DansDeals.com

Update: Multiple users are reporting having success at getting approved multiple times for the same Starwood card without canceling the previous card. See the comments for more info.


Starwood AMEX Consumer Credit Card Linky
Starwood AMEX Business Credit Card Linky

Churning Info:

Both versions of the card are fully churnable, meaning that you can earn another signup bonus each time that you apply for a new card!

AMEX, unlike Chase and Citi, may not let you have more than one of the same card.

In other words, you can have a Starwood consumer and a Starwood business card, however you may not be able to get 2 Starwood consumer or 2 Starwood business cards at the same time.

Therefore you might want to cancel your current Starwood consumer or business card before applying for the same card again.

The fee for both Starwood cards continue to be waived for the first year.

When you apply for a Starwood card online you will get an approval decision within 60 seconds along with the amount of your new credit line!

You may have good luck and be able to get another 2,500 bonus points for adding an additional cardmember for free when you call up AMEX to activate your new card after you receive it in the mail.


Program Background:

Starwood Preferred Guest is a loyalty program, just like any airline’s mileage program, except that Starwood is a hotel brand and the currency is Starpoints.

Starwood hotels include chains such as Sheraton, Westin, and W hotels.

You can manage your Starwood Preferred Guest on the Starwood website: www.spg.com

You will never lose your Starpoints by canceling the Starwood credit card. The points you earn are automatically transferred by AMEX into your Starwood Preferred Guest account every month. AMEX will never take back points once they are deposited into your Starwood Preferred Guest account.

Another great benefit of the program is the ability to transfer Starpoints between household accounts for free! (Raise your hand if you wish that your favorite mileage program had the same benefit…)

If you apply for a Starwood card without providing AMEX with your Starwood Preferred Guest member number you will be automatically assigned a new Starwood Preferred Guest member number by AMEX.

Just call AMEX to find out what the number is. If you have been assigned more than one Starwood Preferred Guest member number, just call up starwood to merge the accounts.



Card Benefits:

You earn 1 starpoint per dollar spent. There is currently no points/mileage currency in the world that I know of that is more valuable than Starpoints, which is why this is my favorite card on which I do all of my spending!

Both the consumer and business Starwood AMEX cards come with AMEX’s premium return privilege-if you don’t like something that you bought for up to $300 on the card, you have 90 days to return it to AMEX for a refund!

Both cards get you Preferred Plus status in the Starwood Preferred Guest. This allows you to get free late check-out and space-available room upgrades when staying at Starwood hotels.

If you spend $30,000 on either card within 1 year, you will be upgraded to Gold status in the Starwood Preferred Guest program.

The business card also comes with AMEX Open Savings, use it when you buy a Delta or Jetblue ticket and get an automatic 3% statement rebate. Use it at Fedex/Kinko’s and many other places and get an automatic 5% statement rebate!



Redemption Options:

The possibilities for Starpoints are practically endless. One of the great aspects of the program is that you are effectively hedging your bets by earning Starpoints instead of miles. If you earn miles with one carrier, you are limited to the availability of that carrier and its’ alliance members. With Starpoints you will always have dozens of possible avenues to find the availability that you need.

Here are just a few of the many redemption possibilities:

-You can redeem them for unrestricted free nights at Starwood hotels starting at 2,000 Starpoints.

-You can redeem them for restricted Cash & Points stays starting at 1,200 points+$25.

-You can transfer them to dozens of airlines worldwide at a 1:1 ratio and get a 5,000 mile bonus for each 20,000 starpoints transferred.

-You can transfer 20,000 Starpoints to LAN and get 50,000 kilometers in the exchange. LAN will even give you 5,000 more kilometers for free just for signing up!
A RT ticket from the US to/from Brazil is just 48,000 kilometers. A RT One-World alliance ticket from the US to Israel is under 100,000 kilometers!

-You can redeem them for a Nights & Flights reward where you book 5 nights at a Starwood hotel stay at the same time as transferring points into an airline. There is a significant Starpoints savings by redeeming in this manner.

-You can transfer 20,000 Starpoints into 25,000 Amtrak points which transfer into 125,000 Choice privileges (Enough for over 6 nights at $350 Manhattan hotels!).

-You can also then transfer 250,000 Choice points (40,000 Starpoints) into 100 Southwest credits, enough for 12 free RT tickets with a yearlong free unlimited use companion pass.



What do you do with your Starpoints? Please post a comment and share!

AMEX My Wishlist Linky

“My Wishlist” is a promo that AMEX has run during the past few holiday season’s.

AMEX My Wishlist Tutorial Video Linky

It is back again starting today. It will run though 12/13.

You can scroll through the calendar to check deals for upcoming days.

There are 2 main promotions:

1. The main items: AMEX cardholders can attempt to buy different items (Such as a $17,000 Round-The-World in BusinessFirst for just $3,000, a $17,000 BMW Motorcycle for $5,000, or a $2,000 Plasma TV for $700, etc.) three times a day at discounted prices.

These will be available every day at exactly 12pm, 3pm, and 7pm.

There is a limit of 1 main item per household per day, and a limit of 4 main items per household for the duration of the promo.

2. The wish certificates: AMEX cardholders can attempt to get coupons for all kinds of stores and items.

These will be available every day at exactly 11am, 2pm, and 6pm.

There is a limit of 1 wish certificate per household per day, and a limit of 4 wish certificates per household for the duration of the promo.

New this year:

-You will need to enter in your AMEX credit card number to unlock the screen and allow you to request the promotion.

-This year there will 4 “ultimate wish giveaways”

-On 12/05 at 7pm AMEX will be awarding a free Jetblue private RT flight and $60,000 cash to a cardholder. You can fill up the whole plane with your friends and fly them to any city served by Jetblue.

-On 12/13 at 12pm, 3pm, and 7pm an AMEX cardholder will be awarded with a free Volvo C30 or C70.

Offer Linky

Use the following code to knock off all of the AMEX processing fees: GCARD07

Shipping is $5.95

The smallest gift cards for sale are $25.

$25 Gadget Lover’s Rebate Card Linky

The $25 Gadget Lover’s rebate card can be used at the stores listed in this link: Valid stores linky

The gift cards are valid anywhere that AMEX is accepted.

Not valid in CT, HI, NH, RI & VT.

