You can currently purchase Starpoints at a 35% discount for purchases of 5,000 points or more. This is one of the best deals to buy miles, and ends very soon – March 16th at 11:59PM Eastern Time. Starpoints are worth more than any other points currency because of the access to an incredible variety of airline and hotel redemptions.
Starpoints 35% Discount Promotion
Purchase Starpoints – 35% Discount
The best way to earn Starpoints are through the SPG Personal American Express and the SPG Business American Express. However, this promotion is especially useful if you need points quickly, as they post within 24 hours of purchase.
With this discount, each Starpoint will be 2.28 cents. The normal price is 3.5 cents each. Buying the maximum amount of Starpoints, 30,000 per account, will run you $682.50. If you need more than that, it’s easy to consolidate your points via household transfers or through this Marriott trick. Your account also needs to be at least 14 days old.
Since you can transfer to most airline programs at a 1:1.25 ratio and Marriott Rewards at a 1:3 ratio, this discount indirectly lets you buy airline miles at 1.82 cents and Marriott points for 0.76 cents. This is often cheaper than buying airline miles directly from the airline program.
Al Maha – A Luxury Collection Resort
I’ve written amply about my favourite SPG/Marriott Redemptions which include five star resorts, luxury hotels, Hotel and Air Packages, Emirates First Class, Etihad First Class, and more. One of my favourite redemptions last year was at the Al Maha Resort and Spa, which was a spectacular experience in the United Arab Emirates.
This is one of the very few promotions where it’s worth purchasing speculatively. I’ve bought 90,000 Starpoints already, and am considering getting more. As long as you can use the miles quickly in the event of an immediate devaluation, holding Starpoints shouldn’t be an issue.
If you need more Starpoints, you can always transfer Membership Rewards at a 2:1 ratio into SPG. Eligible cards include the American Express Platinum Card, the Business Platinum Card, the Business Gold Card, and the Gold Rewards card. The new American Express Cobalt Card also offers this transfer opportunity.
One Caveat is that the points are charged in USD which is higher price than if you get points via the CDN Amex card. With today’s exchange (1 USD =1.30926CAD XE Rate) this knocks down the discount.
Regular price : 30000 Starpoints = 1,050 USD =1,374.98CAD
Sale Price: 30000 Starpoints = 682.50 USD =893.736CAD
If you buy on a CDN credit card vs a USD card you usually have to pay an extra 2.5% on top of CDN exchange, further reducing the discount.
Something to consider.
I bought 30,000 points using my Marriott Visa with no FX fees for CAD$868.67 so that’s $0.0289/point. I could pay bills that do not take credit cards (ie. property taxes, etc) using Plastiq with SPG Amex and pay 2.5% or $0.025/point. The alternative is to use SPG Amex on PayTM and pay 2.00% but they impose a daily limit and I can only pay it once every few days. I wonder if it’s better to accumulate Aeroplan points as opposed to SPG points?
With an annual limit of 30,000 purchased points would I be correct in assuming that you have several SPG accounts or do you have a family account?
I control multiple accounts, yes.