[EXPIRED] New 35K Starpoints offer

This offer has expired. See our Best Offers page for the current offer information.

The Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express has a newly increased welcome offer: 35,000 Starpoints after $7,000 in purchases within the first 3 months. Considering the fact that Chase and Amex will both be issuing (different) cards when the new Marriott card lineup comes out (See: Marriott announces new credit card lineup), this could be a last chance at a very lucrative welcome offer that matches the largest bonus ever offered on this card.

The Offer

• Get 35,000 bonus Starpoints after $7,000 in purchases within the first 3 months
• Find an application link on our Best Offers page and more information and a link on our SPG Business Credit Card page.

Key Card Details

• $95 annual fee is waived the first year
• Earn 2x Starpoints on eligible purchases at SPG and Marriott properties
• Earn 1x Starpoints everywhere else
• Get credit for 2 stays and 5 nights toward elite status
• Sheraton Club Lounge Access when staying at Sheraton properties with a club lounge
• Offer expires 3/28/18

Quick Thoughts

This is a great offer as Starpoints are arguably the most valuable transferable currency (See our Reasonable Redemption Values for point valuations and more on our methodologies). Starpoints are valuable for SPG stays (with Category 1 properties starting at just 2,000 points per night); Starpoints are valuable when transferred to a myriad of airline partners at 20,000 Starpoints to 25,000 airline miles; Starpoints are valuable when transferred to Marriott at a rate of 1 Starpoint = 3 Marriott Rewards points — really, you almost can’t go wrong with Starpoints.

One of the most valuable uses of Starpoints is transferring 90K points to 270K Marriott Rewards points and redeeming them for Marriott Travel Packages (see: Why are Marriott Travel Packages a good deal?). However, Starwood also has their owns Nights & Flights packages, where 60K Starpoints will get you 50K airline miles and 5 nights in a Category 3 hotel or 70K Starpoints will get you 50K airline miles and 5 nights in a Category 4 hotel. Through March 16th, SPG points are on sale — so you could take the welcome offer on this card + the 7,000 points from meeting the spend and buy an additional 28K points for $637 to get a Category 4 nights and flights package (35K + 7K + 28K = 70K). For more on purchasing points, see: Buy SPG points for 35% off. Cheap way to buy Marriott points or airline miles. If you’d like to buy up to the 90K for a Marriott travel package, see: How to buy more than 30K SPG points.

Furthermore, as this is the business version of the card, it comes with free Sheraton lounge access. While not all Sheraton club lounges are spectacular, it’s still a great benefit to have as it will get you breakfast and potentially snacks throughout the day at some properties. When i stayed at the Sheraton Maldives a couple of years ago, club lounge access saved us a bundle — club rooms were going for $100 per night more than standard rooms, and we ate and drank plenty in the lounge to replace dinner for a night or two (a big savings in the Maldives).

Refer-a-friend

This new 35K offer on the SPG Business credit card is also available via referral from existing cardholders. If you have this card, you can earn 7,500 points per approved business owner that you refer, up to 55K Starpoints per year — and your friend will receive the same 35K offer (assuming you grab yourself a fresh referral link from your online account or the mobile app — some older links are still pointing to a lesser offer).

If you’re playing in 2-player mode, it would make sense for one spouse to get the card first and then refer the other spouse as Amex referral links usually show up as soon as you get your online account set up. A couple collecting points together would then end up with a total of 91.5K Starpoints after both opening the card (35K x 2 welcome offers + 7K x 2 spending requirements + 7.5K referral bonus). That’s enough to combine them for a Marriott Travel Package (though you’ll have to jump through some hoops to combine that many points — see the “How to buy more than 30K SPG points” post linked above).

If you have a referral link to share, head over to our Frequent Miler Insiders Facebook group and find the appropriate thread for referral links to this offer (be sure to read & follow the directions to avoid having your link deleted). Replies to this post with links will get caught in our spam filter and will not post, so please head over to the Facebook group to share your link.

Bottom line

This is a great new offer and it’s certainly conceivable that this could be the last time we’ll see it come around (though we don’t know). As this version of the card comes with Sheraton Club lounge access, it’s a good option to have in your wallet. Furthermore, as the Marriott credit card lineup will eventually change, it might be a good chance to double dip in the sense of getting a once-per-lifetime welcome offer now and then potentially being able to open the new Marriott product down the road.

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