Frequent Miler's latest team challenge, Million Mile Madness, is almost done! The last two weeks Greg, Nick, and Stephen competed to earn 1 Million SAS miles by flying 15 airlines. But who completed the challenge with the most Speed, Affordability, and Style?
Despite previously stating that I would send my SPG / Marriott cards off into the sunset, I bit the bullet last week and upgraded to the SPG Lux card. Do as I say, not as I do. You can read more about why I went from likely canceling a card with a $95 fee to instead upgrading it to a $450 card in this post: Why the SPG Lux upgrade may be the way to go. In short, I faced the same situation as Greg’s wife: an imminent renewal and the potential to get outsized value out of an upgrade based on timing. However, since I was upgrading close to my renewal date, I was curious as to how soon after renewal my spend would count towards the minimum spend for the upgrade offer and begin to trigger the annual $300 SPG / Marriott credit. In my case, the answer was the same day I upgraded.
I upgraded my account from the regular SPG personal card to the SPG Lux card last week on September 5th. I pulled up chat right away (minutes after upgrading) to ask how soon my purchases would count toward the spending requirement. I was curious because I had a couple of large purchases to pay for and wondered whether they would count if I paid for them the same day I upgraded. I figured I would likely wait on those payments a couple of days to be sure that spend counted, but I was still curious and I thought it might help some readers to know how soon purchases would count after upgrading. If you’ve ever owned a car, a pet, or a home, you know that unexpected expenses can pop up at any time. If you suddenly find yourself incurring an expensive bill, it might be worthwhile to take an upgrade offer if you know you can trigger it or knock out the majority of the spend in a single purchase.
The chat representative told me that the upgrade should take effect within 24 hours and purchases would “be converted to the new card”. I said I understood that I should wait 24 hours before I begin spending toward the bonus requirement and he told me that I would not need to wait — he said that they tell you 24 hours as a maximum amount of time, but purchases should begin counting right away. I was curious as to whether he was correct. To test the theory, I could have spent $5K immediately and waited to see if the 100K bonus points posted. However, what if he was wrong? I would have wasted a large chunk of spend on a pretty poor return if the system still counted it as regular SPG spend for the first 24 hours after upgrading. A much less risky method would be to make a small Marriott charge the same day I upgraded. I figured that if that charge triggered the annual $300 in statement credits for purchases at participating SPG or Marriott Rewards hotels, that would be a good sign that my spend was counting as SPG Lux spend on day 1 (the day I upgraded).
However, I logged out and back into my account and still saw the regular SPG Personal card art. I took this to mean that the system had not yet updated my card to a Lux. Several hours later, on the same day I upgraded, the card art and card name in my online account had updated to the SPG Lux. Shortly after that change, I made my test charge. Sure enough, my purchase posted on the day of my upgrade and two days later I had received a statement credit for that eligible Marriott spend.
Clearly, that purchase on the day of my upgrade counted as SPG Lux spend since it triggered an SPG Lux benefit and therefore I would expect that all purchases I made on the day of my upgrade (after upgrading) would count toward the $5,000 in purchases I need to make for my upgrade offer.
Bottom line
If you take an upgrade offer to the SPG Lux card, your purchases should begin counting toward the spending requirement within 24 hours. In my case, I waited until the card name and card art updated in my online account and then I made a test purchase the same day I upgraded and it triggered the SPG Lux statement credit. I did not need to wait for the new card to arrive (and in fact the word is that Amex has run out of SPG Lux plastic, so they are advising people to spend on their current cards for the time being), nor did I have to wait 24 hours after upgrading. That’s good news if you decide to go for the upgrade and want/need to make purchases right away toward the spending requirement.
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received a letter today from amex saying they inadvertently sent cardmember with incorrect information …you only recieve Gold status and Platinum is being taken away.
