From January 9 to April 8, Starwood Preferred Guest is running its first quarter promo, “Better By the Night” — double points on two-night stays and triple points on stays of three nights or longer. Registration required.
It’s not as lucrative as Starwood’s summer 2011 free resort night offer, but it’s more valuable than it seemed to me at first blush for longer stays. Mommy Points, to whom a hit tip is due for pointing out the promo, notes how the promos stack. (And also points out that the non-participating properties list is shorter than in recent times for recent promos.)
- Two points per dollar normally
- Plus one point per dollar for Gold and Platinum members
- Plus two points per dollar for two night stays and four points per dollar for three night stays and longer
- Plus two points per dollar paying with a Starwood American Express card.
Last week I offered a detailed analysis of why the card has held a key place in my wallet for ten years.
A Starwood Gold member putting a three night stay on a Starwood Amex would receive a whopping nine points per dollar. Starwood points are among the very most valuable currencies, it’s order of magnitude reasonable to think of that as an 18% rebate.
As always, if you use my link for the Starwood American Express card I do receive referral credit for it, you don’t need to use my link of course but I do appreciate it.
Regardless, you should register for the promotion, it makes Starwood properties attractive for longer stays during the promo period and even if you aren’t a Starwood regular sometimes you just wind up in one of their properties and it’s easier to have registered from the get go than having to remember to do so later.
Gary your blog is going over a cliff with all this nauseous credit card promotion. Can’t we have a blog post now with out multiple reference to Amex and how we can use your referral link? Really sad to see this
@Phil there actually hadn’t been any sort of credit card referral link in a week. When it makes sense to mention a credit card in the context of an offer, I do. Whether or not it generates any sort of referral. For instance, I receive nothing for the Travelocity American Express. Or the US Airways Mastercard. And I’ve recently told folks about better American Visa/Amex offers than those which offer any sorts of credits. But I did think it made sense to illustrate how all the points combine and what that totals to in this case, which is why on longer stays this first quarter promo is a better offer than was immediately obvious at first glance.
Gary – maybe my comment was not in the most seasonal spirit. Maybe it is because I always felt your blog was above the rest, but the credit card references woven in now kind of bring it down to the same level. Brian’s blog has become one long boring chase/amex love-fest. Let me just rephrase and say I preferred the blog when you weren’t pimping the cards
I agree with Phil too.
Gary promotes the credit card offers in a respectful way. I appreciate this blog very much and don’t mind the occasional linking to a card in which Gary may/may not receive $.
While the SW Amex is great for stacking this promotion at domestic properties, the f/x fee makes the Chase Sapphire Preferred a better payment option at the foreign properties, as it earns 2x UR points on hotel spend, but without the f/x fee.
Gary, I don’t have a problem with you mentioning cc’s at all as you do it rarely yet with good info, like today pointing out this stack is worth way more than the normal net. To me those posters appear greedy they all they want free info from your posts (and other bloggers)and how can they turn YOUR knowledge into better travel for themselves. I’m amazed that they try to tell you how to present your blog.I’ve learned so much from you and FTG that I want to pay back when I can. So when I am ready for my churn I go directly to yours or Ricks blog to use your links. I also send referrals your way. Thank you for so generously sharing your knowledge!
I’m sad that this promo isn’t valid in Asia. 🙁
Has there been any official word from Starwood that this is THE Q1 promo?
Agree with k2o.
BTW, make sure you check the nonparticipating properties before you check in for a long stay. The list is pretty long for Germany.
I am now getting a page not found error. Worked yesterday.
This will be a great promotion for those SPG’ers who are tired of hopping hotels for promotions. What a great way to reward the longer stays.
Looks like the page is dead 🙁
Gary – will this work with award nights. Any dollar I spend on incidentals on a three night stay?