American Express Membership Rewards - SPG Amex vs. Mebership rewards

With the recent large devaluation of points in the SPG program I am thinking of exploring other options. I spend about $5K/month on my card right now. With the new reward levels I need 3 months worth of spending for a night at a decent property. Anyone else in the same boat? I hear lots of good things about Membership Rewrds. Is this something I should switch over too? Thanks for any advice.

I see the opposite of your opinion. Membership Rewards is so watered down it's not that easy for me to get value out of redeeming points.

SPG on the other hand is useful to me to get expensive hotel rooms and flights.

Even it you feel it will take you 3 months to get a decent hotel room using SPG, it'll take you longer than 3 months per your spending you mentioned to get a decent hotel room using membership rewards. Plus SPG sign-up bonus should have you near a decent room already.

I wouldn't switch. Instead you could expand your options and possess multiple types of AMEX cards, so that you utilize the best option for you when it arises.

Another great thing about SPG versus membership rewards is that with SPG you can use the points to upgrade your flight on almost any airline in existence. With Amex you're limited to 1/4 of those airlines and for many of those you cannot purchase points (i.e., upgrade), you can only buy tickets or companion tickets. Until that changes, I'm sticking with SPG.

i like both. the flexibility of MR is fine with me, and they are the only ones to offer E0 awards. (first collection)

I was a rewards card member until US Airways and AMEX rewards parted ways. The SPG program trades quite favorably into US Airways.

I for one am going to make the switch from MR to SPG. MR transfers are really waterdown :( the way i see even to hilton honors, SPG -> AA-> HH has much better rate than MR->HH. They seriously need to think of relaunching the whole thing! SPG seems to be the poor man's alternative to MR & CR (DC).

With the recent large devaluation of points in the SPG program I am thinking of exploring other options. I spend about $5K/month on my card right now. With the new reward levels I need 3 months worth of spending for a night at a decent property. Anyone else in the same boat? I hear lots of good things about Membership Rewrds. Is this something I should switch over too? Thanks for any advice.

If want airline miles, SPG AMEX offers a very favorable rate for transfers to some programs. When you add the transfer bonus, it surpasses many airline cards.

However, if you want premium hotel stays, I think that Hilton AMEX gets you there faster than SPG AMEX. You can get a decent hotel stay for 30k points (approx $7,500 in spending) and nice hotel for 35k points (approx $8,750 in spending). The card gives you silver Hilton status which makes you eligible for a 6-night stay at a Cat 5/6 Hilton for 175,000 points (approx $43,750 in spending).

if you want premium hotel stays, I think that Hilton AMEX gets you there faster than SPG AMEX

Starwood has a lot of very high end luxury properties, and IMHO Hilton really doesn't compare at all in that regard.

awake, do you happen to know which hotel program would be best for someone who wants the cheapest/quickest to earn awards?

Another great thing about SPG versus membership rewards is that with SPG you can use the points to upgrade your flight on almost any airline in existence.

How do you use SPG points to upgrade an flight? :confused: Or do you mean use SPG points to transfer to an airline and then upgrade? If so, how is this different from MR? (Unless the difference you are referring to which airlines you can trasnfer points to)

Starwood has a lot of very high end luxury properties, and IMHO Hilton really doesn't compare at all in that regard.

awake, do you happen to know which hotel program would be best for someone who wants the cheapest/quickest to earn awards?

I agree. IMHO there are more really nice Starwood properties than there are really nice Hiltons. Also, the quality of Hilton brands can be a bit inconsistent. However, the W=A Collection, some resort properties, Conrads, and some Hiltons are really nice. (I chose Hilton for my primary hotel chain because of the number of Hilton locations for business travel. Unfortunately in my line of work, often the best that you can find is a Hampton Inn.)

There was some website that compared airline, hotel, and points cards. It recommended SPG AMEX over HHonors AMEX for (a) value-priced hotel rewards and (b) flexibility. I cannot remember the link. Frankly I am not sure how Best Western, Marriott , Choice, Priority Club compare for CARD SPENDING.

If you want to earn a nice hotel stay (not super-luxury), Hilton's reward for 175,000 points for 6-nights at a Cat 5/6 is hard to beat. That's only $35k - $58k in spending on the HH AMEX. You can get closer to $35k by using the card for grocery/gas/drug/wireless phone/restaurant spending to get 5 points/$. The card worked so well for me that I finally switch to another AMEX card. What? That doesn't make sense does it.... Actually it does make sense. I ended up sitting on 450k Hilton points which I have had a hard time spending. I am currently down to 350,000.

If you want to earn a nice hotel stay (not super-luxury), Hilton's reward for 175,000 points for 6-nights at a Cat 5/6 is hard to beat. That's only $35k - $58k in spending on the HH AMEX. You can get closer to $35k by using the card for grocery/gas/drug/wireless phone/restaurant spending to get 5 points/$. The card worked so well for me that I finally switch to another AMEX card.
Huh. That's something to consider.

I'm assuming you don't get airline lounge access nor FHR, though? (I use Plat Concierge 'cause it's there, but I used to do that stuff myself.)

