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Annual fee retention bonus for Starwood Amex Card (Pre-May, 2019)

Old Sep 12, 2014, 8:20 am
FlyerTalk Forums Expert How-Tos and Guides
Last edit by: MDtR-Chicago
Direct Retention number is following.... 1-800-452-3945 (better success in getting a bonus points)

SPG Personal
---------------
9/12 - 3K points offered with no spending-rubu
9/14 - 7k points $110k annual spend
10/3/14 - 7k points $40k spend
10/6 - $50 statement credit (had $27k of YTD spend)
10/8/14 - 3K points or $25 with very little spend. Took points.
10/27/14 no offer except to close.
10/28/14 - 3K points to keep open ($24k spend)
1/15 - 7k points. This in addition to the 7k points I recived in Aug, so 14k points within 5months. Just asked.
1/27/15 - 7k points or $50 statement credit (~$30k spend)
2/8/15 - 7k points or $50 statement credit
2/10/15- 1k points + 500 if I charge $1000 in next month. Canceled.
2/11/15 - 7k points (~$60k spend)
2/15/15 - 3k points ($20k spend)
2/23/15 - 1K points + 500 if I charge $1000 in next month
2/24/15 - 7k points or $50 statement credit (~$90k spend)
3/6/15 - 3k points
3/12/15 - 3k points...yawn. Might cancel
3/16/15- 7k points or $100 statement credit (over $300K spend)
4/3/15 - 1.5k points or $50 statement credit (less than $2k spent YTD)
5/1/15 - no offer
5/2/15 - $100 statement credit or 7K points. ~50K spend.
5/4/15 - 3k points (>100k spend)
5/5/15 - $50 or 100 points with 1K points w/ $1K spend... lol no thx ($65K spent last year)
5/11/15 - $50 or 500 points + 1K points w/ $1K spend (~$90k spend)
5/26/15 - $50 or 500 points + 1K points w/ $1K spend in 90 days (~$30k spend)
5/30/15 - $100 statement credit or 7K points. ~10K spend. Took $100.
6/16/15 - Nada. Was told that an offer is only given every other year. I got 7K last year. (~40k spend)
7/8/15 - $10+K spend last year, offers $25 credit or 500 points + 1K points w/ $1k spend. Will HUCA.
7/13/15 - $9K spend in 1st year; offered and took 7K points, still at $65 AF for the year ahead.
8/20/15 - Offered 10K points or $100...chose the points. 250K annual spend.
9/3/15- Offered 7K points or $50 credit, accepted credit, 30K annual spend
9/26/15 - Offered 10K points took it; 3rd year card member; ~40K spend, 3K retention offers previous years
10/17/15 - Offered 10k points or $100. Chose the points. ~30-40k spend. Have had the card for 3 yrs, first time asking for retention. 15yr amex customer.
1/10/16 - Offered 500 points for $1k spend or $25 credit. Took $25 credit. 12 year amex customer, 1st year of SPG card.
2/1/16 - Offered 10k points to keep the card open, no minimum spending requirements ^ $11000 YTD spending in 2015. Accepted 7k points for retention in Oct 2014.
2/18/16 Offered 10k points to keep the card open, no minimum spending requirements. $100k spending in 2015
3/22/16 - Offered $25. $5k spend last year. Did not accept.
4/3/16 - Offered $25 or 7K points. $25K spend last year. Took points. Same as last year as well
5/25/16 - Offered $25 without any spend, or 1.5k points after $1k spend. Took the $25. About $13k of spend in the last year, but only $900 2016 year to date.
6/14 - offered 500 points now and another 1000 after $1k spend. Took the offer. $5k spend last year.
6/14/2016 - Offered $25 or 500 SPG points. Asked for Supervisor - Increased offer to $25 plus 3,000 SPG points with no addl. spend.
