New Amex SPG (Starwood Preferred Guest) Credit Card Offer - 30k Bonus Points - Personal & Business - Expired 8/22/11

~ THIS OFFER IS NOW EXPIRED. CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL WHO GOT IN ON THIS DEAL! ~

First time American Express Starwood Preferred Guest cardmembers can earn up to 30,000 bonus points. This deal is better than any AM3X SPG offer currently out there and the best since the 30k points for $1k purchase offered a year ago. This deal is valid for both the personal and business card versions.

There are now three ways to get this offer:
1. Targeted offer via postal mail.
2. Referral from an existing AM3X SPG cardmember. Referring cardmember earns 5,000 bonus points.
3. Direct link from the Starwood Hotels web site.

Key Points for Both Offers:
- Annual Fee waived for the first year ($65)
- 10k Bonus Starpoints after first purchase
- 20k Bonus Starpoints after $4,500 spend in first 3 months
- 2.9% APR on Purchases for first 6-months
- Application must be received by AM3X by August 22, 2011

Key Dates for Referrals (Both Offers):
- Referral must be submitted by August 10, 2011 - Link when logged into SPG web site
- Referral must be submitted by August 18, 2011 - Link when logged into AM3X web site

Landing Page for Both the Personal and Business Card Referral Offers from SPG Site:
https://www201.americanexpress.com/cards/apply/jsp/includes/Star...
Copy and paste this link in your browser address bar. Linking it in FW somehow forwards you to the AM3X insurance site.

Landing Page for Both the Personal and Business Card Application Offers:
Personal and Business Card 30k SPG Point Applications

Click on "Proceed to Application" button for the personal card, or "Using the Card for business expenses? Apply here" link for the business card.

Key Card Features:

- Starpoints can be exchanged for airline miles in a very large variety of programs. Most have an exchange ratio of 1:1, but if you exchange 20k Starpoints they will give you a 25% bonus so you end up with 25k airline miles for only 20k Starpoints.
- Cash and Points program allows you to pay significantly reduced rates on hotel nights.
- Redeem Starpoints for free nights at over 1,000 hotels in nearly 100 countries and free flights on more than 350 airlines, all with no blackout dates
- NEW: Stay 2 nights and get the 3rd night free at participating Sheraton® Hotels and Resorts worldwide
- Get at least 4 Starpoints for every dollar you spend at Starwood Preferred Guest Hotels and Resorts
- Enjoy no annual fee for the first year, then $65 each year thereafter

Additional Terms and Conditions for the Targeted Personal Card Referral Offer:

Referrals must be submitted by August 10, 2011, and referred individual(s) must apply by August 22, 2011, and be approved.

To be eligible to receive 10,000 bonus Starpoints, referred individual(s) must make their first purchase with the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card within one year of Card approval. Bonus points will appear on their Starwood Preferred Guest statement 8-12 weeks after their first purchase.

Bonus Starpoints are for first-time Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Cardmembers only. Bonus Starpoints can only be received once per Cardmember, regardless of the number of Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card accounts the Cardmember may have or had.

In order to receive additional 20,000 bonus Starpoints, referred individual(s) must use their Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card to complete $4,500 of eligible spending by the end of their first three months of Cardmembership, based on the date of their Card approval. 20,000 Starpoints will be credited to their account 8 to 12 weeks after they reach the spend threshold.

Pay no annual fee for the first year. The annual fee after the first year is $65.

I've been ignoring the "refer your friends" postcards in the mail since they are usually terrible deals for my friends.

How many points do current users get for referring each "friend"?

I've seen both 5k and 10k referrals via snail mail but they are always for bad deals like the current one on the AMEX web site which is 10k on first purchase + 15k after $15k purchase in 6 months. With this new deal you get 5k more points and a much lower spend requirement. Still not as good as the 30k for $1k spend that many of us got in on last year, but it does not seem like that one is coming back. AMEX has always been very frugal when it comes to Starpoints.

AMEX sent out this referral deal yesterday via email yesterday and only to a select number of cardmembers. My husband's card got the promo but mine did not. The referral is 5k bonus points. There is an ever growing thread on FT about this deal.

For any of you guys with an existing SPG card looking to refer your friends on this deal, check your junk e-mail folder. That is where this email ended up and I just found it today.

ucfzf10 said:   It is valid for business version too. I have the SPG Business card and got the email to refer others. The terms are same as the personal SPG card with one difference - referrals must be submitted by August 18, 2011.

Thanks for the update ucfzf10!

We did not receive the promo email for either of our SPG business cards and other forums I've seen so far have only been discussing the personal card, so this is welcoming news!

So if you don't have either of the SPG cards yet (personal or business) you may be able to get this deal on both of them for a total of 60k SPG points. Just make sure that you get a separate referral for each and for a matching card type (personal refers personal, business refers business). You might have to get 2 different friends refer you to get both offers.

I would like to update the OP with the expiration dates for the SPG Business Card offer since they are different than those for the Personal Card.

ucfzf10 posted that the referral submission expiration date was August 18.