With SPG you can transfer the points to any airline and use those to upgrade. AMEX allows this with a few of their partners, but for many of their partners you are limited to transferring points for companion or coach tickets. Of course, the best part about SPG is that your get 25000 miles for 20000 SPG points, while with AMEX it's a straight 20000 for 20000. In other words, I get a free first class flight to Europe for 80,000 points with SPG, but I need 100,000 Amex points, and even then I'm limited to less than 5 airlines on AMEX that will fly there. Nevertheless, I keep my Amex platinum because . . . well . . . to be honest, I'm not sure why I keep it anymore.

Huh. That's something to consider.

I'm assuming you don't get airline lounge access nor FHR, though? (I use Plat Concierge 'cause it's there, but I used to do that stuff myself.)

No. Nor do you get Concierge, the companion airline program, or Fine Dining, among many other plat perks.

(Amex has to justify their 450 fee somehow!)

I'm assuming you don't get airline lounge access nor FHR, though?

Inasmuch as the HHonors credit card carries no annual fee, there's no drawback to using it (or the SPG card) for spending while maintaining the Platinum charge card for benefits.

With SPG you can transfer the points to any airline and use those to upgrade. AMEX allows this with a few of their partners, but for many of their partners you are limited to transferring points for companion or coach tickets.

Actually, Membership Rewards transfers points to miles in 17 programs, versus five partners which offer only ticket redemptions:

Transfer
Aero Mexico
Aeroplan
FlyingBlue
AirTran
Alitalia
ANA
Continental
Delta
El Al
Frontier
GlobalPass
Hawiian
JetBlue
Mexicana
Singapore
Southwest
Virgin Atlantic

Tickets
Air Jamaica
Cathay Pacific
Qantas
South African
Swiss

Another great thing about SPG versus membership rewards is that with SPG you can use the points to upgrade your flight on almost any airline in existence.

How can you upgrade using SPG points and how many points does it take for an upgrade per airline, can you provide a link explaining this

I still hold my Amex Plat, but don't use it for anything other than FHR and companion tix. I dump all of my spending on the SPG Amex. I find it more flexible in the use of points. I don't purchase retail using the MR miles, so there isn't much there to keep my business. My biggest problem is that my spending is greater than my limit on the SPG, so I have to pay it off during the month. I wish one division would talk to the other so that this wouldn't be an issue, but that's not the case.

How can you upgrade using SPG points and how many points does it take for an upgrade per airline, can you provide a link explaining this

See explanation in post #12. I was confused by this original post as well.

Summary-You can't upgrade with SPG points per se, you must transfer them to the individual airline first, then upgrade according to the individual airline's policies. (Thus, IMHO, the only real advantage using SPG is the bonus pts when transferring 20k, or if there is an airline that participates with SPG that doesn't participate with Amex MR)

I agree. IMHO there are more really nice Starwood properties than there are really nice Hiltons. Also, the quality of Hilton brands can be a bit inconsistent. However, the W=A Collection, some resort properties, Conrads, and some Hiltons are really nice.


there are so few good Hilton Properties that its not worth it. As for the WA collection dont they want 80k pts a night for the rooms?

-with no chance of upgrading to a view room
-with blackout dates and limited redemption for anyone who is not upper elite

Even w/ the inflation in SPG (which Hilton went thru a yr or two ago) its not even close, imo

Ken in Phx

If you use Amex MR points to transfer to say Delta, do they transfer 1 to 1? What are the various airline transfer rates?

Also, how many Amex MR points do you need to transfer an International Ticket to Europe or Asia since you can transfer them to a few airlines?

Membership Rewards points transfer 1000:1000 to most airlines, including the Skyteam carriers Alitalia, Continental, Delta and FlyingBlue (Air France and KLM).

The number of miles required for an award is unrelated to the source of the miles. You need to look at award chart provided by the airline to see how many miles are required for the award you want, the fact that some or all of these miles originate at American Express is irrelevant. For example...

http://images.delta.com.edgesuite.net/delta/pdfs/skymiles/multi_airline_awards.pdf

...shows that a Delta business class award from the USA to Europe requires 90,000 miles "SkySaver" (restricted availability) or 250,000 miles "SkyChoice" (unrestricted).

Starwood has a lot of very high end luxury properties, and IMHO Hilton really doesn't compare at all in that regard.

awake, do you happen to know which hotel program would be best for someone who wants the cheapest/quickest to earn awards?
Do you mean earn awards from credit cards or in general?

In general, the hotel program that is the quickest to earn awards is the one that offers the most bonuses you can actually use. Basically, that takes HHonors out of the runiing for most people these days (they only offer targeted bonuses lately and rarely good ones), and suggests instead programs like Prioirty Club (or, if you're more interested in the higher end Intercontinental there, the Ambassador Club) which offer bonuses left and right (some clearly documented, some documented only on FT) or Choice (which lets you earn at cheap hotels in the US and then redeem for nice Preferreed properties overseas) which some months offers fabulous bonuses (on hotel stays themselves) if you do one-night stays mostly.

