JJonahJ

xtremester

I was reading the terms and conditions and saw this on footnote #1 ...
Thanks JJonahJ! Sounds like its worth taking the chance.

Smiley90

huh, I indeed never noticed that, neither in the terms nor in this thread. My bad. But yeah my most recent successful datapoint is half a year ago, and I referred FROM the business plat.

604flyer

lmao

saitojohn

Yep, this happened to me as well in 2017.

emilio911

The wiki says 25,000/10,000 for SPC. What I see on AMEX's website is 20,000/5,000. Or do we need a special link or something?

Low Roller

It was 25,000/10,000 for the SPG card but that was reduced a few months ago. I guess the chart just hasn't been updated.

JJonahJ

The Amex SPG cards, both Personal and Business, had been 20K opening bonus and 10K for referring for years, till just recently. It was elevated to 25K for a few months only, starting in the summer of 2017, and then dropped back down to its normal 20K level in Oct 2017, and which time the 10K for referring also dropped, to now 5K.

So, for now the new normal for both the Personal and Business versions of the Amex SPG cards is going to be 20K signup, 5K for referring.
Both cards require you to spend $1500 within 90 days after your APPROVAL date, to qualify for the 20K signup bonus. The Personal carries a $120/yr annual fee, while the Business version is $150/yr. As with most Amex small business cards you can apply as a sole proprietorship without requiring a true business regisration number.

Either SPG card can refer to itself or to the other card and they all produce the same numbers, 20K signup and 5K for referring:

• Personal > Personal
• Personal > Business
• Business > Business
• Business > Personal

If you do NOT currently have an Amex SPG card, then you can signup for the Personal SPG CC through GCR to get $30 cash back, to offset the $120 AF. The Business version is not available for cash back at GCR.
https://www.greatcanadianrebates.ca/.../Amex-Starwood
(make sure you sign up for a free GCR account, before applying so that you earn the $30 cash back)

The alternative to using GCR is to ask a family/friend who already has one of the Amex SPG cards and ask them to refer you. There is NO additional benefit to signing up through a referral, the signup bonus is still 20K (unlike the Amex Membership Rewards MR cards, where a referred signup will offer a larger signup bonus offer), so you would be giving up $30 GCR cash back. Totally up to your friend, but if you do use their referral then they probably realize that they should at least bring you out for a meal.

Once you have ONE of the Amex SPG cards then you can start doing self-referrals to earn your own 5K bonus for making a successfully approved referral. In addition to yourself, have your spouse/partner join into the points game, so you keep all future referring bonuses in your household. You can combine SPG points across different SPG accounts as long as they are registered to the same household address (requires a minimum 30 days SPG account history at that address).

If you do not already have a SPG membership, rather than wait for Amex to help create one for you on your behalf, it's recommended to register for a free SPG account FIRST, so that you can attach at the time of your Amex SPG card application, or before the first statement is generated.
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefer...oll/index.html

All SPG points from signup bonuses, referring bonuses and from regular monthly spending will be posted to your SPG account a day or so after your monthly CC statement is closed and generated.

Churning the Personal SPG card for a second signup bonus is YMMV. I would suggest 3+ months waiting after cancelling before reapplying, and preferably even LONGER (6-12 months). There have been many reports of churners still being successful recently, within the past few months. But as well a few have said it has failed (private reports). Good luck to you if you try a churn, and please share your datapoints.

Go forth and prosper!
JJJ

JJonahJ

Last summer I wrote about a simple strategy for a pair/couple working as a team to collect SPG points by opening the 2 (Personal and Business) Amex SPG cards each. Here is an update to that plan for 2018, at current signup (20K) and referring bonus (5K) rates100K Total points, $510 total net annual fees after $30 GCR rebate.

Each person would have to apply for 2 CCs, 2 to 3 months apart, and keep in mind about the minimum spending requirements to be completed within 90 days after card approvals.

100K of SPG points are valuated differently for each person. But as an example, that could be 8 nites of Cat-5 or 10 nites of Cat-4 hotels, not including the 5th nite free upon booking 4 consecutive nites. With say an average rack rate of $200 a nite, that would be $1600 to $2000 value, to offset those $510 net annual fees.

Let me know if I messed up on my simple math. I tallied it up without the assistance of electronic devices.
JJJ

CanadianMike

Perhaps a silly (simple) question but if I currently hold a SPG Biz Amex as well as SPG Personal and Amex Biz Gold.
I have around ~ 100,000 Amex MR points. Cancelled my Personal Gold last June so thinking I could re-apply for that soon. Two questions;

- If I close the Biz Gold, do I still have access to the points without holding a MR card?

- Alternatively would it be worthwhile to get one of the Platinum cards?

jerry305

You need to retain some card (excluding the Cobalt card) that will contain your Membership Rewards points.
Usually, that's Amex Gold, Amex Business Gold, Amex Platinum, and/or Amex Business Platinum.

Myself, I've moved back and forth for a few years, between Amex Gold and Amex Business Gold, always keeping at least one open (and using the referrals to get the next card).

My experience getting the Business Platinum, a few months ago, for 75000 MR / $399 annual fee, was great. It's pretty easy to find at least $350 in net value for that application.

xtremester

I noticed on the Amex Bus Plat website, the card includes access to the Servisair Executive Lounges. Has anyone tried accessing these lounges using the Bus Plat? I'm only asking because I never mentioned anyone talking about this benefit so I wasn't sure if this benefit is still valid or just not updated on the website... Also I can't seem to find a listing of all the participating lounges. The link they provide on the website (americanexpress.ca/platinumlounges) isn't valid.

beanburrito

Hi guys,

I am a long time lurker and first time poster. I was wondering if someone might be able to assist me with a question regarding AMEX MR signup bonuses.

I applied for the Biz Plat and got the 75K bonus. I also have the Biz Gold, but haven’t gotten my 40K signup bonus despite meeting the minimum spend, and I wonder if it’s because I am holding two small business cards at the same time. Granted, it’s only been a couple of days. I also have the same login to access both cards, so I suppose it’s probably easy for AMEX to see that.

There’s probably not much I can do at this point, but I am wondering if anyone has any experience or data points regarding delayed points posting as of late.

My real question is regarding my spouse and whether we should pursue a different strategy. Do you think it would be a safer option to get the Personal Gold, cancel the Biz Plat and move all the points over to the personal card, and THEN activate the Biz Gold so that we’re not holding two Business cards at once? Not sure if this is overkill or not. Alternatively, do people have any better luck if they keep the logins separate for multiple business cards?

Thanks so much!

BRAISKI

Interesting... I'd like to know too... Planning to do this soon.

Can you transfer your points from Gold to Plat or vice versa?

mia

I merged in a thread started by beanburrito because I believe the questions refer to Canadian cards. I removed replies by mia and others because we missed the nationality of the topic. If I am incorrect, beanburrito or BRAISKI can click the Alert icon in the lower left corner of this post, and I will fix it. I regret the confusion.