stvr

Formerly, 1 dollar = 1 SPG point. 20,000 SPG points = 25,000 airline miles.

New math in August. 1 dollars = 2 SPG points (wow, double! just kidding, not.) 60,000 SPG points = 25,000 airline miles.

So instead of spending $20K to get 25K airline miles, you'll need to spend $30K. A 33% devaluation. Frankly, for me, this will move base spend to a different card product. Pick your poison:

Chase Freedom Unlimited = 1.5 airline miles per base dollar
Amex Blue Business Plus = 2 airline miles per base dollar
Amex Everyday = 1.2 airline miles per base dollar
Amex Everyday Preferred = 1.5 airline miles per base dollar
Citi ThankYou Products = 1 airline miles per base dollar
Barclay Arrival Premier = ~1.4 airline miles per base dollar (~2.1 miles if you hit certain spend thresholds)

Klimo

It looks like SPG went away from any kind of airline redemption. It is purely a hotel card. It was probably to complicated to get everything to reconcile, especially with the new bonus categories of dining, gas, flights, hotels....

miuk

Also the fact that for those of us that just had the anniversary date pass won't get the free night. Might as well cancel and apply for the new Marriott card when it comes out.

loun80

I guess we might as well transfer points from SPG to your favorite airline now.

36902BRF

Yep come August my spend on my SPG Bus and Personal will go to zero other than, possibly, some hotel charges. I feel a little sorry for Amex but the only possible reason I see to consider holding the legacy SPG cards going forward is the free night cert and even that may depend on what the new Marriott awards chart looks like. I suspect I will be cancelling one or both cards. I'll shift my spend to other Amex and Chase cards which are now more attractive for non-bonused spend.

gpeso8

I put most of my un-bonused spend on my SPG Amex. I only use the points to for airline transfers (mainly, SQ, JL, NH, OZ, AA, and Aeroplan). Last year I put a little over $1M on the card, but starting in August will probably move my un-bonused spend somewhere else, I just need to figure out where.

Ringside

I put all my un-bonused spend on the SPG Business card as well. With this major devaluation will have to find another card for it.

How do they charge $450 for a premium card and CUT the earning rate from 3 Marriott Points to 2 per dollar AND take away lounge access? Original ratio should've been kept for the Premium $450 card at minimum.

buylowsellhigh

Same boat here.... I put more than $1M between Amex/Chase to convert over to Aeroplan/SQ/UA/AA/BA miles... and mainly transferring Starpoints to AS and very rarely, AA to redeem CX/JL/EK in their premium cabins. I imagine that $1 = $0.83 would compel me to apply for an AS cobranded card and shift 100-150k of charges there.

Them giving 15 EQN, $75k = Platinum level or $300 spend credit at hotels is a fairly decent reason to apply for the card. I suspect many cardmembers have multiple $450 a year credit cards so the other benefits are a wash.

jmj9905

stvr:

which one of those cards can you transfer miles/points to AA?

ESpen36

Since the Sheraton Club Lounge benefits will disappear for SPG Biz Amex on Aug 1, 2018, what will be the reason to keep it in addition to the SPG consumer Amex? (4 additional devices on Boingo WiFi?) Maybe I'm not seeing something...

longtimeflyin

Guess I will use my card until August and then cease wasting my time with SPG.

nwflyboy

Me too.

All the dishonest bloggers are spinning this as "no big deal". That's nonsense. This is a major devaluation (devalued by one-third, specifically).

I will be closing my SPG cards when this hits.

longtimeflyin

Agreed, even a paltry 1.5% return with my Mastercard yields an arguably "better" return than with SPG, and yes while I have LT Platinum status it isn't fair to compare an Apple to a Google.

miuk

Just tweeted this at Amex.
Will probably just keep this card for the free night and any potential Amex Offers

paolo64

In respect of the airline miles cost, it's a 50% change rather than 33%