6/22/16 - Offered $25 or 1500 points (500 immediate + 1000 additional after spending $1K on the card). Didn't want to deal with supervisor so just took the $25. ~$20K spend on the card in 2015
7/4/16 - Called in January and offered nothing. Called again in July offered 7,000 SPG points on $125k spend
7/7/16- Offered $100 or 10000 points on 140K spend. Took the points.
7/13/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points, took the points.
8/3/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points on 50K spend, took the points.
8/14/16 - nothing on first call; second call offered 2000 SPG points.
8/16/16 - Offered $50 or 7,000 SPG points, $48K spend, took the points.
8/17/2016- 15 yr customer with typical balances ranging from 20-30K, this year about 7K to date. "Nothing to offer you on yr account" Cancelled
8/25/2016 - No offer. Had card for one year, $3.5k spend.
8/29/16 - 3rd year of the card. $25 credit or 500 Starpoints now and 1000 points after $1k spend in 90 days. Took the points offer and kept the card.
9/7/16 - since 2006, $30-40K spend. $95 annual fee. Offered $100 credit. Took it.
10/17/16 - Roughly $15K annual spend for several years. $95 annual fee. Offered $50 credit or 7K SPG points. Took the points.
10/14/16 - $50k annual spend. $95 fee, offered $100 or 7K SPG points. Took the points
10/27/16 - $10K annual spend. With much difficulty, was eventually offered 1500 pts for spending $1000 in 3 mths. (Had been offered 1000 pts by the Indian call centre a few weeks ago which I was dissatisfied with.)
11/03/16 - $200k spend (MS) - $95 fee. Originally offered $50 but didn't jump on it. Offered $100. Took the money.
12/10/16 - third time calling, offered same deal of either 25 towards fee or 1500 SPG points - 500 now, 1k after spending 1k in 3 months. Took the points option. 20k spend YTD, had retention offer 2 years ago
12/23/2016: ~2.5k spend YTD (mostly AMEX Offers). Offers were $25 or 500 pts now and 1k pts after $1k spend in 3 months. The AF was charged several months ago.
1/22/17- $15K spend. Called retention and offered either $80 statement credit or 7,000 SPG points. Took 2nd option. Amex member since 2012.
4/22/17 - ~60K spend. $100 statement credit or 10K SPG points. Took the points.
4/23/2017 - 10K spend. Called the retention number and they offered 100 or 10K. I took 10K and many thx to all of u here!
5/3/2017 - 53k spend. Offered 10K points and took it
5/11/17 - $100 statement credit or 10k points. Took the points.
5/18/2017 ~30000 spend, offered 100 statement credit or 10000 points
5/18/17 - Nada, $0, zilch for an offer. ~$4k spend in past year and first anniversary.
5/22/17 - ~30k Spend. Offered $100 Statement Credit or 10k Points. Took the Points
6/08/2017 - $15k spend annually and was offered either $100 statement credit or 10k points. Took the points
6/13/2017 - Had card for 14 years. Low spend due to using Chase Reserve. No offers told me pay or cancel. No product change available. UPDATE: Called for past 2 days. Nada. Cancelled. bye bye AmEx, Hello CSR.
6/30/2017 - First anniversary, little spend on the card but a significant portfolio of Amex cards. 10k points.
7/14/17 - spent 20k, got 7k points with $1500 spend in 3 months required. Accepted. Last year got nada but had spent very little.