Now that you can get such an incredible value out of AMEX MR points with Choice and Southwest it seems this deal is not so hot…but it’s not bad if you actually can find skysaver seats with Delta on a trip that you need to book anyway…

20% Bonus Skymiles Offer Linky 

HT: Mendel 

I don’t usually post targeted promotions, but this one worked for my entire family, so it may just work for you too!

Earn 25% bonus Starpoints for all purchases during November.

Valid only with the Starwood AMEX business card.

Promo Registration Linky

Good Luck!

Good questions keep on coming in…here are the latest.

Jeff Baum said,

“great deal…u the man dan
one question. if i have 2 amex business for me and wife, each with 25000 points, whats the best way to turn them into 100 southwest points in the same account?”

Moishe Pipuk said,

“I have just signed up for the business AMEX card as suggested at this website recently. I just used the card yesterday for the first time. Will I be able to use this plan to get the tickets? How soon will I get my AMEX points and is there a time to “act now” to implement the steps of this plan?
Thnaks much.
Moishe”


Jeff-Here is what I would recommend. AMEX MR isn’t particular that the names of the transferring accounts must match the credit card name.

-Transfer the 25,000 MR points from each of your accounts into just your Continental account.

-Transfer the 50,000 Continental miles, 25,000 miles at a time, into 2 Amtrak accounts-both in your name.

-Transfer the 25,000 Amtrak points from each account into a single Choice account, to give you 250,000 Choice points.

-Transfer the 250,000 Choice points into a single Southwest account-leaving you with 100 credits and enough for the 12 free Round Trip tickets with the companion pass!


Moishe- Unfortunately the AMEX MR bonus takes longer than any other credit card bonus takes to credit-about 3 to 4 months from the date of your first purchase with the card!

While there is no expiration for this deal-who knows when a link in the chain may be broken.

Just wait it out and keep checking your MR account to see if you have received the bonus points. Once you get them you should start the transfer process ASAP.

Update 3: People have been asking me which part of the deal is the most tenuous. In my opinion if this deal were to fall apart it would be the ending/weakening of the Amtrak-Choice transfer at a 1:5 basis. Once you bring your AMEX/Amtrak/Continental/Starwood points into Choice you will be in a much better position…


Update 2: There is some confusion about the length of life for the free Southwest tickets. Southwest credits are valid for 2 years. Once you get 16 credits it turns into a free systemwide RT ticket, which is valid for 1 year from the date of issue. Once it expires you have 2 more years to reinstate it online for an additional year at a cost of $50. You have up to 5 years to reinstate it over the phone, but you will need to save the award ticket number, as that gets deleted from your account 2 years after the award expires.


Update: Moshe is reporting in the comments that it seems he is getting 25,000 Amtrak points for just 20,000 Starpoints. Please post your own findings in the comments!!!


Sneak peak-Among many other possibilities: Just 40,000 Starpoints or 50,000 Continental miles/AMEX points can get you 12 free Round trip tickets on Southwest and a yearlong Southwest companion pass!


This deal is truly incredible, yet there are so many ways of exploiting it that it may get very complicated…

The deal is good if you have any of the following currencies:

-AMEX MR points. (Good job to all those who got in on the 25,000 AMEX MR Business Gold Card deal!)

-Amtrak Guest Rewards points.

-Continental Onepass miles.

-Starwood Starpoints.


Step 1: (Optional, only necessary if you have AMEX MR points)

AMEX MR Points can be transferred into Continental Onepass miles on a 1:1 basis via the AMEX website. (25,000 AMEX points=25,000 Continental miles)


Step 2:

Continental Onepass miles can be transferred into Amtrak Guest Rewards points on a 1:1 basis by calling the Onepass service center at 713-952-1630. (25,000 Continental miles=25,000 Amtrak points)

Starwood Starpoints can be transferred into Amtrak Guest Rewards points on a 1:1 basis by calling Starwood at 888-625-4988. There is some inconsistency with the 5,000 point bonus. Some people are getting 25,000 Amtrak Guest Rewards points for 20,000 Starpoints, while others are only getting 20,000 (Officially the 5,000 points bonus is only for when you transfer Starpoints to Airline partners, not Amtrak. In practice, Starwood seems to be giving many people the 5,000 point bonus when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints over to Amtrak.)


Step 3:

Amtrak Guest Rewards points can be transferred into Choice Privileges points (A hotel loyalty program) on a 1:5 basis via the Amtrak website. (25,000 Amtrak points=125,000 Choice points)

You can transfer out a maximum of 25,000 Amtrak points per calender year. (Amtrak elites can transfer out up to 50,000 per calender year)


Step 4:

-Choice Privileges points can be transferred into Southwest Rapid Rewards credits on a 5,000:2 basis via the Choice website. (5,000 Choice points=2 Southwest credits. 125,000 Choice points=50 Southwest credits. 250,000 Choice points=100 Southwest credits.)

-Choice Privileges points can be transferred into Air Canada Aeroplan miles, Alaska Airline Mileage Plan miles , American Airlines AAdvantage Miles, Continental Onepass Miles, Delta Skymiles, Mexicana Frecuenta miles, Northwest Worldperks miles, United Mileage Plus miles, or USAirways Dividend miles on a 5,000:1,000 basis via the Choice website. (5,000 Choice points=1,000 miles)

-Choice Privileges points can be used for Choice hotel stays via the Choice website. You can nab a $400 hotel room in Manhattan for just 20,000 points/night.

-Choice Privileges points can be used for over 240 luxury hotels worldwide starting at just 24,000 points/night!


OK, so before going on, let’s recap a bit:

-You can now transfer Continental miles/AMEX points to 8 other airlines without losing a single mile in the process. (25,000 AMEX points=25,000 Continental miles=25,000 Amtrak points=125,000 Choice points=25,000 miles on 8 other airlines!)

-You can transfer 20,000(if you’re lucky) or 25,000(if you’re not so lucky) Starpoints into 25,000 Continental or United miles without the huge devaluation of transferring directly at a 1:2 basis.

-You can turn 25,000 Continental miles/AMEX points or 20,000-25,000 Starpoints into 6+ nights in expensive hotels.


Now for the fun part:


Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards:

-16 credits is enough for a free systemwide Round Trip ticket.

(Every 16 credits you earn gets you a free Southwest drink coupon if you’re 21+)

-32 credits is enough for a free Round Trip ticket to Hawaii on ATA.

-100 credits earned from any source within a 12 month period earns you a free companion pass!

