Both my husband and I have the personal SPG Amex and now I wish we had applied for the business card while it was up to 30,000. Are their any links out there for 30K. If not, I will wait for it to come back around.

For several years, the 30K offer has come around annually during the summer. (For several years running, it appeared in July, but this year the offer showed up around June 1.) If past practice is any indication, you'll be waiting until next summer.

Oh well, guess it just wasn't meant to be. There are other good offers out there right now. If it comes around, I will jump. :)

I just got a new personal SPG AMEX card through a referral. Apparently the fine print has changed (have not been following miles/pts trends) to indicate that only 1 bonus is allowed for life, and I previously had a personal SPG AMEX card & gotten the bonus for it (> 1yr ago). I made my first purchase and my statement has even come out, but I did not get the 10K bonus points. In the past (and from what I read), the 10K 1st purchase bonus pts post almost immediately, even before the statement comes out. Does that mean I am not getting the 10K bonus? I called SPG AMEX, and the CSR tells me that it can take 8-12 weeks to get the bonus, and that I need to wait but will get it. Frankly I don't trust the CSR, and from other things I've read, SPG AMEX does not honor things CSRs might have said (even people who had a chat record). If I am not getting the 10K 1st purchase bonus points, will I also not be eligible for the 20K bonus points for spending $5K in 6 months, or is that different? I do not want to try to spend $5K on the card if I am not eligible for the 20K bonus points. Thanks. I used to be such a road warrior and so into miles/pts, but after 2 kids, I've become soft and lost :( .

See discussion in http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-1-2014-a.html and http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...etime-usa.html

P.S. That wasn't a suggestion to repost the same comments in either (or, as it appears, both) of those threads, since that's a) uncool and b) a violation of the FT rules.

Data Point -

I hit the spend on my Monday statement and my points & status from the statement have posted.

Edit: status also posted soon after.

I have had a personal SPG Amex for several years. Last month I opened a business card account. First purchase points posted within a day, spend bonus posted within a day or so or meeting the spend threshold. But, the stay/night bonus has not posted. (My spouse has had both cards for a few years and receives 4 stays/10 nights, one perk per card). SPG says I will not receive, which makes no sense because they are two separate types of accounts (personal vs. business), not duplicate cards. Amex rep was baffled and knew of no policy change. Has there been a policy change?

I have no problem cancelling the card (no need to spend the AF) if I will not receive the advertised perk, but before I did, I wanted to see if anyone else ran into this problem or whether you received stay/night credit for both cards. Maybe a glitch?

Takes time for the nights/stays credit. I'd give it more time.

Hi All, thinking about applying for the business card to go along with my personal one. The amex website states the bonus is 10K after first charge then another 15K after spending 5k in 6 months. Should I hold out for a better offer or is this as good as I am going to see? Thanks!

Thanks. Good advice, except I have been informed by SPG that I will not receive the night/stay credits for the business card, because I received credits for the personal card in January, only one per SPG account, but did not say it was a policy change. Amex knew nothing of a change of policy. My spouse received credits for each separate card account both last and this year. I have also read on this board about flyertalkers receiving separate credits for each card.

Has anyone else run into denial of the second stay/night with your recent application/approval of the 30,000 point Amex business card when you already have the personal card? Am baffled. Thanks.

I am as well. :confused: I would follow josephstern's advice and give it a bit more time. But, if it doesn't get credited within 4 - 6 weeks, you should send me your SPG account number so I can follow up on it. American Express has been known to create duplicate SPG accounts, so if it doesn't credit eventually, that's probably where I'll start.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

Never heard of that. I'd chalk it up to an ignorant Amex rep.

I've gotten credit for both in the same year many, many times, including this year.

I originally posted this in another thread but think that I will get a better response here. Please respond if you think you can help. I am disappointed in Amex right now and I feel justified in feeling this way. I have a SPG Amex and my husband got one about 6 weeks ago. He got his initial 10K points right away after his initial first spend. I transferred 10K points from his account to mine so I could do a transfer to USAir and get the bonus that is being offered throughout July. Then we intentionally made sure that we met our $5000 spend on his card by his closing date of July 14th because we were hoping that the 20K points would post before the end of July and we would be able to do a transfer to USAir or AA with his points. I know the 20K points don't always post right away like the initlal 10K. The problem is this-- the final charge that we made on the card was for around $700 made on July 12th and it remained pending until after the closing date. It showed up on the 15th. UGH! That means it won't show up until next months billing cycle. I immediately called Amex and the first lady I talked to told me to wait and see if the pending charge shows up as a real charge and call back and they would see what they could do. Well, it did show up ( I knew it would). I called today and spoke to a nice girl but she said that there is nothing they can do. Well, we did meet the $5000 within the time frame and really want to take advantage of the transfer in July because of the additional 5000 mile bonus. Is there anything else that we can try? Being the persistent person that I am, I called again and spoke to a supervisor and told them that we DID meet the spend and I had no control over the fact that charge was pending for a few days. I worked hard to meet that minimum spend. He said that he saw that we met the spend but that charge wouldn't show up until next billing cycle in August. He said he would give me 1000 starwood points for goodwill. My husband and I have 8 Amex cards between us. I guess I will just have to let this go. I know he will get the 20000 points but not in time to transfer the points to miles in time for the bonus. What would you do?

Take the 1,000 Goodwill SPG points and let it go.

Realize that it is the business establishment that controls when a charge posts. For example (I'm not saying this is what happened), if the $700 charge on July 12 was a mail order/internet order item, then the $700 was authorized on July 12 when the order was placed. However, the business would not have put the final charge of $700 through to Amex until the shipping date, perhaps July 15.

The business is in control of putting the charge through. Amex has no incentive to delay the posting of a charge.

Hotel awards points vs Amex points
 

I only recently applied for an SPG Amex card. I just got my first statement.

One of my first expenditure on the card was a stay at a Four Points. According to spg.com, I got 242 points for the stay. But Amex gave me 316 starpoints for the same stay.

So it's pretty obvious Four Points only gave me points for the base room rate and not anything else, such as tax and parking. Amex gave me double points for everything the hotel charged me, including tax and parking.

I'm not complaining about this. I see an opportunity to do my best to game the system.

So, everything that's on the hotel statement will be awarded double points from Amex? What else can I put on the hotel statement that I'd otherwise charge separately to my card and only get 1x points?

Tax and parking are pretty much default. I hate eating at the hotel restaurant, but the food and tip can be room charged, right? I tend to have incidental-free stays, but I may reconsider on that. Can you buy at the hotel gift shop and room charge?