Originally Posted by
bartman9
I currently have the following cards:
SPG Amex
SPG Business Amex
Citi Hilton Honors Visa
Chase Marriott Rewards Visa
I have my own company and charge everything I can for the business. So I am typically charging about $15k-$20k per month on my AMEX and just use the other ones when someone does not take AMEX. As a result, I have over 400,000 SPG points right now. I have just been stockpiling these without much of a plan over the last 1.5 years.
That is a NICE stockpile of SPG points. Those are extremely valuable because not only can you use them for free or cash + points stay at SPG properties, but they also transfer to a number of airline programs. Moreover, if you transfer in chunks of 20,000 points, SPG throws in another 5,000 points. So, you could transfer 80,000 points to AA, for example, and you'd end up with 100,000 AA miles, which is sufficient for a business award to Europe.
Now I want to start making the best use of my points and hope to travel to China, Hawaii and the Caribbean in the next 2 years.
I don't have any airline cards and really don't have many points in any airline program. I guess I should try and find a good one to get into so that I can get some miles.
I appreciate any other suggestions anyone has.
Dave
I would recommend getting in on one of the AmEx or Chase offers for 50,000 point sign-up bonuses, such as the Platinum Card or Chase Sapphire Preferred. These are flexible points that transfer (mostly instantly) to a number of airlines. This way you can confirm award availability with the airline before committing points. AmEx runs frequent bonus promos for transfers to Delta, British Airways or Aeroplan (Air Canada). Chase has United/Continental as transfer partners. These two should cover all the alliances for most flexibility.