The companion pass:

-Does not cost any credits, it is a free perk.

-Is valid for 12 months after it was earned.

-Allows you to bring along another person for free whenever you fly Southwest, even if you are flying on a free mileage ticket!

-Is valid for a seat anywhere that Southwest flies.

-Must be made out in a specific person’s name. That name can be changed up to 3 times after you set the original name.

-Is not subject to any blackout dates or capacity controls-you can confirm a 2nd seat for free whenever you fly.

-Does not require you to pay for regular flying taxes, you only responsible to pay $2.50 per segment for 9/11 security fees.


So, 50,000 Continental miles/AMEX points or 40,000-50,000 Starpoints will get you 50,000 Amtrak points, which will get you 250,000 Choice points, which will get you 100 Southwest credits!

Jackpot, right?

There’s just one hiccup in that logic, unless you have Amtrak elite status you can only transfer a maximum of 25,000 points out of your Amtrak account per calender year.

That’s actually not too big of a problem: it doesn’t say anywhere that you can only have one Amtrak account!

If you would rather keep life simple and not have 2 amtrak accounts you can also transfer 25,000 points out this year, and then the other 25,000 points on 01/01/08.


OK, Jackpot! 12 Round-Trip tickets and a companion pass (6 award flights for 96 credits, times two because of the companion pass) for just 50,000 Continental miles/AMEX points or 40,000-50,000 Starpoints!


One caveat: Amtrak Guest Rewards has earned a bad reputation for axing United as a transfer partner overnight without any prior warning back in 2004. Amtrak may end this transfer opportunity at any time, so:

1. Do not delay-do this ASAP!

2. Do not let points idle in an Amtrak account, transfer them to Choice points ASAP.


As far as how this values a mile, here are a couple quick guesses:

-4,000 Continental miles is enough for a $400 Manhattan hotel room. Value=.10/mile

-50,000 Continental miles is enough for a 12 Round-Trip tickets and a companion pass. Value=???? It all depends if you use those tickets for $100 flights or $1,000 flights and how often you use the companion pass!

So is it worth getting 8 free Southwest credits for enrollment? Absolutely! Is it worth using Obopay to generate Continental miles? That’s your call!



©2007 Dansdeals.com
Questions, Suggestions, Errors? Please leave a comment!
Please do not post this article on any other website without explicit prior permission. Thank You!

If only Delta’s Saver reward availability wasn’t so incredibly poor, this would actually be a sweet deal…

Offer Linky

25,000 Miles=A free domestic plane ticket, 33% of the miles needed for free passage to Israel, or 25% of the way to Israel in BusinessFirst class.
Don’t travel? Redeem the points for a $250 gift card!

What are you waiting for???

AMEX Business Gold Rewards Card Promo Linky

American Express’s fantastic 25,000 point promo for the business gold card ends today-10/15!!!

The card is free for the first year, and is churnable.

The 25,000 points take a while to post-about 10 weeks in my case-but they will post.

25,000 MR points can be transferred into numerous goodies such as 25,000 miles on Continental or Delta Airlines or a $250 Gift Card!

You don’t actually need a bona-fide business with a tax ID number to sign up for a business credit card. Just leave the tax ID field blank and you’ll be fine! And if you’ve ever sold an item on Ebay you’ve got yourself a business already-just give it a name!

I got this offer in the mail, it may be targeted to select individuals-so call AMEX and ask before you transfer!

Offer Linky


The normal AMEX MR:Hotel point transfers are:

Gold Crown Club- 1:1

Hilton HHonors- 1:1.3

Priority Club Rewards- 1:1

Starwood Preferred Guest: 1:0.333


With the bonus offer:

Gold Crown Club- 1:1.5

Hilton HHonors- 1:1.95

Priority Club Rewards- 1:1.5

Starwood Preferred Guest: 1:0.5

Coupon Linky

AMEX ExpressPay is the same as MasterCard Paypass, it’s an RFID tag embedded into your credit card.  You just have to wave it in front of the credit card machine to accept the charge.

Only certain AMEX cards currently have ExpressPay, but don’t worry-your Starwood AMEX does!

Update: Vote now for the final round!

Originally posted on 08/08.

This offer is open to everyone (non-targeted!)
Delta Video Voting Registration Linky

“You watch the travel videos of the teams in each destination. Then, you vote for the video that most makes you want to travel to that place.
The team with the fewest votes gets eliminated from the Challenge! (Ouch.) The other teams go on to the next round.
There are four rounds in all.
You can get 250 bonus miles for every round you vote in.
Plus, you can get an extra 1,000 miles if you vote in all four rounds—for a total of 2,000 bonus miles.
Destination 1-Voting August 6,7,8
Destination 2-Voting August 20,21,22
Destination 3-Voting September 3,4,5
Final Destination-Voting September 17,18,19″

During Registration be sure to check the box that says “Sign up to earn double miles from American Express.”

“As part of the SiteSeer Challenge, American Express Cardmembers can also earn double flown miles! Enroll between 7/25/07 and 9/19/07, and then use any American Express Card to purchase a ticket on delta.com. This offer is available for flights between 7/25/07-9/30/07. All travel must be completed on 9/30/07.”

HT: Asher O.

AMEX has a number of premium insurances, some of which are actually quite a sweet deal.

Without going too much in depth into each one, here is what they are about, and what AMEX is giving away if you sign up for them!

There is no cost to enroll in any of the plans, only if you actually book a ticket/rent a car.

You can unenroll from the programs at any time.


Premium Baggage Protection:

-Get a free sports bag for enrolling!

-Intended for damaged or delayed luggage.

Consumer Card Promo Signup Linky

Business Card Promo Signup Linky

-Up to $2,000 in coverage for lost, stolen, or damaged luggage

-Up to $500 worth of replacement items if your luggage is delayed by 3 hours.

-$9.95 charge per airline ticket booked.


Travel Delay Protection:

-Get a free weekender bag for enrolling!

-Intended for hotel accommodations, transportation, food, and necessities during flight delays.

Consumer Card Promo Signup Linky

Business Card Promo Signup Linky

-Up to $200 per day for up to 2 days if no alternative flights are arranged by 9pm of the day of the flight.

-Up to $50 per day for up to 2 days if no alternative flights are arranged within 3 hours of the flight.

-Up to $250 per day for up to 2 days if a combination of both or the previous situations occurs,

-$9.95 charge per airline ticket booked.


