Starwood Hotels and Resorts (Starwood Preferred Guest)

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Comparing Canadian and U.S. SPG American Express (updated August 29, 2018)

ByMatt

There have been quite a few changes since my last post Comparing Canadian and U.S. SPG American Express; namely the merger between Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest. As a result, this post is definitely due for a major update.

One major change is that 1 Starpoint (in my previous post) is now worth 3 Marriott points. So we need to factor in this correlation if comparing to the old versions of the cards. However, for today’s post, I will focus on comparing the Canadian and U.S. version as they are currently, rather than worrying about the past.

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Marriott Merger Details – Effective August 18, 2018

ByMatt

Marriott announced more details of the merger with Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest. According to my sources, the official effective date is now August 18, 2018. Initially Marriott just said in August 2018, without a specific day.

Either way, below are some of the expected changes to watch for. 

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First Glimpse of New Marriott/SPG Reward Redemption Schedule

ByMatt

All the news seem to come out at once. We started this morning with the American Express Canada Press Release, which had a lot of confusion on whether the new earning ratios are in fact a devaluation. Now Marriott issued their own Press Release explaining some of the changes to their reward redemption schedule.

Below is a list of key changes.

Changes to the American Express Canada SPG Co-Brand Credit Cards

ByMatt

American Express Canada issued a Press Release informing the changes to its Starwood Preferred Guest Co-Brand Credit Cards that are set to come into effect in August 2018. Which should correspond with the full integration of Marriott and Starwood. 

Below are the key highlights of the changes to the business and personal versions of the credit cards. I put the expected changes in bold with a commentary in brackets:

Earn 250 SPG Points for Checking-in on Mobile App

ByMatt

Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) has added a check-in feature on its mobile App. In celebration of this launch, they are running a bonus points promotion until June 15, 2018. All SPG members can receive 250 bonus points for checking-in using the SPG mobile app across all 7 SPG brands (St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Tribute Portfolio and Four Points). There is no limit on the number of bonus points that you can earn. Starpoints will be deposited within a few weeks of the promotion ending.

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Marriott International Announces One Set of Benefits

ByMatt

Marriott International announced, today, that it will introduce one set of unified benefits across Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest for its members that will come into effect in August 2018.

Personally, I am very excited by what they have to offer. I think that they found a way to merge many of the good aspects of all 3 programs. It’s not perfect, but it does offer a lot of value.

Starwood Preferred Guest 2018 Category Changes

ByMatt

It is that time of the year when most hotel chains readjust their categories. Some hotels go up, some goes down. Today’s post is the changes that Starwood Preferred Guest is doing. There are 276 hotels that are affected, of which 13 are increasing by at least 1 category in Canada, while 2 are decreasing. This is quite surprising to me since the Canadian dollar has been fairly week the past year. 

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Exclusive Canadian SPG Credit Card offer to Chase Marriott Cardholders

ByMatt

You may have seen this offer already, but the official email just came in today. American Express Canada is offering an exclusive Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card to existing Chase Marriott Rewards credit card customers. As you know, the co-branded, grandfathered, Chase Marriott credit card are being terminated on March 15, 2018.

Chase offered a few parting tokens of appreciation

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[HOTEL] Expiry Policies (updated January 24, 2018)

ByMatt

It has been almost 2 years since I last update the hotel hotel expiry policies. There have been a few changes ever since, so I thought I’d give my list a quick update.

For the list below, I have grouped the hotels into three different categories: (1) Never expire; (2) Never expire with activity; and (3) Strict Expiry Policy.