Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express

Card Details

Card Features

Apply Now

Signing Promotion

Earn Up to 25,000 Starpoints(R).

Reward Rate

2.30%*

Annual Fee

$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65

APR, Variable

APR: 15.24% - 19.24% variable
Default APR: 27.24%
Cash Advance APR: 25.24%

Intro APR Promotions

None

Partner Redemption

Sheraton, W, Westin, St Regis, Aloft, and more

Starpoints® bonus: earn up to 25,000 bonus points: 10,000 after your first purchase and another 15,000 after you spend $5,000 within the first 6 months of Cardmembership
That’s enough for a weekend getaway to a Category 4 Hotel like the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf Resort & Spa, or six free nights at a Category 2 Hotel
Free Hotel Nights: redeem Starpoints at over 1,100 hotels in nearly 100 countries worldwide - with no blackout dates
Free Flights: redeem Starpoints on over 350 airlines with SPG Flights - with no blackout dates
Get 5,000 bonus Starpoints after you transfer 20,000 Starpoints to a frequent flyer program with more than 30 airlines
No limits on the number of Starpoints you can earn
$0 introductory annual fee for the first year, then $65
Terms and Restrictions apply.

Pros

High rewards rate

Cons

Has annual fee
Needs excellent credit

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by American Express. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of American Express, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by American Express. This site may be compensated through the American Express Affiliate Program.

Editor's Review

Author: Tim

Verdict - NerdWallet estimates rewards are about 2.3% when redeemed at Starwood hotels.

How much is a Starwood Hotels Starpoint worth?

We recommend you redeem at hotels, where points are worth about 2.3 cents each (see our tables below). The other alternative is to redeem for airline miles. You can exchange 20,000 Starpoints for 25,000 airline miles on most US airlines, with the exception of United and Continental. In that scenario a Starpoint is worth about 1.25 cents.

How does the Starwood Preferred Guest card work?

The card links up to your Starwood account, and earns 1 point per $1 spent on purchases, and 2 points per $1 spent at Starwood hotels. See our review of the Starwood Points program for more details on how we arrive at our 2.3 cent point value assumption. In exchange for these benefits, there is an annual fee of $45, which is waived the first year. The APR is average as far as top rewards credit cards go.

Are there other cards with better rewards? This depends on how you redeem your Starpoints. A good way to find out is by looking at redemption options on our Starpoints Reward Program Review, and assessing what you think is realistic. The easiest way to compare cards is by using our credit card comparison tool and sorting by Rewards, but suffice to say that the Starwood card is one of the best options out there for any usage pattern.

Are there other cards with better rates? Again, we point you towards our low APR credit card comparison tool where you can sort by Effective Annual Rate. Our calculation takes into consideration introductory APR periods, and ongoing APR rates. There are many better alternatives than SPG, the options are too numerous to list.

*Disclaimer: We try to keep information accurate and up to date, however we cannot make warranties regarding the accuracy of our information. Please verify FDIC Insurance / NCUA Insurance status, credit card information, and interest rates during the application process. Please note that NerdWallet has financial relationships with some of the merchants mentioned here. NerdWallet may be compensated if consumers choose to utilize the links located throughout the content on this site and generate sales for the said merchant.

* See the online credit card application for details about terms and conditions. Reasonable efforts are made to maintain accurate information. However all credit card information is presented without warranty. When you click on the "Apply Now" button, you can review the credit card terms and conditions on the issuer's website

Disclaimer: This content is not provided or commissioned by the credit card issuer. Opinions expressed here are author's alone, not those of the credit card issuer, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the credit card issuer. This site may be compensated through the credit card issuer Affiliate Program.