Flight Insurance:

-Get a free Travel Alarm Clock for enrolling!

Consumer Card Promo Signup Linky

Business Card Promo Signup Linky

-Get up to $2,000,000 of accidental death and dismemberment coverage.

-$4.99 charge per airline ticket booked ($4.50 in NYC)

Premium Car Rental Insurance:

-No free bonus.

Consumer Card Promo Signup Linky

Business Card Promo Signup Linky

-Primary CDW for duration of rental (up to 42 consecutive days)

- Up to $100,000 for theft of or damage to rental car.

- Up to $100,000 for Accidental Death or Dismemberment (up to $10,000 for a Passenger). For California Residents, up to $250,000 for Accidental Death or Dismemberment for the Cardmember and each Passenger.

-Up to $15,000 per person for medical expenses

-Up to $5,000 per person for theft of personal property

-Starts at $19.95/rental period ($15.95 in CA)

Update: I just noticed that there is an another offer for existing cheque cardholders to get $500 in hotel savings if you buy $500 in travelers cheques.

Note: As AMEX is no longer issuing new Travelers Cheque Cards, this deal is only for existing cheque cardholders!

Long-time readers may recall a sweet deal that I posted way back in November 2005 for the American Express Travelers Cheque Card.

The offer was for free Delta Skymiles for purchasing the card.

The neat thing about the card was that you could fill it up with cash using any AMEX credit card.

The card had the following terms:

-Maximum card balance: $2,750

-Refill fee: $5

-Refill limit: Once every 14 days

-ATM withdrawal fee: $2.50 + the ATM’s fee.

-Maximum daily ATM withdrawal amount: $400

I did the deal for the free miles and then filed away the card away in the great black hole where I store all of my canceled cards.

Fast-forward 2 years: Today I got a letter from AMEX informing me that they were ending the program, and that I had until 09/30 to refill the card, and that on 10/31 they would refund any remaining funds on the card.

Sounds like 9/30 will be a good time to charge $2,750 to my Starwood AMEX and then wait for the refund check after 10/31!

The popular Gizmodo blog writes that AMEX is processing price protection claims for $200 refunds to people who bought the iPhone before last week’s $200 price-cut.

Only problem? AMEX discontinued their price-protection program (called BVG, or Best Value Guarantee) last year. No current AMEX card is advertised as offering any kind of price protection.

Additionally, return protection only covers items up to $300.

Sure, AMEX will take the claim, but the examiner will just reject the claim because its not covered!

Now if anyone wants to just file a chargeback against Apple for knocking 33% off the price of the iPhone just months after its release, that may just work!

At any rate, later this week we should have the info on how to get the $100 Apple Store credit for you early-adopters who just wouldn’t listen to my advice regarding the 1st generation iPhone…

The Starwood AMEX personal card annual fee went up from $30 to $45 this past week.

The fee for the first year continues to be waived.

For now, the business card still costs $30 after the first free year.

Because the points earned from the card are automatically transferred into the Starwood program, you can cancel the card without losing any points.

Additionally, because the Starwood AMEX is churnable, you can cancel the card and sign up for the card again to get the signup bonus and another free year!

Alternatively you can try calling up AMEX when you get the annual fee, and ask them to waive it.

Regardless of the fee increase, the card continues to offer an outstanding value:

-$45 is still lower than the $85 charged by the major airlines.

-90 day return privilege not offered on other low-cost AMEX cards.

-20,000 points transfers into 25,000 miles on over 30 airlines, so you get more miles per dollar spent, and you’re not tied to 1 airline.

-Many hotel stay options at any of Starwood’s numerous hotel brands: Unrestricted awards, Cash & Points, Nights & Flights, 5th Night Free, etc.

-20,000 points transfers into 50,000 kilometers on LAN.

-Free Starwood preferred plus status: Free upgrades, 4pm starwood checkouts, and free starpoints transfers to household accounts.

Update: Read the comments for a totally bizarre discovery, to top off this entire bizarre affair, posted by “the credit.”


History:

Back in December 2006 Amex ran a promotion offering $250 cash for applying for select AMEX business cards.

For old time’s sake, here are the original threads:

Original Post (17 comments)

Promo FAQ’s (22 comments)

Cards Roundup (8 comments)

What Did You Apply For? (27 comments)

AMEX Loses The Apps (14 comments)

The lucky ones were the people who applied for the Amex Business Platinum, which at the time was $300/year, but should’ve only been $50 after the $250 rebate.

At the time that card’s main benefits were

-Free Access to Continental PC/Delta CRC/Northwest WC/AMEX Airport Clubs.

-Starwood Gold Status.

-Reimbursement On Lost Items.

-Platinum Concierge Services.


Since then, the card has gone up to $395/year, and added

-Free access to Regus business offices worldwide.

-Free access to AAmerican AC Airport Clubs.

-Free companion ticket on all $299+ domestic tickets.


This is where it started to get strange.

As far as I know, AMEX has not yet charged the annual fee to anyone who applied for the Business Platinum card during the promotion, so the card until now has cost me negative $250.

Then last month I received a cryptic letter from AMEX, apologizing for losing my original application, and offering a $130 credit and asking me to call them back to apply for a card. (I didn’t)

Today my Business Platinum account online is showing a $130 credit as a “Goodwill Gesture!”

Total cost of the amazing card to date: Negative $380!

Airport clubs accessed, year to date:

Continental (and affiliated) President’s Clubs: Chicago/ORD, Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles, NYC/La Guardia, Newark, Tel Aviv.

AMEX Centurion Lounge: S. Paulo, Brazil.

Starwood Gold Upgrades: Herrod’s Vitalis Spa Eilat, Le Meridian Haifa, Sheraton Jerusalem, Sheraton LAX, Sheraton Tiberias, Westin LAX.

Promo Signup Linky
Choose between Double stays, double Starpoints, or up to 24,000 bonus Starpoints.

Here are some ways to become Starwood Gold Elite:
-Stay 10 times at Starwood properties in 1 year.
-Be an Amex Platinum Charge Card Cardholder.
-Spend $30,000 in 1 year on a Starwood Amex card.

Update: Links fixed.

Anyone Can Easily Get A Business Card

25,000 AMEX MR points can be easily transferred into 25,000 Continental miles.
25,000 Continental miles is enough for a domestic ticket, or churn the card 3 times and use their 70,000 mile coach award ticket to Israel, or save up for the 100,000 mile business-first class ticket to Israel!

