Revamped AMEX Starwood Credit Card
A Pointshogger reader alerted us today that American Express Canada has revamped its Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card, one day after the Marriott unification announcement. The major change is the elimination of the 20,000 sign up bonus points and changed into a statement credit instead.
Let’s take a closer look at the highlights of the card:
- $120 annual fee
- $50 annual fee for a supplementary cardholder
- Earn $250 statement credit (earn $100 after spending $1,500 in the first 3 months and another $150 after spending $200 at participating Starwood or Marriott properties in the first 6 months)
- Earn $25 statement credit for every referral (up to a maximum of $375 per calendar year)
- Earn 2 Starpoints for every $1 spent at participating SPG and Marriott Rewards hotels (between November 15, 2016 and July 31, 2018)
- Earn 1 Starpoint for every $1 spent on all purchases
- Spend $30,000 a year (anniversary year) to receive Gold elite status with Starwood Preferred Guest
- Spend $40,000 a year (anniversary year) to receive a Free Weekend Night Award
The biggest change is the sign up bonus. We have seen 20,000 or 25,000 sign up bonuses, which to me is worth $540 or $675 respectively. So the $250 is a pretty big devaluation.
The other point worth noting is that the 2 Starpoints for every $1 promotion expires on July 31, 2018, which is in line with the August launch date of the Marriott, Ritz-Carleton and Starwood loyalty program merger.
As bad as this may seem, this card was bound to either have some major changes or discontinued. From August 2018 onward, we will probably not use the term Starpoints anymore anyway.
Rumour has it that there will be a new credit card that will be launched in May 2018. The U.S. is about the launch a Luxury AMEX SPG card. I really hope to see something similar in Canada, along with a more day-to-day co-branded Marriott card.
The new card can’t come quickly enough. I assume I still will get the bonus promised to me when I applied pre-Monday ? Have the card since a few weeks ago.
Any thoughts on whether or not AMEX will be the major Marriott player in Canada ? Can we expect more cards (an equivalent to the Platinum maybe) ?
I wish I had more answers. I am just hoping for the best. I am taking a wait and see approach at the moment.
I’ve been thinking about the new spg Amex since marriot bought starwood
Hope you signed up for it before this devaluation 🙁
I really don’t know if it’s a transition credit card but I must say that the card was rated top 10 travel card on some sites in Canada before this change and it is certainly not top 10 now..I really don’t see anything that would attract me to this card except if I lived at a SPG hotel and on top more than half of small busniesses and 25% of big business here in Canada don’t even accept amex..We really lose with this card…If you have big purchases I would do it prior to june so it still converts 3/1 with MR on August 1st because after that it’s 1/1 a 66% devaluation and really not a good value IMO.
Well Starpoints are going to discontinue at some point, so this card won’t go on forever.
Do I understand that as of August 1st I will need 3 MR points for 1 SPG ? I have not seen that information before.A
Other way around, your Starpoints will multiply by 3 into the new program.
Currently you can convert MR to SPG at a 3:1 ratio or vice versa.
I am hoping Amex Canada has done their home work and recognizes what a weak card this will turn into compared to the US counterparts. There is a lessened earning with the MR points rate ($1 = 1 SPG point versus 3 MRewards) and there are no stay credits with the card as it stands today.
I may have to dump this for another card unless there are some better improvements
We’ll have to wait and see what they come out with!
While I’d like to believe that, there aren’t really any Canadian cards that compare to US ones and their benefits. Since Canada isn’t that competitive for cards, there’s little incentive.
It will be interesting to see if the Canadian AMEX SPG card will be changed to the same earnings rate as the American SPG card as of Aug 1st. The American SPG card will earn earn 6 points per $ at Marriott/SPG hotels (same as the current earn rate of 2 Starpoints per $ which converts to 6 Marriott points). The American SPG card is being devalued significantly to earn 2 points per $ on all other spending (it currently earns 1 Starpoint per $ which converts to 3 Marriott points). The only improved benefit with the American SPG card is the additional of an anniversary free night award (a free night certificated that can be used on properties costing up to 35,000 points). It would be nice if a free night award was available in Canada to offset the annul fee.
Wishful thinking. But one can hope!
I believe that our existing SPG Amex will merge into a ”New” Marriott Rewards Amex, perhaps we won’t even need to change or apply for the card. I highly doubt it will be a Visa since JPMorgan is out of Canada, Scotia perhaps… I would not mind if the annual fee climbs to (200$), but I want a nice credit card with great benefits and earning potential. If it becomes anything else than 3 MR points per dollar I’m not sure I will keep it though and if the card has a 450$ annual fee like the Amex recently unveilled in the US, I’m out of here unless they have a more reasonable offering. Canadians are way too frugal and wise for this kind of thing!
That’s a possibility. They will just migrate existing clients over to the new card. Lots of anticipating for more news.
As I see it in Canada we have never come close to the bonus and benefits of any travel/hotel credit card offer to our US neighbors..
I’m skeptical of people talking about something better coming…
Why? 1-the new earning rates on the US cards have devalued the SPG points value by 33% –
2-SPG amex new offer is only 1-1 ratio SPG/ MR points value after august 1st with only a $100 credit after 1500 spend so if something new was offered it would have been seen at this time for this new SPG amex offer.So being devalued by 66% would be what Canadians would be offered.Multipliers on the USA cards have been announced already.