7/21/17 - Spouse's card; <$3,000 spend in 3rd year; she called in to cancel, they offered $100 credit (no strings); she is keeping the card
8/24/17 - Little spend, usually on Amex offers only. Most spend goes to Biz version. No offers available. Kept the card since I make up for the AF on Amex offers.
9/16/2017 - $20K per year; $50 credit or 10,000 points for $2K spend in 3 months - took latter
9/16/2017 - $6k/yr. 7 yrs holding card. $100 credit no strings. Accepted. Calendar reminder set to cancel next year.
9/18/2017 30 year Amex history, $34K spend, offered and took $95 credit
10/1/2017 13 years with this card, min annual spend for last 2 years, no offer so moved cl to DL Plat AMEX and closed SPG.
10/3/2017 12 year amex history, probably 6 with SPG card, $15-20K annual spend. Annual fee hit account back in June but forgot to call until today. Offered 7K bonus points for $1000 in spend over 90 days. Accepted
10/10/2017 Offered 10K SPG points for $3k spend over 3 months. Offer accepted!
10/13/2017 Offered 10K SPG points for $3k spend over 3 months. Original offer by SPG and Accepted. Took me less than 5 minutes.
10/26/17 Offered $100 credit for $2500 spend in next three months and declined! Fee isn't until early January so didn't have much leverage. Said if you offer me a point deal I'd commit to the spend, but no dice. Will call back when annual fee hits.
12/22/17 30-year member. $10k spend. Offered $100 credit for $2k spend in 3 months or 10k SPG points for $3k spend in 3 months.
1/17/18: Personal Card. Offered 7000 SPG points for $1,500 spend in 3 months. Took offer.
2/23/2018: 7k points for 1k spend in 90 days. 7.5k annual spend
3/27/2018: 7k points for 1k spend in 90 days. Took offer.
3/30/2018: no retention offer. Got 10k last year, minimal spend since then. Would not allow product change.
4/13/2018: 7k points for $1.5k spend in 3 months
4/20/2018: 7k points for $1k Spend in 1 month. Accepted.
4/26/2018: 7k points for $500 spend in 1 month. Accepted.
4/28/2018: 10k points for $1k spend in 1 month. Accepted.
5/1/2018: 40$ to offset annual fee. Accepted
5/6/2018: 7k points for $500 spend in 1 month. Rejected.
5/9/2018: 7K points for $500 spend in 1 month. Accepted. ($15K spend in 2017)
5/22/2018: 7k points for $500 spend in 1 month. Accepted. First renewal, ~$6k on card over first year, no activity for 4 months.
6/8/2018: 7k points for $500 spend in 1 month. Accepted.
7/25/18: $100 statement credit after $2500 spend in 3 months. Accepted.
7/30/18: $75 statement credit after $2000 spend in 3 months. Accepted.
8/24/18: Offered $100 statement credit after $2500 spend or 30k points after $3000 spend in 3 months. Took the points.
9/4/18: 20k points for $2k in 3mo offer Received and accepted.
9/6/18: $75 statement credit or 20K points after $2K spend, took the points.
9/20/18: $95 fee waived, no other offers - accepted
1/31/19: $75 statement credit or 20K points after $2K spend, took the points.
2/1/19 No offer, not even Af waiver for the first time since I've had the card.
4/3/19: No offer
4/3/19: 20K points after $2K spend. A nice deal. Card remained open after taking the points.
5/1/2019: 20K points after $2K spend. A nice deal. Card remained open after taking the points.
5/18/2019: 20k points after $2k spend in 3 months