There is no fee for one year.

Other card benefits:
-Additional Baggage Insurance: Up to $1,250 for carry-on and $500 for checked.
-Event Ticket Insurance: If you can’t go to a ticketed event due to a medical emergency, or if your ticket is stolen, you can get a refund.

AMEX Business Gold Rewards Linky

For those of you who got the AMEX Business Platinum for negative $250 during the promotion earlier this year, it just keeps on getting better!

Starting immediately cardholders and their spouses and children, or up to 2 guests can enter AA’s AAdmiral clubs for free when flying with AA!

AA normally charges $50 for a visit.

Read more about some of the amazing benefits of the expensive (currently $395) and exclusive AMEX Platinum here:

Amex Plat Info Linky

American Express occasionally freezes the credit card accounts of individuals with high-risk patterns.

They request lots of personal information, such as IRS returns, that most people are hesitant to fax away in today’s age of security risks.

I personally have a dozen or so AMEX cards, and have never had a financial review, so I don’t speak from my own experience, but here are some important steps you can do to avoid the dreaded financial review:

-Keep your credit lines on each of your AMEX’s below $25,000.
One symptom commonly found among people who have been hit with a review is very high credit lines.

-NEVER utilize over 50% of the credit line of any of your AMEX cards.
If you have a Starwood card with a $10,000 limit, never have a balance of over $4,999, even if you pay it off every month on time.

-Keep your collective credit balances well below your stated annual income.
If you reported an annual income of $200,000, AMEX won’t like it if you have $190,000 of credit available to spend in one month.

What if you do get hit with a financial review?

Immediately call up AMEX and ask to close down every one of your accounts.
If the AMEX financial review bean-counters close your accounts they will say closed by issuer, which is quite bad.
If you pre-emptively close them they will simply say closed at customer request, and will barely hurt your credit.

Suffering from Starwood AMEX withdrawal?
Don’t worry!
Since you pre-emptively closed your accounts, just wait a few months and then you can apply all over again, and you will even get the signup bonus again!

Reminder: Apply for these special signup offers before it’s too late!

Originally posted on 07/08
Related Links:
Google Credit Card Processing Linky
How Anyone Can Easily Get A Business Card

Consumer Cards:

Jetblue:
Annual fee=$40
Special Offer:
-Get 50 award points (instead of the regular 25) with your first purchase.
Neat card benefits:
-When you have a Jetblue AMEX you can keep all of your Jetblue Trueblue mileage account points from expiring simply by using your card or flying Jetblue!
-Double points for speding on entertainment, leisure, travel and dining!

Jetblue Amex Linky

Starwood:
Annual fee=Free for 1 year, $30 thereafter.
Special Offer:
-Get an additional bonus 15,000 points on top of the 10,000 signup points and the 15,000 points earned for the purchases when you spend $15,000 in the first 6 months of getting the card!
Neat card benefits:
-Ability to use Starwood points in so many ways, including transferring to airlines mileage at very favorable rates (20,000 starpoints=50,000 Lanpass Kilometers)
-90 day window to return any purchase up to $300 to AMEX regardless of the store’s return policy.

Starwood AMEX Linky

Hilton:
Annual fee=None.
Special Offer:
-Get an additional bonus 15,000 points on top of the 10,000 signup points and the 15,000 points earned for the purchases when you spend $5,000 in the first 6 months of getting the card!
-Earn 2,500 points for each of your fitst 4 stays at a Hilton paid for on your Hilton AMEX.
Neat card benefits:
-Earn 5 points per dollar spent at Hilton, supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations, dining, U.S. Postal Service, and for wireless phone bills.
-Earn 3 points per dollar spent elsewhere.

Hilton AMEX Linky

Business Cards:

AMEX Business Gold Rewards:
Annual fee=Free for 1 year, $125 thereafter.
Special Offer:
-Earn 25,000 AMEX Membership rewards points after your first purchase-enough points for a free ticket when you transfer the points into miles on a US carrier!
Neat card benefits:
-Baggage Insurance: Up to $1,250 for carry-on and $500 for checked.
-Event Ticket Insurance: If you can’t go to a ticketed event due to a medical emergency, or if your ticket is stolen, you can get a refund.

AMEX Business Gold Rewards Linky

Related Post:
Hot AMEX Signup Bonuses For July!

This is really simple, but it may not work for everyone.

I discovered this after activating a few family member’s cards.

When you are activating your card, push “0″ to speak to a live person.
They will run through a whole activation spiel with you.
As part of the spiel they will offer you the ability to add an additional card to your account and get 2,500 bonus starwood points for adding one cardholder, with no annual fee!

Getting an additional card should not affect your credit at all.

You do not have to give the other cardholders social security number, just a birthdate (Tell them that you don’t know their social security number).

If you are not offered the additional card or the 2,500 points, just ask for it!

Good luck, and please post your experiences!

Additionally I was not successful in one try at getting this promo for an existing card, but if anyone is successful, please post that as well!

Related Links:
Google Credit Card Processing Linky
See the knowledgebase for numerous additional articles.

Consumer Cards:

Jetblue:
Annual fee=$40
Special Offer:
-Get 50 award points (instead of the regular 25) with your first purchase.
Neat card benefits:
-When you have a Jetblue AMEX you can keep all of your Jetblue Trueblue mileage account points from expiring simply by using your card or flying Jetblue!
-Double points for speding on entertainment, leisure, travel and dining!

Jetblue Amex Linky

Starwood:
Annual fee=Free for 1 year, $30 thereafter.
Special Offer:
-Get an additional bonus 15,000 points on top of the 10,000 signup points and the 15,000 points earned for the purchases when you spend $15,000 in the first 6 months of getting the card!
Neat card benefits:
-Ability to use Starwood points in so many ways, including transferring to airlines mileage at very favorable rates (20,000 starpoints=50,000 Lanpass Kilometers)
-90 day window to return any purchase up to $300 to AMEX regardless of the store’s return policy.

Starwood AMEX Linky

Hilton:
Annual fee=None.
Special Offer:
-Get an additional bonus 15,000 points on top of the 10,000 signup points and the 15,000 points earned for the purchases when you spend $5,000 in the first 6 months of getting the card!
-Earn 2,500 points for each of your fitst 4 stays at a Hilton paid for on your Hilton AMEX.
Neat card benefits:
-Earn 5 points per dollar spent at Hilton, supermarkets, drugstores, gas stations, dining, U.S. Postal Service, and for wireless phone bills.
-Earn 3 points per dollar spent elsewhere.

