(Last Day for 4000 bonus points) Starwood BVG Card, no annual fee first year

[dealonfire]

UPDATE: for the free 4000 bonus points offer, you must apply by Jun 30, 2003.

There is a special offer for the Starwood BVG card, you get 4000 bonus points after first use of the card!

No annual fee first year, only $30 afterwards. You earn 1 point per dollar. 1 point = 1.25 airline miles!

starwood points are great for hotel stays at high-end hotels like W, Westin, St Regis.. 3000-4000 points can get you a free room that normally cost $100+/night

BVG is still good for printed advertisings. so this is a good card to have.

check here for how to use starpoints.

 

[leonc]

"good for printed advertising", meaning internet ads wouldn't work?

 

[dealonfire]

correct, no more internet BVG.

However, I heard some CSR would let you pm internet stores.. so it will depend on which CSR you get when you call to make claims.

 

[JJordan]

I cannot find a list of participating arilines -- is American Airlines one you can exchange 20,000 points for 25000 miles ?

 

[jrenna]

AA is listed in the fine print on the web site.

 

[DorkBoy]

Got this card along time ago when I bought a Starwood TimeShare in Myrtle Beach,SC.

Dorkboy=Sucker

 

[dealonfire]

Originally posted by: JJordan
I cannot find a list of participating arilines -- is American Airlines one you can exchange 20,000 points for 25000 miles ?

Yes, AA is 1:1, and 5000 bonus miles for 20000 point transfer. So 20000 starpoints => 25000 AA miles

Frequent Flyer Program Exchange Ratio(Starpoints: Miles)

Air Canada Aeroplan 1:1
Air FranceSM Frequence Plus 1:1
Air New Zealand Air Points 1:2
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan 1:1
Alitalia MilleMiglia 1:1
All Nippon Airways ANA Mileage Club 1:1
America West Airlines FlightFund 1:1
American Airlines AAdvantage 1:1
Asiana Airlines Bonus Club 1:1
British Airways Executive Club 1:1
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles 1:1
Continental Airlines? OnePass 1:1
Delta Air Lines SkyMiles 1:1
EVA Air Evergreen Club 1:1
Emirates and Sri Lankan Airlines Skywards 1:1
Japan Airlines JAL Mileage Bank 3:2
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Flying Dutchman 2:1
LanChile LanPass 1:2
Lufthansa Miles and More 1:1
Mexicana? Frecuenta 1:1
Northwest Airlines World Perks 1:1
Qantas Airways Frequent Flyer 1:1
Saudi Arabian Airlines Alfursan 1:1
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer 1:1
Swiss TravelClub 1:1
Thai Airways International Royal Orchid Plus 1:1
US Airways Dividend Miles 1:1
United Airlines Mileage Plus 2:1
Virgin Atlantic Airways Flying Club 1:1

Note: United Airline is 2:1 ! So transfer points to UA miles is not a good idea.

 

[leonc]

The airline points actually sounds like a better deal than an airline card. Most of them are $50+ per
year and it looks like you get at least a 25% bonus with this card. Hmmmm.

 

[rasputinj]

Great card, it has been the best way to earn starwood points. I was also able to get a few BVG before they canned the internet BVG. Hot deal

 

[dealonfire]

Originally posted by: leonc
The airline points actually sounds like a better deal than an airline card. Most of them are $50+ per
year and it looks like you get at least a 25% bonus with this card. Hmmmm.

Yep! Even some long time frequent flyers do not know about this card. When they found out about it, they are still in disbelief. Yes. 1 dollar can get you 1.25 miles essentially with this card, and you have the flexibility to transfer to all the major frequent flyer programs.

 

[snowairg]

Originally posted by: leonc
"good for printed advertising", meaning internet ads wouldn't work?

I believe the terms have always said this. Simply printing the web page makes them printed ads, making it valid. I haven't had any troubles ever with getting my BVG claims approved.

 

[RossMAN]

How does the Amex Starwood differ from the Amex CostCo card?

 

[dealonfire]

Starwood card let you earn starpoints. you can either redeem starpoints for hotel stays at Starwood hotels (Westin, W, Sheraton, St Regis..more) Or you can transfer starpoints to your frequent flyer mile at the rate of 20000 starpoints => 25000 miles. 1 dollar => 1 starpoints => 1.25 miles!

in addition starwood has BVG.

the amex costco card doesn't seem to have BVG. amex costco card does have cash rebate.
On the first $2,000 0.25%
On the next $3,000 0.50%
On any amount over $5,000 1.50%

Since for the starwood card, 1 dollar get you 1.25 miles, and each mile is valued on avg 1.5 cents, 1 dollar can earn you 1.875 cents. A return of 1.875%.

 

[bdunosk]

Good luck finding a CSR to PM an internet store. You would have to get hooked up with the moron of the century to find someone at BVG who wouldn't know about that change by now.

