Starwood Preferred Guest - How Much Does Amex Pay For A *Point?

Just curious. Tried a search unsuccessfully. Thanks in advance.

Not sure, but I'm inferring that it varies by CC offerring since my Starwood Amex is 1 pt per dollar spent, whereas my Amex Plat is 1 pt per 3 dollars spent... which sucks.

Proprietary information to be sure, but the answer probably lies somewhere between 1 and 1.5 cents/point.

Proprietary information to be sure, but the answer probably lies somewhere between 1 and 1.5 cents/point.


OK, don't kill me room, but, gleff, what are your thoughts: Throwing a gold status , for example, to those who are generating revenues for SPG via their Amex Card which would be commensurate with 10 nights a year. Is there a difference, in your estimate, as to how Starwood accumulates the revenue? Do they not want to piss of those who earn the traditional way? I realize that this is beating the dead horse of lifetime point stuff. But what about generating money per year via Amex Card use? Please opine, all.

Status at some level of spend is a no brainer. Gold is easy enough to get even for non-customers that I don't know if it adds much, but it's still a no-brainer.

I'd love to see Platinum at, say, $100k or $150k in spend but that's just a pipe dream I suppose. I'd settle for $200k in spend for Plat...

(Or how about Platinum for earning 350k points in an account in a calendar year? Lifetime Gold after 1mm earned in an account? Lifetime Plat after 5mm points earned in an account? I'd dump a whole mess of Amex MR points in at that point... ;) )

Status at some level of spend is a no brainer. Gold is easy enough to get even for non-customers that I don't know if it adds much, but it's still a no-brainer.

I'd love to see Platinum at, say, $100k or $150k in spend but that's just a pipe dream I suppose. I'd settle for $200k in spend for Plat...


Apparently they agree with the non-brain issue. I called, explained my spending pattern and they said, "Gold you are!" Simple as that. Who knew?

depends on how you use the points.. it varies from 0.8% to 4.8%

Of course Amex Cardholders are 'preferred plus' and the only real benefit to Gold over Preferred Plus is the extra Starpoint per dollar spent at Starwood properties...

And money_opp, I think the question was about how much Amex paid Starwood to buy the points they give out to Amex cardholders.

Apparently they agree with the non-brain issue. I called, explained my spending pattern and they said, "Gold you are!" Simple as that. Who knew?
Do tell...

Did you call SPG or Amex? Any specifics (or generalizations) to help your fellow FT'ers would be appreciated.

Do tell...

Did you call SPG or Amex? Any specifics (or generalizations) to help your fellow FT'ers would be appreciated.


My pleasure: I called SPG I asked them to consider me for Gold given that I charge about 11,000 per month on my SPG Amex and am hoping that this might make me worthy of consideration. No questions asked. "My pleasure...anything else I can do for you?" Hmmm..should I do it? Should I ask? Platinum? No nerve! "No thanks, I appreciate it." Simple as that. Hope this helps.

My pleasure: I called SPG I asked them to consider me for Gold given that I charge about 11,000 per month on my SPG Amex and am hoping that this might make me worthy of consideration. No questions asked. "My pleasure...anything else I can do for you?" Hmmm..should I do it? Should I ask? Platinum? No nerve! "No thanks, I appreciate it." Simple as that. Hope this helps.

Maybe you should have asked for Plat...and settle for Gold in case of denial! ;)

Maybe you should have asked for Plat...and settle for Gold in case of denial! ;)


Should have, but I figured my Amex spending wouldn't generate Platinum-esque. Dollars. Oh, well!