Hilton AMEX Linky

Business Cards:

AMEX Business Gold Rewards:
Annual fee=Free for 1 year, $125 thereafter.
Special Offer:
-Earn 25,000 AMEX Membership rewards points after your first purchase-enough points for a free ticket when you transfer the points into miles on a US carrier!
Neat card benefits:
-Baggage Insurance: Up to $1,250 for carry-on and $500 for checked.
-Event Ticket Insurance: If you can’t go to a ticketed event due to a medical emergency, or if your ticket is stolen, you can get a refund.

AMEX Business Gold Rewards Linky

Note: Even if you didn’t follow these steps and you signed for the starwood credit card before getting a starwood number, you will still have a starwood number, and possibly multiple numbers if you have more than 1 credit card.
Just call up AMEX to find out what it is, and then register it on www.spg.com
If you have multiple numbers then call Starwood to merge the accounts.

Many people have emailed me and commented that although I am always posting great uses for Starpoints, I do not make the process entirely clear.

Another point of confusion among some people seems to be where the points are stored.

For starters, here’s a point of comparison:
Having points with Starwood is just like having miles on American Airlines(AA)!
-With both AA and Starwood you have a mileage account, in which you collect “miles” (AAdvantage miles with AA or Starpoints with Starwood).
-They both have affiliated credit cards, AA has one issued by Citi and Starwood has one issued by Amex.
-Every month Citi automatically transfers your miles over to your AA account, and every month Amex automatically transfers your points into your Starwood account.
-Both the AA and Starwood credit cards have signup bonuses and both cards can be churned (meaning that the signup bonus can be earned multiple times.)
-Both the AA and Starwood credit cards come in consumer and business versions.
The business versions generally have more benefits. (AA’s business card earns double miles for AA tickets, and the Starwood business card saves you up to 5% on stuff like Delta or Jetblue tickets and Fedex with Amex Open Savings)

Having said that, here is a step by step process of turning starpoints into free tickets.

Step 1: Go to www.spg.com (SPG stands for Starwood Preferred Guest.)

Step 2: In the middle column it says, “JOIN STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST”
Enter in your Email address and click join!

Step 3: Fill out your personal information, make a spg.com user ID and password, and get a SPG Starpoints number.

Step 4: SAVE YOUR STARPOINTS NUMBER AND YOUR USER ID/PASSWORD IN A SAFE PLACE!

Step 5:Open up a consumer and business starwood amex card to receive 20,000 starpoints for signing up.(Links for the best offers can be found at the top of this site. The consumer version currently has a sweet bonus offer worth up to 25,000 starpoints!)
Be sure to enter in your Starwood number that you just received into the application forms!

Step 6: You will see the points from the starwood credit cards show up into your starwood account within a week of when the statement closes.

Step 7: Decide what you want to do with your starpoints! Read about the options in the knowledgebase!

Let’s say that you want to transfer the 40,000 starpoints you have (because you have churned each of the starwood cards) into 100,000 kilometers on LAN in order to get a ticket from Chicago-Tel Aviv (cost=95,000 kilometers).

Step 8: Go to the knowledgebase and find the link to get 5,000 free kilometers for signing up for a LAN account.

Step 9: Sign up for the LAN account and keep you user ID, password, and LAN number in a safe place.

Step 10: Click on the following link to take you to the transfer points page: Starpoint Transfer Linky

Step 11: Go to Airline transfer, and click on “transfer now.”

Step 12: Login to your starpoints account when prompted.

Step 13: Choose to transfer to LAN Lanpass, at a ratio of 1 starpoints=2 lanpass kilometers. You also get a bonus 10,000 kilometers for every 20,000 starpoints that you transfer, so (contrary to what the starwood site itself may indicate) 40,000 starpoints will net you 100,000 kilometers.

Step 14: When the kilometers show up in your Lanpass account call up LAN to book your mileage ticket to Israel. They should ticket you on British Airways via London.

Some tidbits that you may not know:
-You can transfer starpoints between any starpoint account in your household simply by giving starwood a call!
-You automatically become elite (preferred plus level) when you have the starwood AMEX card! With preferred plus elite status you get a free room upgrade upon check-in and a guaranteed 4pm late checkout at any Starwood brand hotel!
-You can sign up anyone in your family for a Starwood AMEX card and give AMEX your starwood number. All of the points earned will conveniently automatically go into your account!

Related Post:
How To Get A Business Credit Card

Amex Business Gold Rewards 25,000 MR Points Offer Linky
The first year on this card is fee-free!
25,000 Amex MR Points can be transferred into 25,000 miles on many airlines, including Continental, Delta, and Frontier!

-Earn 10,000 starpoints for opening up the card.
-Earn another 30,000 starpoints (15,000 for the 1 point per dollar spent, and a 15,000 point bonus) for spending $15,000 on the card in the first 6 months of having the card!
The Starwood Amex is currently churnable (you can earn the signup bonus multiple times)
Need some help getting to $15,000?
You obviously didn’t read my previous post!
Starwood Signup Offer Linky
HT: Asher O.

In the recent Starwood post an anonymous commenter asked about the Starwood branded hotels in Israel.
Less than 20 minutes later another anonymous commenter answered,
“Israel is one of the best places to use the starwood points (since they dont categorize them properly) – Le meridien dead sea 2-3000 points and the Herods Eilat which usually costs around 350 Dollars (cat 3) is only 7000 points in America it would be a Cat 6 – The Jerusalem Sheraton is also only 7000 points but not such a great hotel – still a unreal value.”

Now that is how the comments system is supposed to work-other people answering questions that they know about!

Since I have a planned trip to go to Israel in August for the first time since I was an infant, I have been looking into this issue as well!
P.S. If anyone has any other Israel tips (cell phones, car rentals, GPS rentals, etc.) please leave a comment!

There are 13 Starwood hotels in Israel.

