I love Starwood

[Reckoner]

35% off the regular price of a hotel for a 4 day trip to Florida. Just got the parents a nice trip to a 5 star hotel for their 25th anniversary. I highly recommend the Amex Starwood Card :thumbsup:

 

[Merlyn3D]

I was told my amex (when I called about my blue cash) that I was preapproved for a starwood so I went ahead and said okay. Does anyone else have glowing reviews of it?

 

[BoomerD]

Don't have their card, (not an amex fan...) but I DO love the Starwood Hotels people...so much so, that we bought one of THEIR timeshares on Maui, instead of one of the myriad of other ones available...They just take great care of you when you stay with them...

 

[DaWhim]

I put most of my charges on it.

 

[Merlyn3D]

How long does it take to build up for like a weeks' stay at a Westin or something?

 

[qaa541]

Originally posted by: Merlyn3D
How long does it take to build up for like a weeks' stay at a Westin or something?

It depends...
Westins are usually 10K points per night (mostly depends on the Westin location and how busy they are).

So you are looking at around 70K points for a week. Starwood has special offers though where you get a week for like 50K or so, so let's assume 50K.

You get 1 point per dollar, so you would likely have to spend close to $50K to get a week's worth of hotel stays with that card. If you stay at Starwood properties and use the card to pay for the stays, I think you get double points (2 points per dollar spent at a Starwood hotel) so you may end up spending slightly less.

 

[Reckoner]

Originally posted by: Merlyn3D
I was told my amex (when I called about my blue cash) that I was preapproved for a starwood so I went ahead and said okay. Does anyone else have glowing reviews of it?

Did you get bonus points for signing up? They gave me 6k points right off the bat when I signed up via their web application.

 

[CaffeineAndStuff]

If you're using an SPG35 that is normally off rack rate which can sometimes be higher than the best available rate....
If the hotel you are looking at is participating in this promotion
http://www.starwoodhotels.com/promotions/promo_landing.html?category=GENDRE_H
you will probably be able to get a better deal as these discounts are off the best available rate.

 

[Merlyn3D]

Originally posted by: PaulNEPats

Originally posted by: Merlyn3D
I was told my amex (when I called about my blue cash) that I was preapproved for a starwood so I went ahead and said okay. Does anyone else have glowing reviews of it?

Did you get bonus points for signing up? They gave me 6k points right off the bat when I signed up via their web application.

Yeah, I got the typical number of points right off the bat/after first purchase.

 

[igowerf]

I'm bringing this thread back from the dead because I just got approved for a Starwood card. I should get it within the next week.

I do have a few questions though. You can transfer a minimum of 2,500 points at a time to airline miles, so if I get about 5,000 or 6,000 points, I can get a round trip ticket from Los Angeles to New York? Is it as simple as that or are there other things that I need to consider?

Also, what if I just want to fly from Los Angeles to San Francisco? It's only about 350 miles so what happens to the remaining 2,150 points?

 

[erub]

Originally posted by: igowerf
I'm bringing this thread back from the dead because I just got approved for a Starwood card. I should get it within the next week.

I do have a few questions though. You can transfer a minimum of 2,500 points at a time to airline miles, so if I get about 5,000 or 6,000 points, I can get a round trip ticket from Los Angeles to New York? Is it as simple as that or are there other things that I need to consider?

Also, what if I just want to fly from Los Angeles to San Francisco? It's only about 350 miles so what happens to the remaining 2,150 points?

don't we wish wish..airline miles are not equal to the number of miles the trip is. Well I should rephrase, if you are buying a ticket, on say American Airlines, you get the number of miles that you flew if you are in coach (get more for first class, different fare classes, etc)..and small flights less than 350 miles earn 500 miles.

Most domestic awards start at a minimum of 25,000 miles, no matter the distance. Sometimes you can get them for 15,000 miles, if the distance is less..obviously it is better to use them for a longer distance trip, but since the airlines seat limit the number of award tickets, everybody is trying for that as well..