We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Yes, everyone is going nuts in the blogosphere about the Amex Starwood 35k offer. Let’s be honest it’s an amazing deal – typically the card offers 25k after 3k spend, and a couple times a year it’s boosted to 30k. So, as everyone has said, it’s the best deal that has ever been avail on the card.
Ok…so then why not get it? Timing people, people!
This may be the best deal that comes around. It very well may be. But then again, Marriott bought Starwood, so one has to wonder if they aren’t going to start rolling out FLIPPING incredible deals. This is speculation, obviously, and one can’t be greedy. But…I remember back when Barclay was targeting every single possible person they could reach with their 40k offer after first purchase, then suddenly as the AA/US Air deal got closer and closer to finalizing…the offer was increased to 50k.
Amex is going to lose to Chase
Cause, lately…that’s what Amex does. Don’t get me wrong, Amex is amazing and I love Membership Rewards, but they have been absolutely near sighted when it comes to customer retention and acquisition. Chase, and more recently Citi, has been outmaneuvering Amex time and time again, and Amex has experienced tons of customer attrition. So what does that mean?
Amex will lose the ability to generate new accounts once the Merger is finalized and all those Starwood cards will be grandfathered in, but no new ones will be issued.
If Amex is already sending out public 35k offers and we don’t even know what the Starpoint to Marriott Reward conversion is going to be or when the deal is going to be finalized, one has to assume that the 35k offer will probably ( at the minimum) offered again once the deal is settled. I’d even go as far as to bet that a bigger offer will come around. Amex has a once in a lifetime rule with their cards…I have never had these cards: personal or biz. So I want to sign up, but it’s the timing that I’m paying closest attention to. The points are very valuable, and 35k is a great deal, but is it never ever going to come back again? I dunno…seems unlikely to me.
Will there be a bigger bonus?
That’s the gamble I’m going to take. I’ll hold off on this round of sign ups with the thinking that in the worst case, I’ll probably be able to nab a 35k offer as Amex tries to make one final plea to customers, and i’ll keep my fingers crossed that a bigger offer comes around.
If you’d like to sign up… here’s a link https://www.americanexpress.com/us/credit-cards/starwood-preferred-guest/
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.