Category 1:
Le Méridien Dead Sea
Sheraton Moriah Dead Sea
Le Méridien Haifa

Category 2:
Sheraton Moriah Eilat
Sheraton Moriah Tiberias

Category 3:
Sheraton Jerusalem Plaza Hotel
Sheraton City Tower Tel Aviv
Sheraton Moriah Tel Aviv
Herods Forum Eilat
Herods Vitalis Spa Eilat
Le Méridien Eilat
Sheraton Herods Palace Hotel Eilat

Category 4:
Sheraton Tel Aviv Hotel and Towers

Again, here is the cost in starpoints by category,

Unrestricted:
Category 1: 3,000 points (2,000 on a weekend)
Category 2: 4,000 points (3,000 on a weekend)
Category 3: 7,000 points
Category 4: 10,000 points

Restricted Cash And Points: (Tentative-Launching June 28th.)
Category 1: 1,200 points + $25
Category 2: 1,600 points + $30
Category 3: 2,800 points + $45
Category 4: 4,000 points + $60

Please note: This news has yet to be confirmed from Starwood, but the source is trustworthy enough to make a post about this already.

Good news!
It will soon be cost even less starpoints to stay in great hotels worldwide!

Here’s a brief summary in order to understand what is changing.
There are 6 good uses for starpoints.

Use #1: Unrestricted, No Blackouts/Capacity Controlled Hotel Stays: See Below.
Use #2: Restricted Cash And Points Hotel Stays: See Below.
Use #3: Hotel Room Upgrades: Starts at 1,000 points.
Use #4: Nights AND Flights: 60,000 starpoints gets you 50,000 miles on the airline of your choice AND 5 nights in a category 3 hotel.
70,000 starpoints gets you 50,000 miles on the airline of your choice AND 5 nights in a category 4 hotel.
Use #5: 5th Night Free: When you book an unrestricted category 3-6 hotel award for 5 nights you only pay for the points of 4 nights.
Use #6: Transferring into Real Airline Miles. 20,000 starpoints=25,000 miles on numerous airlines.

Use #2 is what is dramatically improving.
Until now the cash and points option was only available at maybe 50 htoels worldwide.
Now it will become available for all hotels in categories 3-6 and for Asia/Pacific hotels in categories 1-2 as well.

Here is the pricing difference between an unrestricted hotel stay and a restricted cash and points stay.

Unrestricted:
Category 1: 3,000 points (2,000 on a weekend)
Category 2: 4,000 points (3,000 on a weekend)
Category 3: 7,000 points
Category 4: 10,000 points
Category 5: 12,000 points (16,000 in peak season)
Category 6: 20,000 points (25,000 in peak season)

Restricted Cash And Points:
These rates are tentative and not official yet-hopefully they will be confirmed by Starwood by June 28th!
Category 1: 1,200 points + $25
Category 2: 1,600 points + $30
Category 3: 2,800 points + $45
Category 4: 4,000 points + $60
Category 5: 4,800 points + $90
Category 6: 8,000 points + $150

This is huge-pay your mortgage with plastic!!!
If anyone is able to pay for their mortgage on their Amex please post a comment!
AmEx Plans Mortgage Rewards

One of the numerous uses of starpoints is the ability to transfer points into airline miles at a 20,000 starpoints=25,000 miles rate.

Cathay Pacific is arguably the best airline in which to transfer points to.
Note that Cathay Pacific has no US based credit card, so the Starwood Amex is the absolute best method to earn Asia miles from credit card spending.

People have been asking for months to help clarify the highly complicated Cathay Pacific Asia Miles program, so here’s a start.

The confusion stems from the fact that the program is very different than normal US based mileage programs, but its primary value is owed to that uniqueness.

First of all, about the airline, Cathay Pacific.
-They operate with their hub in Hong Kong.
-They are part of the Oneworld (AA, BA, JAL, Qantas, etc.) Alliance.
-They consistently win awards for their top-notch business and first classes, and even economy is much better than US based airlines.

Cathay Pacific has 2 programs, the Marco Polo club and Asia miles.
Marco Polo club is only for recognition for frequent fliers. If you are just transferring starpoints you will never need to worry about the Marco Polo Club, so just ignore it.

US based mileage programs charge based on the country of flying. If you want to go from New York to Tel Aviv or Los Angeles to Tel Aviv on Continental it will be the same 70,000 miles in coach or 100,000 in business/first.
At the same token, Los Angeles to Hawaii and New York to Hawaii will always be 35,000 miles.

Asia Miles charges based on the distance of the flight. For regular mileage tickets there are 7 mileage zones.
Mileage Zone Chart Linky
Here’s how it works:
First go to the great circle mapper to research the one-way distance of a flight.
For example type in ORD-LHR(Chicago/O’ Hare-London/Heathrow) to discover that the distance is 3,953 miles, or that JFK-GRU(New York/JFK-Sao Paulo) is 4,745 miles.
Then plug the number into the Asia Miles award chart to discover that both of those distances will fall into Zone C.
While you use the one-way distance to figure out the zone, the miles shown is the price for a round-trip ticket in that zone.
So a round trip ORD-LHR on AA or British Airways or JFK-GRU on AA or JAL will be 45,000 in coach, 60,000 in business, and 90,000 in first.
These rates, especially for business class, are significantly less than if you have miles on AA, BA, or JAL.

Here’s where the program gets really bizarre:
Look at the distance from LAX-HNL(Los Angeles-Honolulu) and SFO-HNL(S. Fransisco-Honolulu).
Believe it or not, LAX is further from HNL than SFO is. 157 miles further to be precise.
Because of that very small difference though, SFO-HNL falls into Zone B, while LAX-HNL falls into Zone C!

To be continued…

©2007 Ctownbochur.com
Questions, Suggestions, Errors? Please leave a comment!
Please do not post this article on any other website without explicit prior permission. Thank You!

The American Express Business Platinum card will be going up from $300/year to $395/year starting on May 1st.

Many readers of site were able to get the card for negative $250 during the last Business Amex promo.

The 2 new benefits, which are effective immediately for all cardholders, are Domestic companion tickets, and Regus Executive Club Membership Office membership.

With the domestic companion benefit, any ticket $299 and above($699-$899 for Hawaii and Alaska) qualifies for a free companion ticket.
What really is unique about this companion program is that it actually works.
-There is no special fare class that you have to book in, any old ticket on one of the Big 6 airlines qualify.
-If the ticket is under $299 Amex will round the ticket up to $299 so that you can get the other ticket for free.
-You can use this program up to 4 times per calender year.
-The cardholder must be one of the travelers.
-There are some blackout dates.

The other new feature is the Regus Executive Club Membership.
You can now access offices and get free internet and refreshments in offices around the world!

