*wood vs AMEX Reward
 

Is there any reason I should give up my AMEX card in favor of a *wood card besides the fact it is cheaper (I already have Visa & Diners as well)?

I called AMEX to find out about the pgm when they sent my the preapproved form, then decided against it. Reading some of the topic here has made me rethink this.

Should I change?

p.s. am not self employed and thus don't use my card to "finance" my business

Starwood points are more valuable than Membership Rewards points.

Starwood points transfer to more airlines. There's always a 25% bonus when transferring 20k points, too.

Easy way to tell that Starwood points are more valuable, and the Starwood Amex is a more rewarding card?

You earn 1 Starwood point per dollar on the SPG card.

It takes 3 Membership Rewards points to transfer into 1 Starwood point...

And oh yeah it's a less expensive card. What else is there to know?

Welcome to FT, stiller! By "AMEX card", I assume you mean one that gets Membership Rewards (MR) points. Strictly from a points/miles standpoint, the only reason I could see someone getting an MR card is that they can take serious advantage of the always-double-points feature.

The Starwood Amex is probably the most popular credit card among FTer's, for reasons stated by gleff - for most people, one Starpoint is more valuable than one hotel point or airline mile of any other program. But one problem people have with the Starwood card is that Amex is very tight with their credit limits; the Amex MR card is a charge card - it's a lot easier to get a higher spending limit on it.

If you decide to keep your MR card, make sure it gets MR points, not options.

Drop the Rewards Card unless you like the Gold Events program or some of the other minor benefits associated with their Gold Cards.

Just take a look at some of the great properties you can stay at with Starwood points. (And what the rates are per night.) I think you will find that what gleff has posted is pretty accurate. I also believe they are running a promo for 6,000 bonus points for signing up and using the card. They are currently running a promo for bonus *wood point by spending $1,000 at SPG properties btwn 9/15/03 & 11/15/03, you get 5k *wood points. If you stay at SPG properties it's a great card to have. Especially when you consider the ease of redeeming the points.

I posted a similar message in the Starwood forum, but what percentage of your "stay" do you need to charge to the Starwood card to receive the bonus? For example, if you stayed three days, could you just charge one night to the Starwood AMEX card or even just the charges from the minibar and receive a stay credit and then charge the remaining balance to another credit card. Just curious

using your *wood amex card is considered a *stay*

If you have a reg AMEX with MR points, and get a *wood, you might consider keeping both until you confirm that AMEX is not giving points on both cards with *wood charges.

I got an AMEX Plat, and got around 65k MR points in 4-5 months on *wood charges before the flow stopped.

Thanks for the reply folks. I called AMEX and asked for the *wood card application. When I asked about mileage transfer the guy told me one for one....FTers indicated it would be less. Any way I can force the 1-1 or is it just the luck of the draw as to what I get?

I have no idea what this means.

I think he's got things confused! To clarify:

1. Transfers to Starwood from an AMEX Membership Rewards plan are at a ratio of 3 to 1.

2. Starwood points accrued when using the Starwood AMEX card are 1 to 1. The use of the Starwood card gives you Starwood credits and this has nothing to do with Membership Rewards (MR)!

Hope this clarifies things. As a long time AMEX Platinum card holder with over 400K MR points, I just signed up for the Starwood AMEX as well. Hope to accrue with Starwood just as quickly by using my card and also staying at their properties.

And to Start you of AMEX is giving 10,000 bonus Starpoints. Limited time offer, valid till October 31, 2003. http://www.americanexpress.com/apply...i?6/12903/b/58

oops, I did mean points transfer not miles. As the *wood card accrues much the same way the AMEX card does, it makes it viable for me. We'll see. Thx for the tips.

Please read the Starwood Amex card offer about the 10,000 miles very carefully. They are not giving you 10,000 miles for signing up. They are giving you 4,000 with the chance to earn up to another 6,000 over the first year by staying at Starwood properties! I got this confused initially but they clarified things for me when I signed up. Read the fine print!

I just got approved for my card today...was waiting a couple months for the 10,000 Point promo to return...even though it's only 4,000 upfront, with a few stays over the course of one year, the points are an excellent deal. If you use the card to do some savings bonds purchases, and then deposit some cash into Ameritrade *point promo, you could end up with a nice pot of Starpoints.