The Points Guy articles about the SPG-Marriott merger tout a dismal outcome for SPG

[rickandcindy23]

https://thepointsguy.com/news/in-depth-look-new-marriott-airline-transfer-partners/

There are several articles about the merger and how it affects hotels and transfers to various airlines, and I don't know if I could get in trouble with TPG for posting to this site, but I can tell you that I am moving my points out of SPG before 8/1. I will transfer some to Amtrak for another trip along the Pacific coast before I can no longer do that.

According to the above article, the new awards chart is not honest in its comparisons between current and future awards.

Do you know that you can transfer points to Amtrak for a long-haul trip and enjoy the scenery from your own little bedroom with private bathroom, including meals, and you can do it for 52,000 points (transfer 40K SPG points for 50K points to Amtrak with the bonus). I see no indication this is going to be available in the future in my research.

This trip would easily be $1,300 for two people, if you paid cash. The Amtrak B of America card is pretty worthless to me.

 

[mjm1]

Perhaps I missed it, but I read the article and it seems like he is pretty pleased with the changes. As you mentioned, he didn’t say anything about Amtrak, but as far as airlines are concerned it appears the changes will be almost all positive or no change.

Overall it doesn’t appear to be a dismal outcome.

Best regards.

Mike

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Perhaps I missed it, but I read the article and it seems like he is pretty pleased with the changes. As you mentioned, he didn’t say anything about Amtrak, but as far as airlines are concerned it appears the changes will be almost all positive or no change.

Overall it doesn’t appear to be a dismal outcome.

Best regards.

Mike

The Points Guy is compensated by the points programs. He cannot say anything overly negative or he will lose his advertising revenue.

 

[Thunder Up]

The Amtrak thread on flyer talk states the ability to transfer SPG points to Amtrak will end on 7/31.

Thunder Up

 

[rickandcindy23]

According to one of his articles, the hotels are no honest in their comparison between current and future award amounts. That is probably not the article I copied/pasted. I will find it again and post it here.

I never have gotten the Marriott card because I already have SPG, Hyatt and IHG. I chose not to do Marriott or Hilton. We just don't use hotels all that much, and the CSR points get 3X points for Marriott maintenance fees. I can always transfer to Marriott through the portal.

Anyway, I definitely recommend transferring those points to Amtrak while you can. It's a great benefit and I see no other way to accomplish it after 8/1.

 

[CalGalTraveler]

Would love to take advantage of an Amtrak trip through the Rockies. Have the points but DH has no more vacation days!

 

[controller1]

. . .

Do you know that you can transfer points to Amtrak for a long-haul trip and enjoy the scenery from your own little bedroom with private bathroom, including meals, and you can do it for 52,000 points (transfer 40K SPG points for 50K points to Amtrak with the bonus). I see no indication this is going to be available in the future in my research.

This trip would easily be $1,300 for two people, if you paid cash. The Amtrak B of America card is pretty worthless to me.

Yes, the Amtrak transfer ability ends 7/31 but transfers to Amtrak have typically been a poor transfer opportunity. My rule of thumb is not to use Starpoints unless I can get 3 cents per point in value. The $1,300 of Amtrak value at 52,000 Starpoints fails my test.

I typically am able to receive 3-5 cents per Starpoint for hotel stays.

 

[TravelTime]

According to one of his articles, the hotels are no honest in their comparison between current and future award amounts. That is probably not the article I copied/pasted. I will find it again and post it here.

I never have gotten the Marriott card because I already have SPG, Hyatt and IHG. I chose not to do Marriott or Hilton. We just don't use hotels all that much, and the CSR points get 3X points for Marriott maintenance fees. I can always transfer to Marriott through the portal.

Anyway, I definitely recommend transferring those points to Amtrak while you can. It's a great benefit and I see no other way to accomplish it after 8/1.