--------------
SPG Business
---------------
1/19/2015 - $100 Statement credit (didn't ask if points were available) $14k spend
8/6/2015 - $9K spend in 1st year; offered and accepted $50 statement credit.
8/24/2015 - $30k annual spend. 2nd anniversary. Offered 10k points, statement credit was not an option available to me. Took the points.
9/8/2015 - $51k annual spend. 2nd anniversary. No offers at all. I did get a $50 statement credit last year though.
09/20/2015 - $50 statement credit (on $65 card)
9/22/2015- $100 Statement credit. Didn't ask about points. 6K Spend.
9/25/2015 - $5k spend in the first year. No offers. I cancelled.
10/2/2015 - $35K annual spend. 2nd anniversary. Offered $100 statement credit.
10/6/2015 - $8k spend over last 12 months, much of it at Target for Redcard reloads. Offered and accepted $100 statement credit. More details here.
11/30/2015: $15k spend in past year, offered $100 statement credit. Accepted. My AF was a couple months ago and was told there were no offers when I called initially.
12/14/2015 - $100 Statement Credit. $15k spend since 2014 AF, but $0 spend since 9/14/15 when AF hit (90 days ago). I asked how much prorated fee if I cancelled. He said "$71, or I can just give you $100".
6/10/16: No offer. Less than $2k spend in past year.
7/19/16: No offer on first call but $25 statement credit after HUCA. Only 3k in spend in last 12 months. Accepted offer.
8/14/16: no offer on 2 calls. $3000 spend in the last year.
8/28/16: Offered $25 on first call, bringing fee down to $40. Keeping card.
10/10/16: Offered $25 first call by calling # above. Accepted
10/16/16 - Offered $25 first call, same offer HUCA two weeks later. $20k spend YTD. Accepted. (Received $100 offer in 2015 for $14k spend)
10/3116: seldom use this card-was NOT offered any bonus to keep card
11/3/16 - No offer. $135k spend. I'll wait a couple of weeks and try again.
12/10/16: No offer... $60k spend. $95 annual fee was just posted. said they offered me $100 last year, nothing to offer now. will try again in the near future. called again (03/05/2017), spent 70k in 2017 so far, still no offer
1/19/17: No offer after multiple tries. Approx. $10K spend. Closed card
2/8/17 Had card replaced due to fraud January, $35K spend 2016, Fee due March, called about another matter and offered $95 credit and 6K points.
2/28/17: Called twice after $95 fee posted for SPG Biz card. $120k spend in 2016. After several years of getting offers, none were forthcoming. Card closed.
3/5/17: Called retention no in wiki after 2 unsuccessful attempts on regular no. Offered $25 credit and I took it. Had not charged anything the whole year but used Club lounge access many times with family.
4/13/17: first renewal, fee posted - 6k spend prior 12mo - retention line in wiki called - $25 credit offered, closed
4/22/17 - ~10K spend. Called 3x over a couple of weeks, no offers.
5/22/17 - ~20k Spend. Offered $25 Statement Credit. Closed account.
7/21/17 - ~$10k spend. No offers, keeping card since I have the $65 AF still.
7/21/17 - ~$150k spend. Took $50 credit.
8/23/17 - ~$30k spend. Offered $25 credit off of $65 AF. Accepted.
8/30/17: Virtually no spend. No offers. Kept card because of the lounge access benefit.
10/2/17- ~10k Spend. Offered $25 Statement Credit.
10/14/17 - $30K+ spend. No offers. Rep mentioned $25 credit in 2016 is the reason. Canceled card.
10/23/17: Second annual fee posted October 1; paid first year AF in 2016 without requesting a retention offer; ~$10K spend; received $25 statement credit offer; no points offers available
12/22/17 - ~10k Spend. Offered $25 Statement Credit. Rep mentioned no points offer avail, only the $25 statement credit.
4/13/17 - Basically no spend other than what was needed on card open. Overall AmEx member for 18 years, but this card for only one. Offered 10k points for no spend. Took it.
3/13/2018: Offered 10,000 SPG points & accepted. Pts will be posted in 8-12 weeks. Didn't ask for further offers. Card since 2013. $80k spending in 2017, annual fee was charged in September. Last yr received $95 credit.
4/12/2018: 2nd call. Offered 5K SPG points, no minimum spend. No further offers. Accepted. ~20K spend in 2017. Last year no offers, multiple calls.
4/18/2018: AF posted 4/17. 1st call no offer, ~100K spend in first year.
4/26/2018. AF just posted. Essentially no spend over last year. Offered 10K points with no spending requirement. Accepted.
4/27/2018: AF posted 4/26. $8k spend in past year. No offer on first call 4/27. Plan to call again in 2 and 4 weeks (then cancel); will update wiki with results.
4/28/2018: AF Posted 4/13. Minimal spend beyond what was needed to get new account bonus. No offer, card cancelled.
4/28/2018: AF date in Aug; ~40k annual spend (all SPG hotels); offered 5k starpoints + another 5k after 2k in spend within 30 days (Total 10K for 2k spend); accepted, will re-evaluate in Aug
4/28/20218: AF posted 4/17. just called...no offer, closed the card to free up one Amex slot for applying for other cards.
4/30/2018: 10k no requirements
4/30/2018: AF posted 4/20/18, first renewal. Spent $43K in last 12 months. No offer.
5/4/2018 First renewal, minimum spend, no offer.
8/2/2018: AF posted 7/16, ~$10k spend past year, no offer.
8/3/2018: AF posted in July, offered 20,000 starpoints for $2000 in spend in 3 months.
10/11/18: AF posted 9/16, pays today (10/11). Spent $793 YTD in 2018. No offer. Closed card. Had been open for 5 years.
10/12/18: AF in January, Offered 10k immediately with a further 20k points after spending $6,000. Kept card open.
12/18/18: AF in any day now. Called twice and each time was offered nothing.
1/11/19: AF on Dec 26, called and nothing was offered, closed the card.
5/18/2019: 5k points now plus 10k points after $1k spend in 3 months
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Annual fee retention bonus for Starwood Amex Card (Pre-May, 2019)

