Earlier this year, Amex changed the offer on their SPG cards to what is likely the worst hotel card offer ever! They kept saying they would bring the points back and now that we have hit the very important month of August, that point offer is here.
New Amex SPG Card Offer: Earn 75,000 Bonus Points (Marriott Points)
Link: New Amex SPG Card Offer
This new offer is giving 75,000 bonus points – but not SPG points. Instead, they are being delivered as Marriott points (which is the same thing as 25,000 SPG points with the 3:1 ratio).
Here are the details of this new SPG card offer:
- Earn 75,000 bonus points after spending $3,000 in the first 3 months
- Earn 6X points on Marriott or SPG hotels
- Earn 2X points on all other spending
- Receive a free night award (up to 35,000 points) every year after your card anniversary
- Receive complimentary Marriott Silver elite status
- No foreign transaction fee
- Annual fee – $95 (waived the first year)
- Previous cardmembers are not eligible for the bonus.
Analysis
So, this basically returning the Amex SPG card to the bonus offer it had before – the equivalent of 25,000 SPG points. The spending on it becomes worse as it goes from the equivalent of 3 Marriott points per dollar on everything to just 2 Marriott points per dollar. That makes the SPG card no longer the card to use for non-bonus spend.
At the same time, it does have that anniversary free night when it never did before – and the annual fee of $95 does not change (since going up last year). I would imagine that would help this card to pay for itself.
If you are trying to get as many SPG/Marriott points as possible for the sweet redemptions at the new top tier categories before January, I would go for this card. Also, Amex Offers can be a big help with any Amex card and you may be able to earn some points if they open the referral program again.
HT: Doctor of Credit
