Originally Posted by
broadwayblue
While the 6 pts/$ on everday purchases might be better for some/most people, I spend about 25x-50x more each month on items that don't qualify as everyday purchases. Basically I'd be earning mostly at the regular 2 pts/$ level for the majority of my spend.
Actually, it's 3 pts/$, not 2 pts/$. If you can use SPG AMEX with a merchant, to be fair, the comparsion must be used against the HH AMEX, not the HH VISA which very few people on FT even bother with that card.
And when you compare point redemption for free stays it appears that SPG requires less for a comparable hotel (I used Hawaii as a starting point and saw that it would take about 20k points with Hilton as opposed to 12k to 16k for a comparable SPG property. That said, I'm still inclined to pick up a HH Visa as a backup/diversification to my everyday SPG Amex. But for me at least, SPG still looks like the best bet.
If the redemption is for a single night, the SPG Cash and Points, if available would indeed provide better value in most cases. Otherwise, the cost of a SPG Cat. 5 award which ranges between 12~16K SPG points as you stated is equivalent to 36~48K HH points. However, in most cases, you will not need more than 40K HH points for a one night stay with HHonors on Hawaii. So if you spend $16,000 on your SPG AMEX that gives you 16,000 SPG points; by spending the same amount of money on HH AMEX on the standard 3 pts/$, this will give you 48,000 HH points. Therefore, I am not sure how you come to your conclusion re: Hawaii. Plus, the HHonors VIP awards give you 6 nights in Hawaii for 175,000 HH points or the equivalent of spending $58,333 on regular non-double points purchases. SPG's 5th night free for a Category 5 requires a spending between $48,000~$64,000 on your SPG AMEX. Note, the SPG award is actually one night less than HH. Hence, on a per night basis, the opportunity cost is $9722 for HH AMEX or between $9600 ~ $12800 for SPG AMEX.
Hence, re: Hawaii, my answer is I think the two are quite comparable in terms of cost of award redemptions.