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Note to our Joe… You’re tempting fate with blog post titles such as…
Last (EVER) Chance to Buy Discounted SPG Starpoints!!!
(Editor Joe: “noted… 🙂 I did wonder about the wisdom of the headline, but didn’t want people to miss out!”)
Because it seems that Marriott are still keen to squeeze every last dollar out of SPG members before SPG is merged with Marriott Rewards in August.
Between now and 20 July, 2018, you can buy Starpoints at a 35% discount. You can jump straight to the deal by clicking here.
Remind Me Again What the Deal Is…
Starpoints normally cost ~2.62p (3.5 cents), so with the 35% Starpoints discount, you’re looking at about 1.7p (2.275 cents) each.
Buying Starpoints is going to make sense for members who:
- Are accumulating points in order to redeem for a Marriott Rewards Travel Package
- When you need to top-up an airline account. As always, converting chunks of 20,000 Starpoints will earn you 25,000 miles
- Hotel stays, especially in categories 1 and 2 where a free weekend night can start as low as £34 simply from buying the Starpoints required
Terms
The standard terms and conditions apply. Most importantly, the annual cap of 30,000 points is still in place.
Transactions must be completed between 9:00 AM ET June 15, 2018 and 11:59 PM ET July 20, 2018 to be eligible for the discount. Purchased points do not count towards Preferred Guest, Gold Preferred Guest, or Platinum Preferred Guest Status. Transactions are final and nonrefundable. All other terms and conditions of the Starwood Preferred Guest Program apply.
Please Note: Excluding promo periods, cost is $.035 per point. Purchase up to 30,000 per account per calendar year; points are applicable toward all Starpoint awards but do not count toward elite status
A Little Bit Extra
Don’t forget to re-read this blog post I wrote earlier this year. If you sign up for the US version of Topcashback, you can receive an extra 1.5% cashback when buying Starpoints. (which you can cash out to Paypal)
Perhaps everybody who ever wanted to buy 30,000 Starpoints has done so, but you have been given one more chance if you’ve never gotten around to it…
Hi
Slightly off topic but Marriott related. My first ever Marriott stay upcoming what pros/cons of their app based check in?
Thanks
Unless there’s a promo I tend to avoid app check-ins. There’s very little benefit that I can see and sometimes it means that you don’t get upgraded because they assume you chose the room you wanted. If you are going to arrive really really late, I suppose the App check-in can alert the property that you are indeed intending to show up.
But I don’t have a specific knowledge of how the Marriott app works, but I suppose I’ll also have to try it out once my SPG stays become Marriott stays.
‘Hotel stays, especially in categories 1 and 2 where a free weekend night can start as low as £34 simply from buying the Starpoints required’
Can you expand on this, I thought cash would be better at lower category properties? I’m collecting two starpoints per dollar at the moment via amex and even with double SPG points for buying these I still can’t get the math to work, and that’s before August’s category creep devaluation.
2,000 points gets you a free weekend night at a Category 1. Buying 2,000 during the 35%-off promo costs £34. Even a Category 2 hotel – that costs 4,000 points per night midweek – works out to £68. I have stayed at dozens of Cat 1/2 SPG hotels that wanted to charge me more than £34/68 per night. So… just buy the points and use them for an award night.
Of course there may well be some really cheap hotels in Asia where this strategy doesn’t apply. But in the US/Europe you’re quite likely to save some money this way.
Thank you Craig. I think the difference is my calculations include the points I miss from paying cash plus I usually book hotels which are running a bonus. I think your calculation works best if you book a hotel on a points break. Happy to be corrected as I don’t want to miss a good opportunity!
There’s a lot of nuance to it. As you say, you earn points from paid stays, plus any promo bonuses. If you can Best Rate Guarantee that’s another 2000 Starpoints on top.
But I’ve stayed at airport hotels in the US where they wanted to charge me $150-200 pre-tax and it was pretty simple for me to choose to use 4,000 points instead.
Yep, there are cases where points over cash just make better sense.
I don’t suppose these can be bought using paypal (paypal USD balance)?
Unfortunately not. In fact I’m finding it harder and harder to find any USD-denominated travel agencies that accept Paypal.
I was wondering if any alternative to buy more than 30,000 points per calendar year in the same account was feasible? Or do will multiple account under the same name a viable possibility? Thanks
SPG allows you to combine points amongst members of the same household for free. So you can stretch that definition a bit and “gift” points to people, then combine them into your own account. That’s where the 14-day rule comes into play.
As always, the more you abuse the more you might get caught, so I would limit yourself to a few family members who could get on the phone with SPG if necessary. Even better if those people have the occasional SPG stay…