But hardly ever (except for the SPG Amex transfer, or those cards that let you get double whatever at a few categories of establishments) are there comparable bonuses that apply to credit card spending at hotel programs, on any credit card that I've heard of.

IMHO credit cards (unless you have a lot of spend) are more for adding to your account in the background, but other types of earning activities are usually where the bonus action is (and the bonus action can often overwhelm everything else).

Hooray for the search function! I have the option of signing up for MR through my work card, which I can run a lot of large purchases for it I desire. I was concerned about the points being easily usable for FF miles, and of course Flyertalk had the answer. Thanks!

I am surprise no one mentioned that MR charges you to transger points to airlines.

I am currently using the business Amex as I need to rack up as much points as possible to transfer to CO. After the no fee year is over, I will probably swith back to SPG Amex.

...MR charges you to transfer points to airlines.


Only to USA based carriers.

For MR and other mileage conversion, check out the mileage converter:

http://www.insideflyer.com/tools/mileage_converter/index.php

I am surprise no one mentioned that MR charges you to transfer points to airlines.IMO, the transfer cost is minimal. Still, to minimize the cost per point the key is to transfer large blocks of points at one time, since there's a $50 cap per transfer. The transfer cost is a little more significant if you're using MR points to top off accounts.

What's Amex justification for charging to transfer points? As far as I know, this is not done by any other program.

The fee is to offset a Federal excise tax that applies to the purchase of airline miles. Diners Club charges a higher rate, applies it to all carriers, and there is no cap. Likewise, if you purchase miles from, for example, American Airlines they add this tax. Of course, just because they are liable for a tax does not mean they are required to pass it through to the customer.

I read on Epinions about this card that you are "barred" from MR if you get this card and all of your purchases are used for SPG points.

I'd like to start by saying that I have three Amex cards. Blue (never use), Gold (don't use anymore since I got the next card) and Plat (main card, charge everything in my life on it).

I've been earning MR for years now and occasionally used the points for gift cards.

Since getting the Plat I've really enjoyed the SPG Gold status and love Westin properties.

That being said, I'm seriously considering getting the SPG Amex. (20K points for a single purchase seems like a no-brainer).

My question, fundamentally, is what happens to my MR?

Do my current existing cards still get MR and my SPG Amex gets SPG points (optimal) or do I "lose" my current MR balance since my new card "bars" me from MR? Or I guess another option is my current Plat now gets SPG (doubt it).

I like the cards for different reasons and would keep them all spending where it makes the most sense. Just don't want to "hose" my current MR points in the process.

Thoughts?

I think epinions is just wrong. I get points on MR with my Plat spending, and points on SPG for Amex spending.


I read on Epinions about this card that you are "barred" from MR if you get this card and all of your purchases are used for SPG points.

I'd like to start by saying that I have three Amex cards. Blue (never use), Gold (don't use anymore since I got the next card) and Plat (main card, charge everything in my life on it).

I've been earning MR for years now and occasionally used the points for gift cards.

Since getting the Plat I've really enjoyed the SPG Gold status and love Westin properties.

That being said, I'm seriously considering getting the SPG Amex. (20K points for a single purchase seems like a no-brainer).

My question, fundamentally, is what happens to my MR?

Do my current existing cards still get MR and my SPG Amex gets SPG points (optimal) or do I "lose" my current MR balance since my new card "bars" me from MR? Or I guess another option is my current Plat now gets SPG (doubt it).

I like the cards for different reasons and would keep them all spending where it makes the most sense. Just don't want to "hose" my current MR points in the process.

Thoughts?

I think epinions is just wrong. I get points on MR with my Plat spending, and points on SPG for Amex spending.

That's kind of what I thought.

I'm all over that SPG Amex then, I'll be routing most of my day to day spending to it. I usually spend almost 50k a year on my plat so that winds up to be about a free SPG vacation a year. Much better deal than I'd get with the same on MR.

I'll still keep the Plat though. Airport lounge & domestic partner airfare free is worth the cost to me. (and I'm comped via my Plat for SPG gold, don't know if the SPG Amex does anything for you there)

comped via my Plat for SPG gold, don't know if the SPG Amex does anything for you there)

If you spend $30,000 in a calendar year on SPG Amex you would receive automatic Starwood Gold status, which you laready have with The Platinum Card.

The SPG Credit Card is "barred" from enrollment in Membership Rewards, because it particpates in SPG, but this has no effect whatsoever on your existing MR account provided you keep at least one card that participates in Membership Rewards.

You and I are on the same page. Exactly the reasons I switched my spending to SPG and keeping the Plat!

That's kind of what I thought.

I'm all over that SPG Amex then, I'll be routing most of my day to day spending to it. I usually spend almost 50k a year on my plat so that winds up to be about a free SPG vacation a year. Much better deal than I'd get with the same on MR.

I'll still keep the Plat though. Airport lounge & domestic partner airfare free is worth the cost to me. (and I'm comped via my Plat for SPG gold, don't know if the SPG Amex does anything for you there)