Average SPG Amex Annual Spend

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

What would be your average SPG Amex Annual Spend?

The reason being that there are threads where the conversion of SOptions to SPGPoints are discussed.

Understanding:

1. Possible to purchase 20,000 SPG Points at 3.5 cents each, or at a discount.
2. Maximum 1 per person. So 2 x 20,000 = 40,000 per year.
3. Assume a couple, with MINOR children. So I am assuming you can't have an SPG account for a MINOR.


It would seem that in order to book hotels with SPG Points, require A LOT of SPG Points that may be impossible to earn just on a typical/average household spend. Especially if you have 2 vacations per year.

For example:
WKV - Mar 12 to Mar 19 2016 - requires 95,998 SPG Points for a 1BR Villa.

 

[DeniseM]

We put every cent we spend on our Starwood AMEX card, but we don't use the points for accommodations - we use then for airfare. For every dollar you spend, you can get 1.25 airline miles.

There are other ways to reserve accommodations that are less expensive such as renting from owners, renting from exchange companies, exchanging with exchange companies, and private exchanges.

When we do hotels - I use Priceline.

 

[canesfan]

Plus I'd never use SPG points for a timeshare, I'd use options because those are a better conversion. Besides I have lots of options. I use SPG points for hotels and usually try to do cash & points when it's available.

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

Plus I'd never use SPG points for a timeshare, I'd use options because those are a better conversion. Besides I have lots of options. I use SPG points for hotels and usually try to do cash & points when it's available.

Yes. Agree. If you have a TS, you wouldn't use SPG Points.

The point of the post is to determine, whether the average spend of a family is enough to even get a yearly vacation out of it - without spending actual money on a TS yet.

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

Since this is a Starwood forum, we are targeting Cat 4/5 or above properties.

 

[YYJMSP]

Probably not exactly the info you're looking for, but annually we use around:

- 350K StarOptions (or equivalent in Home Resort bookings)
- 400K StarPoints (some from conversion, rest earned directly with hotel stays)
- 250K frequent flyer points (assume that correlates to credit card purchases)

That gives us about eight weeks of holidays every year in some combination of SVO properties (1BR or larger) and SPG Category 4+ hotels (usually paying the premium for suites)

 

[canesfan]

As DeniseM mentioned, renting might be a better option if you can't accumulate more than a week worth of vacation of SPG points.

 

[DeniseM]

The point of the post is to determine, whether the average spend of a family is enough to even get a yearly vacation out of it - without spending actual money on a TS yet.

This would simply depend on the owner's income. I know someone with a medical practice who uses her AMEX for her business and personal expenses, and earns an enormous number of points.

Probably not the average family - but many Starwood owners are above average in income.

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

Probably not exactly the info you're looking for, but annually we use around:

- 350K StarOptions (or equivalent in Home Resort bookings)
- 400K StarPoints (some from conversion, rest earned directly with hotel stays)
- 250K frequent flyer points (assume that correlates to credit card purchases)

That gives us about eight weeks of holidays every year in some combination of SVO properties (1BR or larger) and SPG Category 4+ hotels (usually paying the premium for suites)

That's cool. But isn't that considered a lot of SPG Points compared to a more typical household?

Even if you are a Platinum SPG - @ 3 Points per US$, that still represents about US$100K for SPG Hotels.

On an Amex SPG - @ 1 to 1 - that is a $400K spend.

Of course, if you say 50/50, then that is still a 200K spend on Amex + 67K spend on SPG Hotels.

I am assuming no conversion of SOptions to SPG Points.

Is the math correct?

 

[YYJMSP]

That's cool. But isn't that considered a lot of SPG Points compared to a more typical household?

Even if you are a Platinum SPG - @ 3 Points per US$, that still represents about US$100K for SPG Hotels.

On an Amex SPG - @ 1 to 1 - that is a $400K spend.

Of course, if you say 50/50, then that is still a 200K spend on Amex + 67K spend on SPG Hotels.

I am assuming no conversion of SOptions to SPG Points.

Is the math correct?

I stay about 125 nights a year in SPG hotels. Plat75 and higher get 4pts per USD. Add in the 500pts as the checkin bonus, and another 500pts/nt to skip housekeeping, and the constantly running promotions that come out say at least another 500pts/nt...

I counted the actual spend in the frequent flyer points category. Business expenses can push that number up much higher than if it was just personal costs...

If you're looking at two x one week long holidays, divide my numbers by four and I think you'd be comfortable with respect to points usage. Remember to add actual money for food and entertainment (can't quite use points effectively on those yet).

Usually, there is a correlation between the amount of dollars spent and the points earned. Most will get you back approaching 2% of your cost as value in points (whatever kind they are) if you're careful about how you spend the points.

 

[traveldaddy]

Spg points are great for adding a day at beginning or end of a week to minimize airfare. Also great for stopovers when doing a driving vacation.