They gave me a lot of grief PM'ing to a NewEgg PRINTED AD from a magazine, not because they operate an internet store, but because "we've had a lot of problems with NewEgg in the past, they sell a lot of grey-market items even when they are listed as retail." Maybe they were thinking of the wrong NewEgg? More likely they didn't want to PM.

 

[Salvador]

Amex's BVG is goofy. When I still had the BVG with the Optima card, I tried pricematching a sort of shady place on the internet and they rejected my claim stating that the company sold Gray Market. I came back and price matched a completely shady place and they accepted the BVG claim. I bet a few of these places are blacklisted in their system because this second place that I tried to BVG didn't look any better than the first place.

Sal

 

[skarydrunkguy]

OIL on fire?? Are you some kind of friggin idiot or something? Have you people actually moved beyond 'Hotter then hell' and 'Olsen twins hot' to 'oil on fire?' I hope someone pokes out my eyes very soon so I no longer have to read this CRAP!

Just post your deal. Let the people decide what is oily and what is 16 year old girly.

 

[slycat]

Originally posted by: skarydrunkguy
OIL on fire?? Are you some kind of friggin idiot or something? Have you people actually moved beyond 'Hotter then hell' and 'Olsen twins hot' to 'oil on fire?' I hope someone pokes out my eyes very soon so I no longer have to read this CRAP!

Just post your deal. Let the people decide what is oily and what is 16 year old girly.

why don't u chill the hell out?

 

[tlam617]

thats kewl.. i'll look into that

 

[pdaguy]

many of those yahoo shopping stores are simply scams! I guess this is one of the reason amex stopped pm internet stores. It's hard to tell which online store is legitimate.

btw, has anyone tried to price match advertisings in ComputerShopper magazine with any success?

There are still some uses for BVG.

Since it's hard for amex to find out about rebates, you can buy something with a rebate and the rebate is to expire in say 10 days. Once the rebate expires, there is a chance the price will be lowered to the after rebate price. You can call amex to PM the new lowered price.

if you buy the item at stores that has lowest price guarantee program, such as circuit city, you can go back to circuit city pm within 14 days! I have done this multiple of times.. We can still do this even without being able to pm internet stores!

the deals are out there, you just have to look for it..

 

[TheeeChosenOne]

Originally posted by: Salvador
Amex's BVG is goofy. When I still had the BVG with the Optima card, I tried pricematching a sort of shady place on the internet and they rejected my claim stating that the company sold Gray Market. I came back and price matched a completely shady place and they accepted the BVG claim. I bet a few of these places are blacklisted in their system because this second place that I tried to BVG didn't look any better than the first place.

Sal

BVG approval most likely depends on the service rep you get handling your claim. Sometimes it gets rejected, sometimes others get approved on same store/same product price specials. It's really a crapshoot sometimes.

Sometimes, extreme deals on such boards were monitored by AMEX to get blacklisted. But nowadays, since BVG no longer works on internet purchases (except Costco AMEX), this is not a problem as B&M stores are all that's accepted. Therefore, BVG is largely a WASH.


Despite the futility of BVG, the AMEX Starwood card is THE BEST credit points card in the land. The points can be used on a 1:1 basis with airlines and fancy Starwood hotels. With the points, I've stayed in 5 star Beach Resorts and flown to Europe on more than one occassion.


Anyone reading this: DO yourself a favor and get this card! You won't regret it. Even my reluctant parents are signed up and now in 2 years time have enough points to travel to South America!

 

[TheeeChosenOne]

Oh, BTW, Starwood has a free night stay for four nights booked with points. This can have a max value of $700 if you're staying at a fancy hotel.

 

[huesmann]

Originally posted by: skarydrunkguy
OIL on fire?? Are you some kind of friggin idiot or something? Have you people actually moved beyond 'Hotter then hell' and 'Olsen twins hot' to 'oil on fire?' I hope someone pokes out my eyes very soon so I no longer have to read this CRAP!

Come over here and I'll do the honors. :|

 

[AbsolutZero]

I'd take a cash back card anyday over these. I've had a Fleet cash rebate card for 2 years @ 2% cash back and a Discover Private Issue before that, great cards but they are wising up to people like me who charge a lot and pay in full each month: no more cash back, only credits for select merchants...yadda.

 

[pdaguy]

Originally posted by: AbsolutZero
I'd take a cash back card anyday over these. I've had a Fleet cash rebate card for 2 years @ 2% cash back and a Discover Private Issue before that, ...

Those are upto 2% cash back cards. Your real return is probably 1% to maybe 1.4% at most, depending on your annual spending level.

Even the most conservative valuation of miles is around 1.4-1.6 cents per mile. So with the starwood card your real return is between 1.8-2%! That is if you find ways to sell air mile tickets.

if you choose to use the points for yourself, the actual return is easily 3-4% or more.

 

[dealonfire]

the 4000 point offer expires after 6/30. this card is just unbeatable.
4000 point is already enough for 1-2 day hotel stays..