A Gold what? I thought that there was only one type of Starwood Optima card, not plain and gold.

The gold card is referring to comp 1st year SPG Gold membership when you get the Sheraton AmEx card. As far as I know there isn't any Sheraton AmEx gold card...

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For money savings ideas & tips check & FF miles bonus for fiance & auto buying check out ValueConsumer.com

Here's the second part of this card question.

I just booked a vacation using both starpoints and money(Amex starwood card). Starwood had me prepay for the vacation $2400.00. I've paid the card off and received the 2400 points into my starwood account. No problem so far.

Here's my question. What else should I get for extra points? I have not stayed since it will be in November.

Example #1 Marriott card 3 points per dollar + 10 points for the room rate in your folio.

Example #2 Delta is 2 miles per dollar on the card(blue/gold Skymiles Amex) + miles (varies depending on tier) flown.

Should I be getting any bonuses? Or is my 1 starpoint per dollar on the Amex what I should expect?

Hi, this is my first post on the board, but I have been 'lurking' these boards for about a year now. Thanks to everyone for the great tips and info, you have really helped me to accrue a lot of miles! I am writing because I, too, have a question about the Starwood Amex. It sounds like a great deal, but how does the 1:1 frequent flier miles thing work? Does Amex transfer the points directly into your FF acct, or do you have to accumulate a certain amount before you can transfer them? Also, is there a requirement that you have to stay at a Starwood property a certain number of times per year in order to get the miles? (I really never stay at hotels, I mostly am trying to accumulate miles to take vacations and such.) Do the miles/points have an expiration date, or can you build them up over a number of years? Thanks in advance for your help with this subject!

Welcome aboard. It's nice to see another Penn Stater! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The pts you earn with the Sheraton AmEx go directly to SPG account shortly after the billing cycle's closing. Once the pt are deposited in SPG account, you don't deal with AmEx; you deal with SPG. http://www.preferredguest.com

To answer your question, you need min 2,000 pts to transfer or 1,500 pts if you are Gold member. BTW you get free 1st yr Gold membership and 1000 signup bonus. So you need to spend $500 before you can start transfer. For further detail check http://www.preferredguest.com/member/terms.jhtml


Hope this helps...


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For money savings ideas & tips check & FF miles bonus for fiance & auto buying check out ValueConsumer.com

[This message has been edited by DH (edited 07-17-2000).]

The only limitation we saw in the Starpoints vs Gold AMEX card was the paying schedule. Unfortunatly, this was an issue for us. You were not allowed to change cycle dates (ie if your card is due on the 16th of the month it can not be change to the 2nd,etc). Also you have 20 days to pay your bill vs the 30-31 days with AMEX GOLD/Platinum cards.

I know you are paying $100-300 for the convience.. but it is a good one. If you pay the Starwood card late, you get interest charges... Hmmm but I wonder if the interest would add up to $100-300 ???

Anyone have any input on how the Optima Cards are with paying??

Sheraton AmEx card is a credit card, not a charge card like AmEx Green/Gold/Platinum; you don't have to pay off the balance but you will pay interest.

Because of this interest feature, AmEx is not charging annual fee. One big downside of Sheraton AmEx along with most (if not all) reward card is high interest rate. Forget these cards if you carry balance; the high interest you pay doesn't conpensate the reward benefit you receive...

BTW, you can set up direct payment from check account and make sure you pay on time which applies to all credit cards to avoid interest payment or/and late payment.

You are careful about the payment, this is an excellent card which I had since '97. Only time I had to pay any interest was when I had to emergency cash from ATM in Paris...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/confused.gif

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For money savings ideas & tips check & FF miles bonus for fiance & auto buying check out ValueConsumer.com

If I´m missing something obvious, let me know and my apologies in advance. But...
I can´t find a listing of airlines at the Starpoints web site which participate in the points-for-miles exchange. Can someone refer me to this info? (perhaps this is in the members-only section?)
Also, what are the rules on expiration of these points, and how long does it take converted points to post to a frequent flier account?
Y.

here is the partner airlines page:
http://www.preferredguest.com/partners/810_airline.html

29 and counting!