Starwood American Express Still Tops Hotel Credit Card List

The Starwood American Express looks just like any other hotel credit card. Here’s why it isn’t. Sure, its rewards program might not be the flashiest out there, but when the nerds crunched the numbers, we found something unexpected: the unassuming and underrated Starwood AmEx hits with the heavyweights in the travel card arena, and the Starwood rewards program is far more than what it seems. Read on for our take on the American Express Starwood, reigning champ in the hotel card arena, as well as a review of the Starpoints rewards program.

Starwood packs a punch with accelerated rewards

At first glance, the Starwood rewards program is less than exciting. You earn up to 5 Starpoints per dollar spent at Starwood Preferred Guest hotels and 1 Starpoint everywhere else. Big deal. But when you stop a second to examine the actual value of a Starpoint, you’ll find a program worthy of consideration.

As a general rule of thumb, hotel and airline rewards are usually worth a penny apiece at best. You’ll find slight deviations here and there, but a point (or mile) tends to maintain a $0.01 value. Starpoints, however, are valued at an average of 2.3 cents each when redeemed at hotels. Depending on how they’re redeemed, Starpoints can be worth up to a whopping 5 cents.

The signup bonus is two-fold. You receive 10,000 bonus points after your first purchase and another 15,000 after spending $5,000 in the first 6 months. At 25,000 points, the bonus is enough for 6 free nights at a category 1 or 2 hotel. By our estimate, that’s a bonus worth $575.

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

With a rate of 2.3%, the Starwood American Express bests even the Capital One Venture in travel rewards. Keep in mind, though, you’ll only receive the full 2.3-cent value if you redeem for hotel stays. If you have friends in every major city who can offer free sofa sleep, something like the Venture—which can pay a high rate for airfare—might be more advantageous.

Fringe benefits take center stage

With the Starwood AmEx, you have the opportunity to achieve elite status—a title that grants access to a concierge service, complimentary Internet access, free admission to hotel gyms and lounges, welcome gifts and guaranteed room availability. After 50 nights, you receive 10 “Suite Night Awards,” which allow you to upgrade to a standard suite or premium room. Elite status also bumps your base rewards rate up to a whopping 3 points per dollar spent. But to get there, you have to accumulate 25 separate stays or a total of 50 nights in a calendar year. Luckily, the Starwood does a lot to help you get there:

• Bonus hotel stays count toward elite status
• Automatic gold status when you spend 30k a year
• You receive 5 night and 2 stays worth of elite credit annually

If you reach 75 nights in a year, your rewards rate jumps to 4 points per dollar spent. Maintaining elite status for 5 years grants lifelong gold status, and maintaining platinum for 10 results in lifelong platinum status. The Starwood AmEx charges a $65 annual fee, but it’s waived the first year and your rewards will more than make up for it. The foreign transaction fee is 2.7%, which is a little better than the standard 3%, but still not ideal for international travel. If you’re planning on going abroad often, check out our list of credit cards with no foreign transaction fee to save a bundle on that silly charge.

Using Starpoints 

Starpoints can be redeemed for gift cards, hotel stays, airline miles or what’s called “nights and flights.” If it’s gift cards you want, look elsewhere. Trading Starpoints for gift cards yields a 0.89-1.05% rewards rate, which is pretty mediocre. Redeeming for hotel stays results in the greatest worth, particularly when you stay at category 2 and 3 hotels. You can also trade 20,000 Starpoints for 25,000 airline miles from US Airways, Virgin Atlantic, American or Delta, meaning your Starpoints are worth 1.25 cents each when swapped for airfare (which in turn means that you’ll get a better value on Delta miles if you use the Starwood card than if you use the Delta card). You can trade Starpoints for miles at other airlines as well, but the value may be significantly less. Check out the  list of conversion rates for more details.

The “nights and flights” option is the best deal beyond regular hotel stays. You can trade 60,000 Starpoints for 50,000 airline miles and 5 nights at a category 3 resort or 70,000 Starpoints for 50,000 airline miles and 5 nights at a category 4 resort. Nights and flights redemption makes points worth around 2-2.1 cents apiece. (For more info, check out our hotel rewards infographic)

Keep in mind that even if you don’t stay at the SPG hotels often, you can still get a great value: if you redeem for airline miles, you’re getting a better rewards rate than most of the branded airline credit cards will give you. Of course, your best redemption rates come from staying at the Starwood hotels (Meridien, Westin, Four Points, Sheraton, etc). It won’t do you much good if you don’t fly anywhere and tend to stay in budget hotels. But for travelers who like a little comfort, you can’t do better than Starwood.