Annual fee posted in October.
Previous 2 calls had no offers on account.
Most recent call had $25 statement credit or 500 points + 1k points after 1k spend.

Still debating whether to keep the card or not.

It won't be as disastrous as 1:1, but I cannot scry what it will be.

RNE, hoping for 1:5, at least.

Whatever the conversion or situation will be, it clearly makes no sense to earn SPG points in the interim, unless you expect to use them very, very soon. Rules can always change at any time, but this announcement makes the likelihood of changes significantly higher.

I am very disappointed about this merger, I can't believe I have to burn my Starpoints this soon! I will kiss this card good bye next year... RIP Starwood :(

There is a lot of discussion in the merger master there, but with NOTHING approved why do you think you need to burn anything soon?

Marriott is the bigger company, so it will most likely absorb the SPG program. I think by end of next year, we will see what is going to happen but I think it will be bad for SPG more than good.

By that time I will have no choice but to burn my Starpoints. Probably transfer most of them into Alaska Airline, and the rest for hotel stays. Enjoy your Starpoints while you can....

So where would you earn? I still think transferring to one of a number of Airlines with the 25/20 bonus is one of the better deals out there (but I'm happy to learn about alternatives!). I agree it's prudent to assume some type of devaluation will happen, but the airline transfer is a good "out" IMO.

Cashback.

Look, SPG or any of these companies could always change the rules immediately. We've always trusted that SPG would give us good notice.

We now have a situation where that's just not necessarily the case. A new owner may or may not feel the compulsion to treat us the way we've come to expect. You could finally get your 20K SPG and, boom, Alaska transfers aren't allowed anymore. Or the ratio is different. Or there's a fee. Or the 5K bonus is gone. Or your points are now Marriott points.

Cashback gives you the ultimate flexible currency.

I was more happy with an Hyatt Merger instead of an Mariott merger since Hyatt has the better reward program compared to Mariott.

This is another continental/united merger almost identical.

At least if Starwood merged with Hyatt, the points would not have to be revised too much.

delete.

I'm in the same >1MM category as you.

I don't see where I advised cashing these out at 1c. I don't advocate that. I re-read my post and I do not see it. I advised switching to cashback cards, which usually generate 2c/dollar of spend.

I do sometimes get more than 2c/SPG point. But I don't have plans for $20K+ worth of hotel stays before the merger. Sounds like you do.

One can also realize $0.02 per Starpoint if transferring 20,000:25,000 to an airline partner and redeeming miles at $0.016 or better. That's not a very high bar, unless only flying domestic USA economy class.

True, and I'm thinking about that option, but earning more towards that option seems like a mistake to me, given that there's no guarantee that this option will remain to be, in fact, an option.

The chance of $0.02 via airline miles isn't bad, but isn't as good as $0.02 in the bank.

i completely misread your post.
apologies. my bad.

and, i agree. about 70% of my spend this year has gone towards cashback cards- partly due to huge point balances, and partly because i decided to get airline status (UA 1K, AA ExP), as i really needed it given my last minute bookings/changes and the fact that i live in hotels wherever/whenever. i viewed the MS on cb cards as if they were points paying for revenue fares: if i was going to actually pay for a flight, 1/2 the cost had to be covered was my line in the sand. worked well.

as to my burning... i'll burn more, but i think there's time, so i'm not going to just blow them- i have to get .025 or so or else i'm wasting them. i live in hotels, so it's easy to shift currencies- i don't need to conjure up trips- everything i do is a trip! i need to research how MAR does things to see what kind of lead time i will have once the announced changes are made.
cheers

SPG Business Amex credit line increase--any experience?
 

Hi everyone,

I have an SPG Business Amex (and personal SPG Amex too) with $9K limit. It was increased from $3K to $9K about 7 months ago--and this card gets a lot of use since I stay so often at SPG hotels for work.

Does Amex make a hard pull for a credit line increase request? I am considering requesting a credit line of $20-25K, less than the common 3x increase that Amex normally permits.

Please advise with my thanks if you have experience with this!\

UPDATE: I did call Amex...and got a credit line increase to $25K with a soft pull, confirmed.

That being said, the rep with whom I got the CLI did indicate that he could not guarantee that there would not be a hard pull, and the credit management department that confirmed I only had a soft pull indicated that some CLIs to higher limits CAN include a hard pull in some circumstances. So while it seems that most of us are likely to not get a hard pull for a CLI, there are some exceptions.