Starwood Amex has increased the sign-up bonus to 35,000 points on both the personal and business cards until 4/5/17.
A trip across the country is now affordable – assuming “free” is in your price range.
Here’s how to get flights and multiple nights in a swanky hotel for zip, zilch, nada.
Seriously! How about two round trip tickets + 5 nights in Disneyland? You can pull this off with Starpoints. I love Starpoints as much as a man can love any reward!
At the right side of this website under “Chip’s Favorite Credit Card Offer$”, click “Hotel Rewards Credit Cards”. You’ll be taken to another page. The Personal card is the 5th card down. The Business card is the 26th on the list. The journey is worth the reward! Email me if you have ANY questions.
You could get both cards. Or… if you and your significant other, gal-pal or homeslice each get a card and meet the spending requirement – you’ll have enough Starpoints for two round trip flights and multiple hotel nights. I type from experience. I’ve done it!
People living at the same address can combine their Starpoints. This is ideal if one is an organization freak and the other keeps misplacing his toothbrush. So, if a husband and wife got their own cards… do the math!
Restriction
Remember, you can only get the bonus once in a lifetime on these American Express cards. If you have the personal card you can go for the biz card, and vice versa. You could get a business card even if you don’t think of how you make money as a typical “business”. The screen capture below to shows you how to fill out the biz form.
Marriott Wrinkle
Maybe you are not a Starwood aficionado but loves you some Marriott points. Starwood and Marriott have merged. You can link your accounts here and transfer Starwood Points at 1:3 ratio. So… 35,000 Starpoints = 105,000 Marriott points.
Starwood “Nights & Flights”
This is a fantastic use of your Starpoints for a hotel stay and flights. With Nights & Flights, you can redeem 60,000 Starpoints for 50,000 airline miles (enough for two round trip domestic tickets) and five free nights at a Category 3 hotel or resort. Or you can redeem 70,000 Starpoints and receive 50,000 airline miles and five free nights at a Category 4 hotel or resort (including Walt Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin hotels)!
Be The Griswolds
Let’s say you redeem 60,000 or 70,000 Starpoints for Nights & Flights, you do not have to use the airline miles for that trip. You will get 50,000 airline miles deposited into your frequent flyer account at whatever airline you selected, but you can save the miles for later. You could pile into the Family Truckster station wagon ala Clark Griswold, drive to your vacation destination where you have five nights in a nice Starwood hotel, and use the frequent flyer miles some other trip. Pretty sweet, as long as Aunt Edna doesn’t expire along the way.
There is no introductory fee for the first year with the personal and business Starwood cards, a savings of $95 each card. You get at least one Starpoint for every dollar you spend. If you got both cards and met the $3,000 and $5000 spending requirements for the bonuses, you’d have at least 68,000 Starpoints.
Meeting The Spend To Get The Bonus
I hear ya, “Spending $3,000 or 5,000 is a lot of cabbage. How do you propose I achieve that, ChipsMoneyTips?” Well, I’ll tell ya! Of course you can use the card to pay for everyday spending and bills. I pay for everything with a card, pay it off in full, then reap the rewards. For more helpful ideas, check out my post 11 Ways To Meet A Spending Requirement.
What the heck are “Starpoints”?
Starpoints can be converted into frequent flyer miles on over 30 different airlines or stays at over 1,000 hotels and resorts in nearly 100 countries.
How To Use Starpoints
I already covered redeeming Starpoints for “Nights & Flights”. Starwood will also convert 20,000 Starpoints into 25,000 airline frequent flyer miles. So if you wanted, you could convert 60,000 Starpoints into 75,000 frequent flyer miles – enough for 3 round trip tickets. 60,000 Starpoints is also enough for several free nights at a high end Category 6 hotels like the W San Francisco or the Westin New York at Time Square. You decide the mix for converting your Starpoints to airline miles and/or hotel stays. But if you are looking for the biggest bang for your Starpoints buck, “Nights & Flights” will give you enough miles for two free flights plus five nights in a hotel.
Keeping Your Starpoints Fresh
As you can see, it’s a great card. If you end up trying it and not keeping it, I suggest ‘roundabout month eleven of your free first year that you charge something on it. That will extend your Starpoints expiration date for another year. Here’s another way for you to keep your Starpoints alive. I think if you try the Starwood Preferred Guest personal and/or business card (see application screen capture below) – you’ll like ’em !!
Put a little Vasco in your da Gama!
At the right side of this website under “Chip’s Favorite Credit Card Offer$”, click “Hotel Rewards Credit Cards”. You’ll be taken to another page. The Personal card is the 5th card down. The Business card is the 26th on the list. The journey is worth the reward! Email me if you have ANY questions.
The cards have no foreign transaction fees. You’ll also get unlimited free Boingo WiFi. Annual fee ($95) waived first year. The points are still yours, even if you cancel the cards.
Filing Out A Business Card Application
Applying for the personal card will be self explanatory. Here’s how to fill out the application that you will see (below) when you apply for the Starwood Business card. Do it this way if you are not incorporated, an LLC or are an entity of any kind. If you just said. “A what?” – that’s fine. You’d apply as a Sole Proprietor, which the IRS defines as “someone who owns an unincorporated business by himself or herself.” It’s completely legal. On the application, put your name as the Business Name and your social security number as the TAX ID.
If you have a little business on the side, you are a sole proprietor. Are you a babysitter, nanny, handyman? Heck, in Hollywood, I can’t swing a cat without hitting a dog walker… or a stand-up comedian or actor for that matter. Or maybe you sell stuff online. Congrats you’re a sole proprietor!
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