The other amazing card benefits have stayed the same for the most part, some of them include:
-Free Continental, Delta, And Northwest Airline Club Access.
-Free Starwood Gold Status.
-Free elite status with Avis, Hertz, and National Rental cars.
-If any item that you buy(up to $10,000)is lost within 90 days of purchase, the money will be refunded.

This offer is likely targeted and may not work for everyone, please leave a comment whether or not you were successful in registering for this offer.
You will need to have online Amex account management already set up to register.
Registration Linky

Reminder: Free Companion Tickets Must Be Booked By 03/31!
There’s still time to apply for a Jetblue card to catch this deal!

Have a Jetblue Amex?
You’re in luck!
You can bring along 1 companion for every Jetblue trip you take between April 24 and May 23 for free!
This offer even includes international destinations!

Jetblue Route Map Linky
-Tickets must be booked by March 31st.
-The primary cardholder must be one of the passengers.
You must book tickets via the phone at 800-JETBLUE, just ask for the Jetblue Amex free companion deal.

Remember to use your Jetblue Business Amex to save get a 5% rebate off the cost of all your Jetblue tickets!

Don’t have a Jetblue Amex?
There’s still time to get one for this promo!
Just wait for a couple days after you are approved and then call Amex to ask them to expedite the delivery of your credit card.
Plus your Jetblue credits won’t expire when you have any Jetblue Amex!
Jetblue Consumer Amex Linky
Jetblue Business Amex Linky

Read the Card Profile for a breakdown of card fees and benefits:
Jetblue Amex Credit Card Profile Linky

Jetblue LCC Roundup Linky

Update: Just 6 more days to take advantage of this special promotion! There’s never been a better time for you and your friends to get a couple Starwood cards-even if you’ve got ‘em already!

Be sure to read the More Promo Info Post…

Welcome to the ctownbochur.com 500,000 hits promotion! The 500,000th hit raffle will be held after the close of this promo, so that I will know how many tickets each person will get.

Apply and get approved for the following credit cards and get Amazon.com Gift Certificates and raffle tickets in addition to the bonuses for signing up for the cards!
The 500,000th hit raffle will include items such as MP3 players, MP3 Speakers, Bluetooth Headsets, Flash Drives, Memory cards, etc.
The only way to be in the raffle is with this promotion!
Already have some of the cards? I know that the Starwood Business can be churned, help everyone figure out which other cards can be churned!

Here is the reward scale:
1 Card Approval=$25 GC+1 Raffle Ticket
2 Card Approvals=$55 GC+2 Raffle Tickets
3 Card Approvals=$85 GC+5 Raffle Tickets
4 Card Approvals=$115 GC+6 Raffle Tickets
5 Card Approvals=$150 GC+7 Raffle Tickets
6 Card Approvals=$200 GC+10 Raffle Tickets
7 Card Approvals=Round-Trip Domestic Business Class Ticket+160 GB Hard Drive!!!

Rules-IMPORTANT!!!
1.You must apply for all cards between 1:30 AM EST on 02/07/07 and 11:59 PM EST on 02/20/07.
2.You must apply by clicking on the credit card images in this post.
3.Once you are done applying for all the cards you must email me the exact time and date that you clicked on each application image and the city that you are applying from.
4.You will receive your bonus immediately after I confirm how many cards you were approved for, the time frame is approximately 2-4 weeks after the date of application.

Email Address:

Learn more about some of these cards in the credit card profiles menu in the ctownbochur.com knowledgebase.

Starwood Consumer: 1st year free/$30 subsequent years.

Hilton Consumer: No Annual fee.

Delta Consumer: 1st year free/$85 subsequent years.

Starwood Business: 1st year free/$30 subsequent years.

Jetblue Business: 1st year negative $10/$40 subsequent years.

Delta Business: 1st year free/$85 subsequent years.

Discover Business: No annual fee.

Suggestions, questions, criticisms? Please leave a comment!

2 Thumbs up to Continental Airlines for this gesture!

The Membership Rewards bonus mile offer on page 118 of our February inflight magazine is not valid and was due to a printing error. For those of you that have made any Membership Rewards transfers into your OnePass account between 1-Feb 2007 and this coming Sunday 11-Feb 2007, we’ll make good on the bonus (one per account). To get the bonus, all you’ll need to do is call the OnePass Service Center (713 952 1630) after your Membership Rewards transfer is completed.
Scott O’Leary
Managing Director, Customer Experience | Continental Airlines

You can receive up to 5,000 bonus starwood points with this promo.
Promo Linky
Even with the 2.49% processing fee it is still well worth it to use your starwood card to pay your taxes as I explained previously…

You must have a Continental Onepass mileage number to register.
To register call 800-554-5522 and mention promotion code 27001.
Get 10,000 bonus miles for tickets booked in J/D/A/C fare classes or 5,000 bonus miles for tickets booked in Y/H/K/N/B/O/V/U fare classes.
Travel must be flown between 1/15/07 and 4/15/07.
You can earn up to 50,000 miles for this promo.

Don’t have an Amex? There’s no excuse for anyone not to carry at least 1 Starwood Consumer and Business Card!

Update: The Starwood Consumer AMEX can be churned as well!

It has long been known/assumed that in general cards issued by citi and chase can be churned while cards issued by Amex cannot be churned.

A month ago I reported here that Chase is no longer allowing their consumer United card to be churned.

In the past I have personally confirmed that the consumer Amex Delta card can’t be churned.

However for curiosity’s sake I applied for my 2nd Starwood Business Amex, and after logging into my SPG account tonight I see I have gotten another 10,000 Starpoint bonus!

So go ahead and apply for a 2nd Starwood Business Amex.

See the following related articles in the Ctownbochur.com Knowledgebase at the top of the right sidebar:
-Credit card profiles: Starwood Amex Profile.
-Credit Related Articles: Why Starwood Amex is #1, Getting A Business Card, Having Multiple Cards, Cancelling A Card.
-Miles, Elite Status, And Misc.: Getting The Most Out Of Starpoints. (Hint: Those 10,000 starpoints can be worth $500 or even far more if you use them correctly)

Update: Dead online, but you can try applying over the phone at 866-690-4852. The offer was originally in INC. Magazine…
This is the same deal that I posted earlier this year to get $250 off select Amex business cards.
$250 Amex Offer Linky
More info to come…