Originally Posted by
belfordrocks
Transferring from Amex MR to SPG is a silly idea s you essentially lose 2/3 of the value. Again the trusty SPG Amex would be a good choice in this scenario as not only do you essentially gain 1.25 points per dollar spent, the versatility of SPG points are often overlooked. Sometimes the best award may be be an AA or even oneworld award for that matter, and the diverse range of transfer partners that SPG offers will cater to this need for flexibility- something that an AAdvantage Citi card would not achieve.
You should be careful making blanket statements. What is silly for one person is not silly for another.
75K MR Personal Card = $500 Spend for ~25K SPG points
75K MR Business Card = $1000 Spend for ~25K SPG points
25K SPG Personal Card = $15000 Spend for 40K SPG points
OP and Mr. OP could use their normal monthly $3K spend to generate either 100K SPG points through four AmEx Gold MR cards or get 13K SPG points through the SPG AmEx.
Over the longer term, they could both do two AmEx MR cards and one SPG card and in 6 months get 140K SPG points by spending their $3K per month.
Getting AmEx MR rewards does not necessarily preclude getting an SPG AmEx. The simple fact is that the AmEx cards generate a lot more SPG points over the short term than do the SPG cards.
I can certainly understand transferring the AmEx MR points to a 1:1 or better airline, e.g. BA. I lose your logic though when you talk about the SPG card being a better source of SPG points when OP only spends $3K a month.