Originally Posted by
Wisdom
As of April of 2016 Costco will no longer accept Amex. They will only be accepting Visa. I'm looking for a rewards card that would be equal to SPG. Do you feel the Marriott rewards are a good choice?
Also, when I transfer starpoints to American Airlines I get a 20% bonus up to 79,000 points. So if I transfer 60,000 Starpoints, 75,000 points are put into my American Airlines account. Does Marriott rewards have a similar program?
With SPG I can get a very nice hotel with 12,000 points, but from what I can tell online, it seems you may have to use a lot more points with Marriott. Is this correct or do they have another way to use their points that I don't know about.
Thanks in advance.
Check your math. A 20% bonus on 60,000 points would be 12,000 points, for a total of 72,000, not 75,000 (which would be a 25% bonus).
Another way of comparing the programs is to think about aspirational properties. For a normal room at a very nice Starwood hotel (for example, St Regis Singapore, Canyon Suites in Scottsdale, W Hong Kong), estimate 25,000 SPG points per night (with the fifth night free), depending on the season. For Marriott, a normal room in a RC can be 60,000-70,000 Marriott Rewards points per night.
Originally Posted by
Wisdom
Thank you for the replies.
As I understand it every $3,000 I charge and payoff at the end of the month I get 1 Elite point. If I charge $150,000 in a month and pay it off would I get 50 Elite points? If this is right, I would be at the Platinum level in a couple of months?
Is this right or is there some other qualification?
I think you mean nights credits, not elite points. To only earn one point per $3000 spend would be scandalous.
Note that the standard way to earn hotel elite status is to actually stay in the hotels. Maybe to you that would be "some other qualification."