Hotel packages — are those going away?
DF: No, they’re not. And that’s going to be great news for our SPG members. The travel packages are one of the richest ways that members can redeem on the Marriott side, so we’re keeping those across the program.
TPG: And the SPG Nights and Flights?
DF: It’ll stay as well and move into these travel packages, we’re going to combine them.
TPG: Are the package prices changing?
DF: It’s a good question because as we combine the two programs, we are trying to align them where we can, so we’ll have that information when we roll out our award chart.

• So obviously Nights and Flights is something people see a lot of value in. Marriott acknowledges it - and they say that they are keeping it intact and combine the SPG nights and flights program into there as well.
• They do acknowledge the prices will have to change - but we all expected that. The thing about this is, the Marriott pricing on this was formulaic. It was easy for anybody to dissect exactly how they came to the pricing AND it will be very easy for us to dissect if this is a negative change. They've done a good job so far avoiding negative publicity on this and I'd imagine they want to continue to do so.
• The point above is huge in this though - and that is, what category do your desired properties end up in? The thing I'm closely tracking is where will they slot Swan and Dolphin and what does a nights and flights look like with that property

I shared this the other day and I'll share again with another idea - IF Marriott keeps the calculation roughly the same here is what the new Nights & Flights could look like at the 120,000 mile redemption level:

IDEA 1: (moves the lowest tier to Cat 1-4 which would look similar to the existing program)
270k = 7nights at Cat 1-4 + 120k miles
330k = 7nights at Cat 5 + 120k miles
420k = 7nights at Cat 6 + 120k miles
480k = 7nights at Cat 7 + 120k miles
630k = 7nights at Cat 8 + 120k miles
This chart would get a 10% kicker on miles w/ United and get cut in half on the miles for Jetblue.

IDEA 2: (keeps the lowest tier at Cat 1-5 which would be slightly negative but probably not affect many people)
330k = 7nights at Cat 1-5 + 120k miles
420k = 7nights at Cat 6 + 120k miles
480k = 7nights at Cat 7 + 120k miles
630k = 7nights at Cat 8 + 120k miles
This chart would get a 10% kicker on miles w/ United and get cut in half on the miles for Jetblue.

Quoting myself to add that there are some real gems in the comments section of that article

My favorite: I’m tired of reading about all these business travelers getting constant upgrades while low end users get degraded
...Ummmm so you're tired of hotels treating their best and most profitable customers as their best and most profitable customers???

 

[AmyAnne]

Ok, I've had a day to cool down. And run thru some numbers.

Over the 7 years of having this card, I've saved $985 on AMEX Offers. I've paid $450 in AFs (the AF went from $65 to $95 in 2016). Winner: Me by $535. That's on top of the value I got out of the points over the years (business class TATL flight, hotels).

I have the 7000 bonus point retention offer for spending $500 in the next month and paying the $95 AF. Looking at the AMEX Offers on my card right now, I can utilize those for the $500 spend while receiving $100 back. I'm purposely choosing ones that I can get cash money back from reselling. The 7000 Starpoints = 21,000 Marriott points will top off my balance for another Marriott travel package.

Am I justifying this to myself? Why yes, yes I am.

@Albort Thanks for sharing the photos of what Lvl 3 looks like, so I can monitor how these purchases go.

A question for those who are calling in hopes of a retention offer -- when you call, do you start with "I want to cancel my card" or "I'm thinking about canceling my card" or something else? I'm on the fence about keeping my AmEx Delta Gold so I don't (at this point) want to call and say I definitely want to cancel, unless that's the strategically best thing to say.

 

[pillow]

I am doing the same calculations - I had given up on hitting enough nights to renew as Marriott Gold this year (needing 50 nights) because it wasn't really worth a lot, and I stay at both Starwood and Marriott. I think that getting Platinum status would be worth it, if you will be traveling a good amount and are able to stay at Starriotts in the next year. You get some guaranteed suite upgrades (which I never got when I was Marriott Platinum, but did get when I was matched to SPG Platinum), plus breakfast lots of places, plus bonus point earn on all stays.

I'm not exactly sure, but I think the way it is going to work is that on 8.1 all your elite nights from both SPG and Marriott will go into one account. You will be matched to status based on your status at that moment (so Marriott Gold --> new platinum, Marriott Silver 25+ nights --> new gold). But then you earn nights jointly between the 2 programs for the rest of the year, and that will determine your 2019 status. So if you make it to Marriott Gold by 8.1, you'd be platinum right away, or you could continue to earn the last 10 nights between 8.1-12.31 and turn platinum when you hit 50 nights (which would make you platinum for 2019 as well).

I'm looking at my year, and I think I can make it to Platinum again, but it is going to mean burning a good amount of points on free stays (which fortunately do count towards elite nights). It will be nice to be Platinum for the last 4 months of the year, in any case.

Oh - an Marriott has always been calendar year - so your status is good for the next year. In the past, status downgrades have happened as of February 1 (so you get 13 months after the year you earn status).

Thanks for this. Makes sense what you're saying. Did a read somewhere that you can earn a Marriott elite night by charging $3K on the Marriott card? If so, it might be worth doing (MSing?) if you only need a night or two.

 

[disneybirds]

Not entirely off topic as we are on the Disboards after all...I would just rather ask you all than do a separate post somewhere else on the forum. If you don't want to clutter this thread than pm me. I just feel like I "know" you guys and appreciate your input. We are counting down the days to our next WDW. Leave in a month for 6 nights. I booked it as a bounce back with 2 rooms at CBR. Travel party is myself, husband, 3 girls who are 11, 9, 7. We stayed at CBR in January with UR points and it worked really well being in the two rooms. Everyone got their own bed and 2 bathrooms so that was the huge plus. The construction was not a big issue as we always rent a car. Last couple of years we have been off site only so being in the Disney bubble was nice. Sad but true. Now I am thinking about switching the CBR reservation to a one bedroom at Old Key West. We have never stayed there. It would cost $350 more but I think it is probably a wash as we would be able to buy some food and not eat out all the time. Bad part is girls would have to share bed and only one bathroom. Possible drama for sure. Worth it?!? Would give us a chance to stay DVC which leads me to my next question:

I keep obsessing about just buying into DVC with a small contract. Prices keep going up! I know @calypso726 you have DVC points as do a couple of you others. Are you glad you are in? Buyers regret? Worth buying at least the 75 for benefits direct from Disney? Is it bad that I am more than partially swayed to buy direct so I can put the money on cards? (Sweet UR"s coming our way).

At any rate any thoughts appreciated. I realize this is a huge tangent and if you want to just PM me responses that's great too. Thanks guys!

We also own DVC and have no regrets. We purchased BCV in 2006 without ever staying at the resort or any Disney resort! Now, we just love BCV! We later purchased at HHI and love our vacations there as well. When we made our first BCV purchase, I told my DH that the numbers just didn't make sense since we could always stay offsite for cheaper. I am so glad that he insisted we make the purchase. We have so many memories with our kids at Disney, HHI, and Aulani. We usually get a 2 bedroom and invite family to go with us. Priceless family memories!