I took the 100k upgrade offer – received the card a week ago. My anniversary date is 11/1. My plan is to max out the $300 credit + the AMEX $60 back on $300 spend within the next 1-2 weeks; does anyone know if the $300 credit (for my next “year” is only available after I’ve paid the $450 annual fee)? I would assume so, otherwise what’s preventing card holders from maxing out the $300 credits before/after anniversary & then downgrading back to the $95 standard card?
What was the purchase? How did you make it? Thanks!
Earlier this month 100,000 point upgrade was listed under AMEX offers and benefits thru end of September. Today no longer there and instead a side link to upgrade for only 50,000 points. Did this happen to others? Do you think 100,000 upgrade offer might still be available thru phone reps?
Any way to get marriott gift cards refunded for the $300 credit? What are the options other than a room checkout charge?
Any charge paid at the front desk of a hotel ought to work.
but nothing online I assume(?)
Do you know if you can get a marriott GC at the front desk?
After u upgrade bank pts and use travel credit…..how long does it stay in your wallet?
I’ll keep it until the fee comes due next year and then make a decision. Assuming I get both the $300 credit for this year and the $300 credit for next year (after my coming anniversary date), I’ll be ahead and won’t see any need to cancel until next year at the earliest. We’ll see how things shake out between now and then.
How did you put the $31 dollar Marriott charge ? In person at a Marriott property or online ?
I made a charge on the same day but time-wise before I upgraded the card. e.g., I charged at 2pm and upgraded at 4pm. I also made charges after 4pm. we’ll see what posts, but I suspect all the charges made on the same day as upgrade will post unless Amex has the best IT dept in the world that is measuring by date AND time.
I’d be interested to know the outcome.
Data points:
My wife upgraded to the SPG Luxury, and stayed at a Marriott property 5 days later. The hotel charge appeared on Sept 4, and the rebate appeared on Sept 5.
Regarding the 100,000 bonus, she met the minimum spend on Sept 8 and the bonus showed in her Marriott account today (Sept 11).
P.S. She hasn’t been charged the pro-rated annual fee yet.
so what was your test purchase to credit the travel credit if i can ask ?
Nick, did you have the spend $300 get $60 credit on that card? If so, can you spend the $300 over multiple purchases and still get the $60 credit, and will the $300 annual credit on the Lux stack with the $60 offer? So, say you spend $100 one purchase, and $200 on another purchase, would that trigger the $60 credit after the $100 and $200 credits?
that amex offer is expired. But yes, it can be over multiple purchases till sum is over $300
That offer is not expired — it expires 10/25/18 (if in doubt, you can always check our Current Amex Offers page: https://frequentmiler.com/current-amex-offers/)
Brands: I do have the offer. I expect it will work find over multiple purchases as ivan said. You can definitely stack both the Lux credit with the $60 offer.
Hi Nick, I have one question for you. If one upgrades the amex spg ($95 annual fee) to amex spg luxury card today, is the spending amount before today (but in this year) eligible for that “75K spending” requirement for upgrading the marriott platinum status? For example, I have already spent 70K with the amex spg card this year, if I choose to upgrade it now to the amex spg luxury, HOW MUCH I have to spend in order to complete the 75K spending requirements in this year?
Alex, many sites are reporting that all spend on the card pre-luxury upgrade still count towards the $75,000.
Nick, this may be the only thing that is related to the merger of SPG and Marriott that actually works as advertised (Of course it’s AMEX not Marriott running the card). I received my $300 credit almost immediately and when I hit the $5000 spend the 100,000 points posted the same day! However, on the Marriott side when I transferred 100,000 SPG points to my Marriott account I received 100,000 versus the appropriate 300,000 points. And when I selected the 5 elite reward nights a few weeks ago they have yet to post. What a disaster!
100,000 SPG points are equal to 100,000 Marriott points in this new age.
That is true under the new combined program, however, if you had pre program SPG points and transferred them to your Marriott account you should receive 3 Marriott points for every 1 old SPG point. The Marriott rep confirmed this was what was supposed to happen but there is an issue with the system and she said it was a known issue they are working on. Apparently they have not found a fix as yet.