Last Day to Save 35% On SPG Points – Great for Hotels, Flights, and Experiences

While I do not normally suggest people buy miles or points, there are times when it can be a good solution to enjoying premium travel for less. SPG points are among the most valuable points around due to their flexibility but also because of how much harder it is to acquire them. If you want to save money on buying SPG points, today is the last day to do that (until they run another sale sometime later in the year!).

Last Day to Save 35% On SPG Points – Great for Hotels, Flights, and Experiences

Link: SPG Points with 35% Discount

• Transactions must be completed between 9:00 AM ET February 1, 2018 and 11:59 PM ET March 16, 2018 to be eligible for the discount.
• Purchased points do not count towards Preferred Guest, Gold Preferred Guest, or Platinum Preferred Guest Status. Transactions are final and nonrefundable. All other terms and conditions of the Starwood Preferred Guest Program apply.
• Purchase up to 30,000 per account per calendar year; points are applicable toward all Starpoint awards but do not count toward elite status.
• Starpoint purchases can be made by members whose accounts have been active for a minimum of 14 days. Accounts that are less than the required 14 days in age will have the purchase attempt cancelled.
• Save 35% on all purchases of 5,000 points or more

Is It a Good Idea to Buy SPG Points?

Just because it is a good deal does not mean that you should do it! Things are still a bit unknown as to what will happen with SPG’s award program as it eventually is rolled into Marriott’s own reward program. That means I would never advise someone to purchase SPG points on a speculative basis for something in the far off future.

If you were to max out this promo of 30,000 points, you would pay $682. That means you are paying 2.2 cents per point. Not a bad value but if you were to use them all for a Category 7 property, you would be paying that full $682 for such a “free” night at that property! I have never spent that much on two nights let alone one and I am guessing that there are many people in a similar spot!

So, realize exactly how much these points still cost before you jump on board. With that being said, there are some great ways to really get some great value from such a purchase.

Reasons to Buy SPG Points at a Discount

SPG Moments

SPG Moments can have incredible value, depending on what you go after. With some of the Moment packages things that cannot normally be bought with money, being able to buy Starpoints at a discount is a great way to go about that. Consider something like some of the MLB packages. There are some packages that can be had at some decent Starpoint prices. If you were to buy those same seats, you may pay anywhere from $100 to much more if you were to pay cash. Buy SPG points is a nice shortcut to getting some decent packages on a discount.

Airline Transfers

My preferred transfer partner (airline) for SPG points is Aegean’s Miles + Bonus program. With business class redemptions only being 45,000 miles between the US and Europe, it is possible to get quite a bargain on some great airlines. Since every block of 20,000 Starpoints to an airline receives a 5,000 mile bonus in transfer, you would only need to transfer 40,000 Starpoints (and get 50,000 Aegean miles) to get a business class ticket that might otherwise cost way over $2,000.

Of course, keep in mind that the limit on purchasing Starpoints is 30,000 points per calendar year. It used to be possible to transfer between members of a household but from what I understand, the points transferred cannot be ones that were purchased that will put the receiver over the 30K limit (I could be wrong on what the current handling of this is – feel free to correct me in the comments).

Also take into account the fuel surcharges that each airline might charge, of course, when you tally it all up.

Check out this other promo that could be even more valuable when combined with this discount! I wrote the details up the other day.

Marriott Redemptions

Since you can transfer SPG Starpoints to Marriott at a 1:3 conversion, buying the maximum of 30,000 Starpoints will give you 90,000 Marriott points. That can give you a significant savings on many higher category Marriott properties but it is also a great way to bulk up your Marriott account for their Hotel and Air packages. Also, this is another way for people in the same household to maximize this as you are allowed to combine Marriott points when redeeming for an award. So, if you have 2 people max out this SPG discount, it would translate to having 180,000 Marriott points toward a package. That’s a great start!

Remember that Ultimate Reward points do transfer to Marriott at 1:1 as well but that is not the strongest of transfer partners unless you are topping up for a redemption like the Marriott Hotel and Air awards.

Takeaway

A 35% discount on SPG Starpoints can be a great deal if you have a plan to maximize them. If you max it out, you will be paying $682 – not small change so make sure that you are going to get at least $750 in value (to take into account the points you could earn if you paid outright). Today is the last day but my guess is we will see it around again near the end of the summer if you miss out this time.

Just to be clear, I do earn a commission if you purchase through the link above. If you do that, thank you!