lotsomiles

Here's my goal...to transfer my MR points to Starwood Preferred Guest with little or no loss in points. I saw a while back that if I transferred from MR to AA that it was 1:1 and then from AA to SPG it was 1:1 but a direct transfer was 1:3 so I was losing 1/3 of my miles.

Now I am trying to do it and I can't figure out how. Do any of you know the best way to move from MR to SPG without losing any point value?

Thanks,
Jeff

UpgradeMe

It does not exist.

Nor has a 1:1 transfer from MR to AA ever existed.

Nor has a 1:1 transfer from AA to SPG ever existed.

mikeef

lotso,

Welcome to FT! UpradeMe is right; you're going to convert at less than 1-to-1 either way.

If you are interested in accumulating Starwood points going forward, the best thing to do is dump the MR and get a Starwood Amex card, which is 1 point per dollar.

Mike

ashcroftj1

and THEN you can xfer from *Wood to AA at 1-1 with a 5k bonus at 20k.

rpk113

Does that mean you can move miles from MR-->*Wood-->AA?

UpgradeMe

Of course. But why would you?

mia

Yes, but look at the math...


+60,000 Membership Rewards points
=20,000 Starpoints
=25,000 AAdvantage miles

RLG

Your best option is to trade with someone who has miles/points in the program you want in return for your transferring amex points to their account. This avoids transfer options which tend to offer very unattractive exchange rates.

Unfortunately, however, you seem to be making the seriously flawed assumption that points in one program must necessarily have the same "value" as points in another program. That assumption isn't any more valid than assuming that one foreign currency must necessarily be worth the same as another. The fact that you end up with fewer points/units isn't necessarily evidence that you have lost "value"

In the case of Amex to SPG, you are never going to find a 1:1 transfer options because SPG points are simply worth more than Amex points. If you search, for example, you'll find that many people are *hoping* that Amex will someday repeat a previous promotion that gave 1 SPG point for every 2 MR points.

IMHO, AA miles are also worth more than MR points. Again, if search, you'll find a lot of people with Amex points asking how to use them on AA. You'll find very few with AA miles wishing they had Amex.

lotsomiles

Should I just hold on to the MR points for now? I think I will get the SPG card.

itsme

This may be out of place here, but indulge me if you will...MR points are pretty sucky. We signed up for MR years ago and accumulated 150K without paying much attention to their redemption value. Was very surprised and chagrined to discover how the airline redemption possibilities had reduced over time, all the while we were paying annual fees for the green card and MR as an add-on. Now I wish to get out of MR as soon as practical and looking for reasonable redemption value. MR to SPG is terrible, especially since one could have been accumulating SPG rather than MR in the first place and it really galls to consider going MR to SPG at 3:1. I expect I will get out by converting MR to ANA or CO miles, hopefully before they eliminate those options.

MR --> SPG. If AmEx gives 1MR/$1 and 1SPG/$1 with the SPG AmEx card, why shouldn't it be 1:1 MR to SPG? One pays more per year for the green card and MR than for SPG , and there are more opportunities for "bonus" SPG points than for MR ones, so AmEx should be profiting as much or more with the green card and MR in combination. Any thoughts as to why MR should have become less attractive program over time compared to rival card options, including the SPG Amex one, or is this sort of thing unknowable to us because we don't know the details of the deals between credit card issuers and airlines and hotels?

mia

If Membership Rewards transferred 1:1 to Starwood there would be little reason to offer the SPG card. Over the course of a year, a typical Membership Rewards card will earn more than one point per dollar. Until late 2006, Membership Rewards included a "Double Points for Everyday Spending" feature, and there are periodic double points promotions offered to targetted cardholders. In fact there is such a promotion for Green cards right now, if you haven't been invited call customer service and complain .

The SPG card rarely offers more than one point per dollar, except when used at Starwood properties. Instead, Starwood offers a 20000:25000 ratio when transferring to many airlines. It's unrealistic to hope to accumulate bonus points through Membership Rewards, transfer 1:1 to Starwood, and then earn another 25% bonus transferring to airlines.

Membership Rewards has, in fact, added transfer partners recently: AirTran, Alitalia, FlyingBlue, Singapore. Membership Rewards has good partnerships with Skyteam and Star Alliance carriers, but nothing with OneWorld. This is unfortunate, but it is not new. Who are the partners that left the program that you had hoped to use?

itsme

I'm pretty sure that UA was a transfer partner back when we signed up for MR, as were other carriers that have since dropped out. (Perhaps others can tell us what redemption possibilities have opened and closed over the course of time.)

There is that opportunity for a 25% "bonus" when converting from SPG to airlines, though unfortunately not with UA or other *A's. Also, last year (this year too???) SPG had a double points for paying taxes up to $5K taxes,
10K points. And SPG AmEx is the only way to go when spending any $s at a SPG property.

I don't know why one should spend more for the AmEx green and then still more to participate in MR, when substantially lesser cost for SPG AmEx and better return for $1 spend whether in hotels (SPG) or airlines. 3MR for 1SPG makes no sense to me when AmEx hands out both MR and SPG, and I don't know when, if ever, MR is worth more than SPG. But I am not privy to the deals between card issuers and their partners. I do know that I want to move out of MR as quickly as possible, since it gives me less for my money than SPG AmEx, UA MP Visa, and another Chase card with 5% in points for gas, groceries, etc. Perhaps there are advantages to AmEx's MR that I am not taking into account, but am not aware of them.

UpgradeMe

Nope. Never.

bhd87

The SPG card is the best thing going right now. If I had to dump my MR's anywhere, it would be NH. But, I believe they have a 24 month expiration. I find *A awards to be very available.