I have not used for a full week or longer stay, mostly because I use my TS for that. It could get very expensive if you wanted a week at a suite and high category location. Certainly beyond my spg means.

Craig

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

On a semi-related note:

Westin Whistler Dec 26 to Jan 2 - 7 nights.
Cost: 71,995 SPG Points.

Seems like a pretty good deal.

If you take that as a 1BR/Studio (which it is), then it seems like a pretty good deal.

If you convert an existing TS (eg. WDW @ 148100 SOptions = 72000 SPG), it doesnt seem that bad - ESPECIALLY if you bought your TS as a resale.

 

[YYJMSP]

On a semi-related note:

Westin Whistler Dec 26 to Jan 2 - 7 nights.
Cost: 71,995 SPG Points.

Seems like a pretty good deal.

If you take that as a 1BR/Studio (which it is), then it seems like a pretty good deal.

If you convert an existing TS (eg. WDW @ 148100 SOptions = 72000 SPG), it doesnt seem that bad - ESPECIALLY if you bought your TS as a resale.

Westin Whistler standard rooms are equiv to a studio. A 1BR unit there is double the points.

Best values is always to redeem for SPG rooms in high season when they would have cost more. Your Westin Whistler example is $1000/nt at Christmas vs $100/nt in the summer for the same 12K pts/nt.

Not sure how you're getting these SPG redemption rates ending in 995, etc. It should be a round number, such as 6x12K = 72K for 7 nights (with the fifth night being free)

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

If you go to the spg website, that is how much it is per night.

Not all nights are 12K. Sometimes weekends are 16K
And with the 5th night free, I would assume that if you add all the spg points then divide by 7, that is why that number is not an exact round number.

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

You are right. It is 72,000 total.

I guess 72,000 divide by 7 is 10285.++ (which was what was shown)

 

[Ty1on]

You are right. It is 72,000 total.

I guess 72,000 divide by 7 is 10285.++ (which was what was shown)

I get dizzy whenever I look at Starwood threads.

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

I get dizzy whenever I look at Starwood threads.

Why? It is not that bad......

 

[Ken555]

Not all nights are 12K. Sometimes weekends are 16K

Cat 5 is 12k in low season, 16k in high. You shouldn't see it change for weekends, and only twice per year.


Sent from my iPad

 

[Ty1on]

Why? It is not that bad......

Just.....very complicated...

 

[Ken555]

The point of the post is to determine, whether the average spend of a family is enough to even get a yearly vacation out of it - without spending actual money on a TS yet.

The only relevant question to consider is whether or not your spend is sufficient for the nights you want to redeem, or not. Others results should have absolutely no bearing on your personal decision whether to plan on reserving hotel nights based on your credit card spend.


Sent from my iPad

 

[Ty1on]

The only relevant question to consider is whether or not your spend is sufficient for the nights you want to redeem, or not. Others results should have absolutely no bearing on your personal decision whether to plan on reserving hotel nights based on your credit card spend.


Sent from my iPad

It seems like he's just trying to guage the value of the card to the average Joe as an academic question.

 

[DeniseM]

It seems like he's just trying to guage the value of the card to the average Joe as an academic question.

If you really wanted to figure this out, you could add up everything you charged to a credit card, wrote a check for, or paid significant amounts of cash for in 2014 - that would be your total points, if you charged them all on an AMEX, instead

You can pay just about everything with an AMEX, except mortgage payments, except for a few merchants who don't accept AMEX because of the higher merchant fee - we use a different airline card in those cases.

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

In Canada, very few merchants take Amex though.....

 

[Ty1on]

If you really wanted to figure this out, you could add up everything you charged to a credit card, wrote a check for, or paid significant amounts of cash for in 2014 - that would be your total points, if you charged them all on an AMEX, instead

You can pay just about everything with an AMEX, except mortgage payments, except for a few merchants who don't accept AMEX because of the higher merchant fee - we use a different airline card in those cases.

We use AmEx Gold, and have put a good rhythm of charges on it, but have done little with the points earned (nthing in a few years, actually). When my wife returns, I think we are going to sit down and figure out what kind of airline breaks we can pull out of those points, and maybe use it more aggressively, because airline costs are pretty much our largest obstacle to vacationing outside driving distance.

 

[Wanttobe5StarElite]

If you really wanted to figure this out, you could add up everything you charged to a credit card, wrote a check for, or paid significant amounts of cash for in 2014 - that would be your total points, if you charged them all on an AMEX, instead

You can pay just about everything with an AMEX, except mortgage payments, except for a few merchants who don't accept AMEX because of the higher merchant fee - we use a different airline card in those cases.

Unlike in the US (maybe), many merchants do not take Amex. For example, only maybe 1 or 2 grocery chains take Amex.
A lot of restaurants also do not take Amex.
The merchant penetration is quite low....

In our case, whatever we can charge with Amex, is ALL that we can charge with Amex.

Given that, it would be pretty difficult to gather SPG points than just by Amex alone.