American Express Membership Rewards - Starwood Transfer

I'm sorry if this is a silly question but why is it that you get 1 starpoint per dollar charged on the Starwood AMEX but you only get 1/3 to 1/2 starpoint per regular AMEX reward point transfered. I want to transfer my AMEX reward points into Starwood and was wondering if there was a way to get a better transfer ratio.

I know about the 500 SPG points for 1000 AMEX points offer.

Thanks for your help.

Consider doing the transfer now. Between 1-Jul-2002 and 30-Sep-2002, you will get 500 Starpoints for 1000 MR points.

so 1000 MR Points->500 Starpoints->1000 Qantas points

this ought to preserve the 1:1 ratio and allow you to get points over to OneWorld, right?

Unfortunately AMEX Membership Rewards sucks at all the hotel transfer rates ... AMEX Membership Rewards is really only good for earning airline miles in one of their partner programs IMO.

If you want a card for earning hotel points in all the programs (and not just a hotel specific card), Diners Club is a much better option, their transfer ratio is better in every program, and they have more hotel programs, including Hyatt.

If you go MR to CO or DL then through the Hilton exchange, you end up 1:2 (MR:Hilton).

Can you do this for BA as well and get a good conversion rate from HH ? I see on their site that I'd get 2 HH for 1 MR - but not how many BA miles I'd get transferring to the EC program.

Thanks