-3- MR visa was cancelled last month here in Canada and they pushed us to this SPG amex and this was pushed directly by MR directly to our inbox with a 25K SPG points bonus offer…
So IMO if there’s no new player that wants our business and it hasn’t been found yet and If the SPG amex from Canada compared to the SPG amex to our US friends is to be compared I think we can assume if anything new is coming we will not be impressed but I hope i’m wrong.
To add to my previous post on the MR website for Canadians SPG credit card holder it still tells us new benefits coming soon but WHY would they not align these new benefits with what is now offered since yesterday for new SPG amex credit card on the amex site and if so is the new benefits a 100$ credit if you spend 1500$ and a 150$ credit if you spend 200$ at any Marriott/SPG property in the next 6 months new benefits??
And if not I really find the rollout of this new points and credit card offers disorganised and sadly misleading if anything better is to be offered very soon?!
It also feels like we are always late in the game too. The U.S. already started announcing some of their products, but we’re still playing the waiting game.
The party is over 🙁
Time to book and burn.
As I always say, earn and burn, and keep your portfolio diversified.
Completely agree…I’ve never regretted using my points or miles while I had them…within 2 years at most and also changing cards for the promo offer and then dumping them the first year is almost always the better option but I must say the Marriott rewards premiere visa was a card to keep because of all the extras including the free night.
Also i have the westjet world elite and just the 99$ plus free baggage for both of us has saved me about 4500$ in the last 5 years especially because I use it with a plus seat upgrade that doesn’t cost a penny more.Each year I save at least 2k with my flight and hotel card but it’s going to be hard to attain anything with the SPG amex after this promo offer especially after july 31st.
OMG this is bad, really bad. I already have the Personal SPG and was about to get the Biz via a self referral. $100 statement credit is awful, Canadian dollar to boot. I valued Starpoints at about 3 to 3.4 cents each, so with the old signup bonus you were getting $750 value. $100 Canadian will barely get you one night in some Cat. 1 hotels. Terrible.
Hi Majik…the 100$ credit doesn’t even pay for the 120$ credit card yearly fee…lol…I already applied for another credit card which will not charge the foreign transaction fee and give 1% cash back..so it’s a clear 3.5% when using it while travelling..on top no 120$ fee..it’s free!
With the SPG new ratio of 1:1 with MR starting august 1st they have devalued this card by 66% when converting your SPG point to Marriott…It’s insulting and baffling to think people will get this amex that isn’t accepted at half of the retailers in Canada??
I don’t get it!
In the future, if you see a good deal, if you can help it, don’t wait. We never know what can happen.
Got a Seinfeld email today from them! It was an email about nothing. Said to click to see more information about the new cards and the window that popped up had absolutely no information.
Yikes. Probably need to wait a little longer. Rumour has it that more information will come in “May”.
The new landing page for the Canadian SPG Amex is up… with a coming soon announcement:
http://credit-cards.marriott.com/en-us/starwood-preferred-guest-ca/?EM=VTY_CCMarriott_CA_SPG_EN
Awesome, thanks for sharing the link Jeff!
Hi Matthew,the bonus 25k SPG POINTS on my SPG AMEX in Canada that were offered prior to the change which I applied for needed 1500$ in spend in the first 3 months..Does that spend need to be by the primary…I’m asking because most of the big purchases is made by my husband on the supplementary card..I hope it still counts for the spend needed for the promo bonus..Do you think it still counts?? Thanks
I had a customer service rep. tell me that it doesn’t matter who spends the 1500$ as long as the cards are on the same account for the promo offer…Now I am back at the promo offer …it will be awarded after the first statement date after the 1500$ spend so for us it’s april 27th so that means the 8-10 weeks waiting period is not applied as long as the spend is made and your account is in good standing…….
BUT as I used a link for the 25kSPG points on the Marriott rewards Canadian site for those who were Marriott rewards visa holders they are still fighting that I will only get the 20kSPG points..so I will wait and see if I have to call amex and Marriott again…
I am so frustrated that Marriott rewards Canada would put a link that we used for a 25k promo offer that will not be honored by amex and only give the regular promo of 20K SPG points….Now compared to this new amex SPG card it’s a good offer but it’s still something I will fight for in the next couple of weeks…Marriott and Amex are responsible for these links that are not valid and should honor them if we qualify..which we do.
Exactly! Always follow up to ensure that there is no glitch on the system. It happens too often unfortunately…
I am fairly certain it counts. But feel free to double check with customer service just in case there is a glitch on the system. It happens.
Hi Matt…I don’t know if it’s me but the only thing I see that has changed from amex canada in the SPG amex is the verbage?…I don’t know but it looks like they changed the way it’s presented but no additional value..I hope that we will not be stuck for a 1:1 ratio with MR points because the terrible card will be of no more value at all.
Things are somewhat in limbo right now as they are in the process of fully integrating SPG and Marriott. I have been taking a wait and see approach.
Rewards Canada claims that the Canadian AMEX SPG card will be changed to similar benefits as the American SPG card as of Aug 1st, 2018. You will earn earn 5 points per $ at Marriott/SPG hotels (the current earn rate is 2 Starpoints per $ which converts to 6 Marriott points) and 2 points per $ on all other spending (the current earn rate is 1 Starpoint per $ which converts to 3 Marriott points). You will also get an anniversary free night award (a free night certificated that can be used on properties costing up to 35,000 points).
See here: http://blog.rewardscanada.ca/2018/06/new-earn-rates-and-benefits-revealed.html
I hope so! Other wise this will look like a devaluation and I will have to re-track one of my thumbs up!