Old Jun 8, 2016, 9:28 am
  #931  
 
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: AUS
Programs: BAEC Gold, AA PPro, Hyatt Globalist, Amex Plat
Posts: 6,983
We actually closed this card a couple years ago, but honestly, I'm a little surprised that Amex is more aggressively trying to maintain current cardholders, given the uncertainty of the situation vis-a-vis Marriott.

This card could easily go from being one of the more popular travel cards around to literally not existing at all pretty soon...

Regards
scubadu is offline  
Old Jun 8, 2016, 11:44 am
  #932  
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Charleston, SC, USA
Programs: Avis Pref+, Hyatt Explorist, Marriott Life Gold, Honors Silver, IHG Plat via MC.
Posts: 6,786
Givings, my points always posted directly to my Starwood account in the middle of a billing cycle--not added to my monthly Amex earnings.

Babielovah, Silvrflyr is right or close. I was told 12 months a few years ago. My AF posts in November, so I got a bonus in Nov., then early Dec. next year, then late Dec. a year after that. A year later, I was ineligible for a bonus until after it was too late to get a refund of AF, so I missed it, then got it again in Nov. because it had been 22--23 months.
Brendan is offline  
Old Jun 8, 2016, 3:30 pm
  #933  
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 1,084
I'm keeping a couple of my SPG cards open for a couple of reasons. First, I generally squeeze out close to $100 or more in Amex offers so most of my $95 Amex cards pay for themselves or more when adding offers to AU Cards.

From a long term perspective I'm wanting to hedge and see what happens to the accounts.

The accounts either get sold to chase so ultimately I'll end up with more CL to allocate Among chase cards (not that I need it ) or Amex will become a secondary issuer of Marriott cards like they are with Hilton alongside Citi. In that case maybe the features or earn structure are better than the Chase product. I have the Ritz card but don't use it for any spend but the $10k spend per year to maintain MR gold.

Finally, the accounts are backdated with Amex so I would always change to another no fee Amex if given the chance
slivrflyr is offline  
Old Jun 8, 2016, 3:56 pm
  #934  
 
Join Date: Jun 2016
Posts: 25
Originally Posted by Brendan
Givings, my points always posted directly to my Starwood account in the middle of a billing cycle--not added to my monthly Amex earnings.

