ehlfg

How did you get more than double MR points on Gold Rewards Plus card charges? My Gold Rewards Plus card swears that it doesn't know how yours managed to do that.

singlemalt

That's because your Gold Rewards Plus card was too lazy to read the whole thread.

777 global mile hound

Greetings all,

I hear you on the double point promos on MR. It can certainly work in the right situation.
However as said before in earlier posts if you require versatility with free hotel nights and a superior list of airline partners then without a doubt it is the Starwood American Express card
Because Starwood runs the program it is not bound to the restraints that Membership Rewards partnerships are more limited too. In my case years ago had Amex not had the SPG partnership card Diners would have certainly received the lions share of my spending. Today none at all for Diners.
Today the card can't be reasonably considered for most.
They were one of the first to charge fees to earn your free miles.
And I took some mighty big corporate spenders with me that I orignally brought to DC

For those that are very savvy and observant there can be solid GOLD IN THEM HILLS.
Especially if one is aware of many of those under the radar alliance international airline partnerships that the SPG program does feature. The reward values are simply exceptional.
When combined with other aspects of the SPG program like "Cash and Points "or better yet "Nights and Flights" it will simply make ones miles go further then any of the Double point mile promotions with the weaker on average MR airline partners.

That said there are too many factors that come into play to say one size fits all customers. It depends on revenue spending, carriers of choice, destinations traveled and even award availabilty before one can come up with the correct answer.

Even in a post 9-11 world my FT education and milehound hunting skills still turns up some mighty happy returns
My thanks to all my mentors on and off FT ^ Seek and find and you shall be rewarded. Cheers

ehlfg

It read the whole thread, but it's been summarily rejected when it tried to register for double points promotions. It still isn't clear how to average more than double points for the entire year.

Ken in Phx

Diito, ehlfg. My Gold Card also read the entire thread. My Gold Rewards card also asks how I can earn more that double throught the year. Since my Gold card has felt disrespected and unappreciated because it hasnt been selected for any types of promos.

Any links or current promos avail, would be appreciated my my Gold Rewards Card

singlemalt

From post #14 of this thread:

90minfromJFK-CDG

Just did the same thing. Great thread.

Ken in Phx

singlemalt,

What is being said is that 2.33 per $ is not an attainable #. Maybe if every so often someone get a promo, that is possible. But not for someone who charges 50k on regular items 20k on travel, Cell ph, Grocery etc. Its seems like its not possible to get 163k pts for the year.

I read post #14, it certainly didnt tell me how to do it. ie no links etc

It only told that someone claims they did it.

Ken in Phx

singlemalt

If your $50K is spread over 12 months on this card, then I agree - it's not possible. However, if you only use it during 2X promos (Dennis mentioned four months of such promos in 2005), and factor in the travel and charitable bonuses, I think it's feasible. I believe that during these promos, the always-double spending gets 3 points/$CC.

Let's look at your situation. Suppose you have a backup Starwood card for non-promo, non-always-double spending situations. If you assume your spending is equally spread over the year, then you'd have $17K (rounded) of regular promo spending; you'd have $7K of 3X spending during promos for always-double stuff, and $13K of 2X non-promo always-double spending. This would give you a return of 2.19 MR points/$CC. If you put the $13K of always-double non-promo spending on a HH Amex (which I do for 5 HH points/$CC), then you'd have 2.29 MR points per $CC.

If Dennis has a higher % of travel and/or charitable contributions, you can see how he can easily get to 2.33. But you can't use the card as your primary card year-round.

Ken in Phx

I guess I can see your point if you only use this card on certain occasions. While you would be able to gain max points. You could earn 2.xx pts per $ for certain periods of times. I guess I wasnt thinking of using a $130 yr fee card for part time purchases.

Thank you for showing me how you got to your #'s

Ken in Phx

mia

Starpoints can be purchased from Starwood, not from American Express. The annual limit is 20,000, the normal cost is $50 per thousand. There is a 10% discount if payment is made with the SPG credit card. There was recently a 50% discount promotion.

mia

I think the question has been ably answered, but I will confirm that we did earn 2.33 Membership Rewards points in 2005 using the Gold Rewards Plus card.

We use the card exclusively for transactions which qualify for double points. In some months this is "only" supermarket, pharmacy, gasoline, cellular, Just Give donations, and MR-transfer partner travel, but during four months it was everywhere.

The average was raised above two points during the four months when Amex offered a bonus because we then earned three points per dollar on the categories mentioned above. Also, we purchased some airline tickets on the Amex website, earning another point per dollar, and some of these transactions occurred during the promotional months so we earned four points per dollar.

It will be more difficult this year because the MR-transfer partner transactions will earn only 1.5 points per dollar, but we will still average well above 1.25 per dollar offered by Starwood.

dennis

singlemalt

Some of us already have the first four months of 2006 under the 2X/3X promotion.

ehlfg

Thanks -- sounds like you in the first year with the Gold Rewards Plus card, as you were getting the two points for MR-transfer partner transactions. That passed for me long ago.

I also try to use my Gold Rewards Plus card mostly for double-points transactions (including the JustGive charity donations), but there just aren't enough of them for me to rack up the significant number (100K+) that you were able to get. No joy so far in signing up for any of the double-point promotions.

Based on information from FT, I signed up for a Starwood card last November. My spending on the Gold Rewards Plus card has really dropped since then -- most of my personal charges either go on the Starwood card or a United Mileage Plus Platinum card that I picked up in November as well.

My Amex spending as a whole has dropped, as a good chunk was on dining expenses. I used to put nearly all of my dining expenses on Amex, but those now all go on my Mileage Plus Visa because that card gives double miles for dining. Starpoints may be more valuable than United miles, but it's not clear to me that they're more than twice the value.

mia

Yes, 2006 is off to a comfortable start.