I noticed that a $42 charge for incidentals during a stay did not credit as Starwood Spend. Since it was only $42, and since it was the only Starwood activity during the period I didn't really think much of it and didn't bother to contact them about it - but I wonder if it was part of a bigger problem they had last month.

I have both SPG Amex card and Hilton Amex card (no annual fee). I spend around 50-60k on SPG Amex card per year. My annual fee just posted on my statement and I really hate to pay the $65. I called Amex and asked for any retention bonus but they offered me nothing. I don't pay to stay in Starwood hotels but I use the SPG points to stay in some nice Starwood hotels. I get my SPG points mostly from merchandise shopping. I am considering cancelling my SPG Amex card and use the Hilton Amex card as my primary card. Is this a wise move?? :confused:

Clearly not if you value SPG points more highly. I don't even earn most of my SPG points with the card directly, I earn them through referrals! For that I judge keeping the card is a pretty wise move.

Unfortunately the first-line CSRs typically are not authorized to grant any retention compensation. I'd bet if you called and requested to cancel your card, they would put you through to someone that did have that ability.

As long as the cancellation would not have a negative or unmanageable impact on your credit rating, then go ahead and cancel and use your Hilton card. Burn your SPG points before they expire and enjoy your Hilton relationship.

Just as a data point:

$30k+ spend in the past year and was offered 2k points or $10 off bill. I did receive a retention bonus last year so I thought anything this year would be just fine.

Always remember, if you do a lot of spending on your card.. you can call up if you do not have enough points in your SPG account for an award stay. They will usually drop an extra 1-3k in your account if you need it, but I'm going to guess it depends on how much activity you have on your card.

My $65.00 annual fee came up. My spending is just over $30,000.00 annually on the card for sole purpose to maintain Starwood Gold status.

That said, was thrown a real curve ball on by the rentention agent at Amex who seemed quite eager to find a way to accomodate me. He would not offer me a $65.00 statement credit on the Starwood nor any Starwood points.

HOWEVER, he said he saw one of my other Amex's (I have 5 different types) was a Business Gold and that he would offer me a $75.00 statement credit on that card instead. But I told him I was thinking of discontinuing the Business Gold due to lack of an annual incentive of extra membership reward points like that I enjoy on my regular gold card. He said let me work on this and he then called me back 24 hours later.

His revised offer was not only a $75.00 statement credit on the Business Gold, BUT a reduction of its annual fee from $175 a year to $125 a year plus an extra 25,000 Membership Reward Points if spending on that card hit $50,000 per year (which I will have no problem reaching).

So the bottom line here is that the request of waiver on fee for the Starwood card was ultimately achieved through the Bus Gold plus the terms of the Bus Gold were greatly improved for me.

Interesting how this was handled!

I've been making annual phone calls requesting retention fee waivers for the past 10 years for my Diners Club but today was the first time that I tried it with my SPG Amex. Was immediately offered and accepted 3K SPG pts which was fine by me, I've had the card 15+ yrs and put approx $75K/yr on it.

SPG poitns validation after cancellation
 

My annual fee was due on SPG AmEx card. I called and was offered 1000 SPG points. I am thinking of cacelling the card and would like to know what happen to the points after cancellation and how long they remain valid. Thanks

Once your points have posted to your SPG account, they are your's do use whenever you like. The points are offered for your spend and not your continued spend. Unless you have a large refund hit the AMEX account a month or two after closing, your points should be safe.

Called up today, no dice.

Called to cancel due to annual fee, was offered 4k points. Seemed reasonable so I took it.

With bonus points and other charges, I probably get 55 to 60K in points per year. Somewhere in the neighborhood of a $600 to $700 (this figure could be a little low) savings when I redeem. One year, I flew my family of 4 to Orlando, round trip for 60k in points and flew with the wife, RT, to Vegas for 60K the next year. I have also redeemed for many hotel stays. I have been satisfied that I am getting a solid economic value from the card so I have never complained about the annual fee. Having reviewed this thread though, I will definitely make the call. What can I lose?

I called today and mentioned that I saw the annual fee posted and I got an AMEX SPG Biz card a few months ago. I asked the agent for suggestion about consolidation of my spending or if there's any incentive to keep my spg personal card. He said the best he could offer was 3K points on next statement, no spending requirement. I took the offer.

Yes and no. IF you like Hiltons, go for tlhe Citi Reserve card where $40,000 in annual spend will get you Diamond top tier status with Hilton plus after your 2 free weekend welcome nights for a nominal spend, you will get another free weekend night if you spend at least $10,000 annually.

And, as I stated above, if you hit $40,000 on the card you get Diamond status, if not you get Gold for as long as you hold the card = free breakfasts at Hilton family properties.

Also, Visa is more accepted worldwide than AMEX and you get 3 HHonors points per $1 for your online purchases.

The fee is $95 annually, but at least you are getting something for that fee and the card is free of foreign exchange fees unlike the SPG or HHonors Amex cards.

I have the SPG Biz Amex that I dont use at all compared to my main one.

Called to cancel and protested at the $65 fee - no incentive given for me to stay whatsoever.

No points, credit, waived fees - nothing!:mad: