Earn Up to 9 Points per $1 Spent with the Starwood American Express Through Dec. 18

The Starwood American Express already gave an awesome value when you stay at SPG hotels, earning up to 5 Starpoints per dollar spent there. But Starwood upped the ante and announced that it will give double or triple points on all stays from September 6^th through December 18^th, no matter when you book. Note that this isn’t two or three points per dollar – it’s 2-3x what you’d normally get. This means that if you’re an elite member, and already earning double points, you get 4x the base rate. And by adding on your American Express Starwood bonus points, you can score a whopping 9 points per dollar spent at SPG hotels.

SPG’s Triple Up Deal

From September 6^th through December 18^th, you earn triple Starpoints if your stay includes a Thursday or Sunday night, and double Starpoints otherwise. This means that if you stay from Sunday night through Wednesday night, you’d earn 3x points on your full stay, and double points if you stay from Monday through Wednesday. You do have to register for the program by November 15^th, so you still have a few weeks to get it done.

The deets:

• You must register for Triple Up – not just the SPG loyalty program in general – by November 15^th
• However, you can earn double/triple points retroactively (if you stay in September and sign up in November, you’ll get 2-3x points for September’s stay)
• You can’t earn rewards if you book through a deal site like Kayak or Orbitz or if you use Cash & Points or an Award Night

The math

Starwood lets you rack up the points by earning a few here and a few there. Here’s how to maximize your earnings:

2 points: Just for being an SPG member
+ 2-4 points: Double/triple point promo
+ 1 point: Elite status
+ 2 points: Starwood credit card
= 9 Starpoints per $1 spent at SPG hotels!

The card

The Starwood credit card is pretty much the best travel card around. We think that Starpoints are worth 1-5 cents apiece, and 2.3 cents on average. This means that when the Starwood AmEx earns you 1 Starpoint per $1 spent, you’re actually earning 2.3% rewards on average – more than the vaunted Capital One Venture Rewards. And when you stay at Starwood, you earn an extra 2 points per $1 spent, on top of what you earn through the loyalty program. Plus…

• It offers 25,000 Starpoints as a signup bonus, worth $575 by our estimates
• You get 2 stays and 5 nights worth of elite status credit every year
• You can transfer your Starpoints to a number of popular airlines, and instead of depreciating in value below the standard 1 cent, they’re generally worth 1.25 cents apiece. This means that if you used your Starwood AmEx exclusively to earn rewards on, say, Virgin, your rewards rate would still be 1.25%.
• The $65 annual fee is waived the first year

So, all in all, a pretty darn good deal.

Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
	Starpoints(R) Bonus: 10K with your first purchase and another 15K when you spend $5k within 6 months - enough for up to 6 free nights at a Category 1 or 2 hotel Free nights, free flights: Redeem Starpoints with over 350 airlines through SPG Flights and more than 1,000 hotels and resorts worldwide. No blackout dates 2011 SmarterTravel(R) Award for "Best Travel Rewards Card" $0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65
Annual Fee Signing Promo APR, variable* Intro APR Promotions $0 the first year, then $65 25,000 Starwood Points Bonus after spending $5,000 - 10K with your first purchase and another 15K when you spend $5K within 6 months - enough for 6 free nights at a Category 1 or 2 hotel Min APR: 15.24% Max APR: 19.24% Default APR: 27.24% Cash Adv: 25.24% Purchase: None Bal Trans: None