Does someone have the application expiration date for the SPG Business Card?

I also got the offer for the SPG Business card.

gutterwench said:   I would like to update the OP with the expiration dates for the SPG Business Card offer since they are different than those for the Personal Card.

ucfzf10 posted that the referral submission expiration date was August 18.

Does someone have the application expiration date for the SPG Business Card?

The Business offer I received expires on 8/18.

I already have the starwoods card but when i signed up they didnt have this promotion. Any idea if there is anyway for me to get it now? Think if I send them a secure message they might give me the deal?

Has anyone run into issues referring a spouse with the same address? It doesn't look to be an issue from the T&Cs

The application link for the 30k American Express SPG Business Card offer has become public:

https://www201.americanexpress.com/sbsapply/EACQServlet?request_...

Earn 10,000 Starpoints after your first purchase and an additional 20,000 bonus Starpoints when you spend $4,500 in 3 months.

Enjoy an introductory annual fee of $0 for the first year, then $65.

2.9% introductory APR for the first 6 months.

No referral needed.

Is it possible to have a second SPG biz card for a different biz and still get the bonus on the second one?

gutterwench said:   

I've read elsewhere that with AMEX many people are able to churn accounts every 2 years and get the bonus.

This is true, I used to have both Delta Plat AMEX and SPG AMEX - got those rewards in 2006 and 2007. Closed them in 2007 and 2008 respectively.
I signed up for Delta last November for additional 20,000 MQM and 25,000 miles. Signed up for SPG card yesterday (thanks gutterwench) for this 30k point offer.
Both times I confirmed that I would get the bonus again, both times the CSR said "yes, it's been at least 2 years since you last had the card, so you're eligible for the sign up bonus".

I don't know about the personal vs business card bonus though.

Can you get the Business promo if you've already received the personal bonus? I would think so, but the terms aren't clear. It mentions that it's for first time SPG cardholders only, but doesn't specify if it's for first-time Business cardholders or either personal or business.

Bonus Starpoints are for first-time Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Cardmembers only. Bonus Starpoints can only be received once per Cardmember, regardless of the number of Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card accounts the Cardmember may have or had.

hraner said:   I applied for the Biz version of SPG using this link. However, although result is Pending, I can't see my application from http://www.americanexpress.com/myappstatus, which is really strange. Usually I can see all my AMEX applications even if it's still pending.

Anyone else has the same problem?

A few people at FT have reported the same thing for the business card application. After a few days they were able to get the status by calling AMEX. AMEX told them the card was approved and on the way, but the application still wasn't showing online. Others state that it has been 3 days and when they call AMEX there is no record of an application and no credit pull reported.

I have removed the business link from the OP until we can get confirmation that it is working.

Until then, the best route if you are looking for the business version of this card is to request a referral from a friend or one of the posters who have received the business offer.

Is it fair to say that these points are much more valuable than normal AMEX rewardes points? A quick search found 10,000 points (cat 4) hotel in NY got me a hotel that is usually $400 a night plus tax. Any information would be greatly appreciated. I am not sure if this is an unusual example or standard with this card.

blackie7955 said:   Is it fair to say that these points are much more valuable than normal AMEX rewardes points? A quick search found 10,000 points (cat 4) hotel in NY got me a hotel that is usually $400 a night plus tax. Any information would be greatly appreciated. I am not sure if this is an unusual example or standard with this card.

I got a Times Square hotel on New Years Eve for 12 thousand points, the going rate for the room was well over $500.

I applied for the Starwood signup bonus where you get 25k points if you spend 15k in 6 months. Anyone have any clue how I might go about asking them to give me this new offer instead. I have not successfully found a link to the actual offer.

American Express just sent out another round of the targeted emails to existing SPG cardmembers today for this same 30k/$4500 spend deal. The previous round of emails went out last Sunday (7/17).

My husband's personal card was targeted last Sunday and now I've received the same offer for referring the personal card today. Expiration dates remain the same.

So if you are a current SPG cardmember, check your email (and your spam box) because you might now be able to refer your friends for this deal as well!

Now if only they would send me the business offer so I can post the terms for that one...

blackie7955 said:   Is it fair to say that these points are much more valuable than normal AMEX rewardes points? A quick search found 10,000 points (cat 4) hotel in NY got me a hotel that is usually $400 a night plus tax. Any information would be greatly appreciated. I am not sure if this is an unusual example or standard with this card.

SPG points are a great deal! If you're planning to "stretch out" your points, a Cash+Points redemption will give you an even better deal

Nice deal. I just added their new Blue Cash card, though, so guess I'll be passing on this one.

A bit off topic, but does anyone know if multiple SPG CCs are considered towards Gold Status($30Kspend/calendar year)? I have a personal with approx 22K spend on it, and now the Biz with $4.5K spend. These are tied to different SPG accounts (even though I supplied my SPG# when I applied for the Biz).

I dont imagine SO's spend will count under any circumstances.