Babielovah, Silvrflyr is right or close. I was told 12 months a few years ago. My AF posts in November, so I got a bonus in Nov., then early Dec. next year, then late Dec. a year after that. A year later, I was ineligible for a bonus until after it was too late to get a refund of AF, so I missed it, then got it again in Nov. because it had been 22--23 months.
Thank you for the info! When is too late to get refund of AF?
babielovah is offline  
Old Jun 8, 2016, 6:48 pm
  #935  
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: Charleston, SC, USA
Programs: Avis Pref+, Hyatt Explorist, Marriott Life Gold, Honors Silver, IHG Plat via MC.
Posts: 6,786
IIRC 60 days after the AF post date, or else 30 days after closing date of the statement on which the AF appears.
Brendan is offline  
Old Jun 9, 2016, 12:03 am
  #936  
 
Join Date: Dec 2014
Posts: 25
Received no retention offer for first anniversary business card, 30K+ spend last year. Only had the $65 annual fee for some reason so will likely keep it and close the personal card instead.
Porker is offline  
Old Jun 13, 2016, 12:54 pm
  #937  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 176
what's a good card to downgrade to? looking to possibly get rid of one of mine
hsmama is offline  
Old Jun 13, 2016, 1:29 pm
  #938  
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Programs: Marriott - Titanium, AA - Lifetime Gold
Posts: 333
I just called as my $95 fee hit yesterday. Only offered $25 or 1,500 starpoints. $15k/yr spend. Asked about downgrade and they said not possible with this co-branded card. Need to cancel and then apply for new card. I have no need for this card as Chase Sapphire Preferred points are worth more. Wondering if I should pay and keep to see what happens in merger......

UPDATE: 6/14/2016 - Offered $25 or 500 SPG points. Asked for Supervisor - Increased offer to $25 plus 3,000 SPG points with no additional spend. Took it.

Last edited by Duke5150; Jun 14, 2016 at 10:03 am
Duke5150 is offline  
Old Jun 15, 2016, 8:16 am
  #939  
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Posts: 376
Got a $25 credit or a $500+1000 point on spending $1000 dollars. Not sure whether to keep or close since I just got the SPG biz.
VeryHumerus is offline  
Old Jun 21, 2016, 8:24 am
  #940  
 
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 385
The $95 fee hit my statement so I called the retention line. I've had the card for 20 years. My spend has been small in the past year. Called twice, both reps offered nada.
GoGreen is offline  
Old Jun 21, 2016, 9:38 am
  #941  
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 176
Originally Posted by GoGreen
The $95 fee hit my statement so I called the retention line. I've had the card for 20 years. My spend has been small in the past year. Called twice, both reps offered nada.
had a card for about 4 years, not too much spend...nothing. tried twice. oh well whatevs
hsmama is offline  
Old Jun 23, 2016, 1:57 pm
  #942  
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: DFW
Programs: AA, WN, SPG, HGP, FPC
Posts: 113
I had 45k spend in 2015. Called and got 7k points. Took about 3 minutes, most of it talking about Disney Dolphin / Swan

ETA: Called the retention number in the thread wiki; 7k was offered immediately without negotiation; have had card 5 years; only first time asking for retention

Last edited by jschen; Jun 23, 2016 at 3:35 pm
jschen is offline  
Old Jun 27, 2016, 12:07 pm
  #943  
 
Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 83
My card turned 10 months and called to cancel it. Offered $25 statement credit. I was hoping they would give $100 or the purchased points equivalent of $100 but rep only said $25 so I canceled. $12k+ spend the last 10 months.
ST_Hawaii is offline  
Old Jun 27, 2016, 3:32 pm
  #944  
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: San Diego
Programs: UA Gold MM, Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite
Posts: 179
Had the personal SPG Amex card for 15 years. $30K+ annual spend. Called phone number on my statement and asked twice to have the $95 annual fee offset. Rep only offered to cancel card and replace it with a no fee Amex card. Told rep that I would think about it.
Alan6557 is offline  
Old Jun 30, 2016, 9:17 am
  #945  
Suspended
 
Join Date: Nov 2010
Posts: 1,677
Just called to try and get a retention offer on the biz. Zip. Zero. Nada. Did manage to lower my cash advance limit to zero, so hopefully that will be handy, in the near future.
BillyBaloney is offline  

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