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Last month, Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott announced category changes for their hotels. Marriott hotels on average got more expensive, but there were actually more SPG hotels that dropped in price than increased. New award prices kicked in about a week ago.

In light of the fact that the Starwood Preferred Guest personal and business credit cards from American Express have temporarily elevated sign up bonuses (35k each!), today I’m going to highlight five properties that are now cheaper to book with SPG points.

Credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Top Travel Credit Cards.

The Properties

Sheraton Lake Buena Vista Resort

Was Category 3, Now Category 2

The Sheraton Lake Buena Vista Resort’s new dirt cheap price tag as low as 3,000 Starpoints a night is great news for families trying to visit Disney World. Rooms are only 3,000 Starpoints on the weekends, Sundays through Thursdays they’re at least 4,000 points a night.

A weekend night this summer costs $120 or 3,000 points. You’d be getting a whopping 4 cents of value per point!

St. Regis Moscow

Was Category 5, Now Category 4

Now only a Category 4 hotel, the St. Regis in Moscow costs just 10,000 points a night. This hotel looks stunning.

A night this summer costs $249 or 10,000 points. That’s nearly 2.5 cents of value of per point.

Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas

Was Category 6, Now Category 5

You can get your own ski-up villa in Steamboat Springs for only 12,000 SPG points a night.

A night at the end of this month costs $415 or 12,000 points. That’s nearly 2.6 cents of value per point.

The St. Anthony, a Luxury Collection Hotel, San Antonio

Was Category 5, Now Category 4

Explore San Antonio with this opulent hotel as your base. Looks swanky, especially for 10,000 points a night.

A night this spring costs $241 or 10,000 points. That would be 2.4 cents of value per point.

If you’re low on Starpoints, the Cash & Points price is a good deal as well.

The Westin Copley Place in Boston

Was Category 6, Now Category 5

The Westin Copley Place’s proximity to tourist attractions in Boston makes this an appealing redemption. Especially when you consider how much it costs out of pocket when you can get a room for as low as 12,000 points a night!

A night this summer costs $404 dollars a night or 16,000 points. That would be 2.5 cents of value per point. That’s a great value per point even though the room is priced at the top of the range. Category 5 hotels can be as cheap as 12,000 points.

How to Get SPG Points

The Starwood Preferred Guest personal and business credit cards from American Express now come with 35,000 bonus Starpoints for spending $5,000 and $8,000 respectively in the first six months of card membership. These offers end April 5, 2017.

The normal sign up bonus is 25,000 points per card. This is the highest sign up bonus we’ve ever seen on the cards, tied with the same bonus that was offered last year at this time.

American Express recently introduced a rule that you can only get the bonus once per lifetime on each of its cards. Eligibility is separate for each card. That means if you’ve only ever had the business card, you can still get the personal card or vice versa. But if you’ve had the personal card before, you can’t get this bonus on the personal card. If you’ve had the business card before, you can’t get this bonus on the business card.

If you get both cards, you’ll have to spend $13,000 total in the first six months of card membership. The personal card requires you that spend $3,000 in the first three months for the first 25k bonus benchmark, and then another $2,000 in the following three months for the final 10k bonus. The business card requires that you spend $5,000 in the first three months for the first 25k bonus, and then another $3,000 in the following three months for the final 10k bonus.

In return, you’ll earn a total of 83,000 Starpoints. I usually get at least 2.5 cents of value per Starpoint, meaning 83k Starpoints have a total value of at least $2,075 to me. Since you can transfer SPG and Marriott points freely between your linked accounts at a 1:3 ratio, you could also turn the 83,000 Starpoints into 249,000 Marriott points.

Credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Top Travel Credit Cards.

Bottom Line

Right now it’s easy to earn a lot of Starpoints, the rewards currency we value higher than any other due to its extreme versatility. All of the SPG hotels listed above dropped in price last week and would be smart redemptions as the cash prices of the rooms are high.

Read LIMITED TIME: Highest 35k SPG Bonus Returns! for more inspiration about high value SPG and Marriott point redemptions.

Hat tip Mommy Points

Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.

Just getting started in the world of points and miles? The Chase Sapphire Preferred is the best card for you to start with.

With a bonus of 60,000 points after $4,000 spend in the first 3 months, 5x points on travel booked through the Chase Travel Portal and 3x points on restaurants, streaming services, and online groceries (excluding Target, Walmart, and wholesale clubs), this card truly cannot be beat for getting started!


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