What do you tend to use IHG points for? I like the customer service with the Intercontinental hotel but now that I have so many timeshares with Marriott, it seems to make more sense for me to consolidate my spending on my Marriott cards and airline cards. I still have the IHG Ambassador club memebership. One issue with IHG is there are not a lot of Intercontinental hotels.

 

[rickandcindy23]

What do you tend to use IHG points for? I like the customer service with the Intercontinental hotel but now that I have so many timeshares with Marriott, it seems to make more sense for me to consolidate my spending on my Marriott cards and airline cards. I still have the IHG Ambassador club memebership. One issue with IHG is there are not a lot of Intercontinental hotels.

We have the IHG card and got it with a large number of points about five years ago. Each year I get a free night for the annual fee (I think $75). The night is truly free and no taxes/fees at all, and I have been able to stay at some nice hotels with that free night, including Crown Plaza in Seattle and San Francisco.

Since we mostly stay in timeshares (we own a bunch of them) and have great love of timeshares, we don't stay in hotels much, but we do fly to the coast and spend the night each way to/from Maui and Kauai. We do this because it's exhausting to fly to/from Maui from Denver. We have been doing this for about 10 years, and I had been paying for hotels through Hotwire. I finally applied for IHG, Hyatt and Club Carlson (we love the Radisson at the Seattle airport), and we stay free in those hotels.

Hyatt is still the absolute best system, but some airports don't have Hyatt hotels with shuttles. SJC has one, but OAK doesn't. We stay at Holiday Inn in and out of Oakland, but it's not a great use of points. Sometimes that hotel is only $100, so we pay for it through the UR Portal instead.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Yes, the Amtrak transfer ability ends 7/31 but transfers to Amtrak have typically been a poor transfer opportunity. My rule of thumb is not to use Starpoints unless I can get 3 cents per point in value. The $1,300 of Amtrak value at 52,000 Starpoints fails my test.

I typically am able to receive 3-5 cents per Starpoint for hotel stays.

It's 40,000 points for 50,000 points with Starwood.

 

[mjm1]

The Points Guy is compensated by the points programs. He cannot say anything overly negative or he will lose his advertising revenue.

According to one of his articles, the hotels are no honest in their comparison between current and future award amounts. That is probably not the article I copied/pasted. I will find it again and post it here.

I never have gotten the Marriott card because I already have SPG, Hyatt and IHG. I chose not to do Marriott or Hilton. We just don't use hotels all that much, and the CSR points get 3X points for Marriott maintenance fees. I can always transfer to Marriott through the portal.

Anyway, I definitely recommend transferring those points to Amtrak while you can. It's a great benefit and I see no other way to accomplish it after 8/1.

Thank you both for the clarification.

Mike

 

[controller1]

It's 40,000 points for 50,000 points with Starwood.

Ahh! So the 52,000 includes the transfer bonus! Good value.....

 

[heathpack]

We have done two long haul Amtrak trips on points.

IIRC, two huge bang-for-the-buck routes are:

1. the Coast Starlight from LA to Seattle. You can technically use the points for travel all the way from LA to Vancouver, but you transfer from Amtrak to a Canadian rail line (I think, at least for sure you transfer trains) in Seattle and if your train into Seattle runs late, they pull you off the train and bus you up to Seattle to make your connection. Ugh, no thanks. The better direction for this trip is LA to Seattle, you hit more scenic stuff during daylight.

2. California Zephyr from Denver to Sacramento. You can go all the way to San Francisco, but once you pass Sacramento, it’s just time on a train. The scenery isn’t as great. But before that- man, you cross the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas. Awesome.

We’ve done both as one way train trips attached to a vacation that we flew to or from. They are points-maximizing trips, in that they’re epically scenic while staying within one Amtrak zone, which is a lesser points expenditure than crossing multiple zones.

 

[rickandcindy23]

Loved the Zephyr a few years ago. It was amazing, and it's unfortunate that much of it is in the dark because we missed a lot between Western Colorado and Nevada much of which we missed going the other direction.