traveldaddy
TUG Member
TUG Community - does anybody see anything wrong with the logic and methodology of this?
I guess I am a little confused. I am not sure what it is you are trying to achieve.
I do not see anything wrong with the methodology - in fact it is quite obvious. If you can only spend $50K/yr on your SPG AMEX, you will only collect on that amount. You could buy more or convert staroptions (if you have that capability), but neither of these typically make sense in that the cost is higher than what you receive (but there may be special/unique and rare situations where this is not true).
If you have business/work related spend, you can also get more SPG points through stays/spend within the hotel group.
If you think you can collect enough SPG points for a week or two of vacation for a family, with or without airfare - well, the math says, no, you probably can't. But to your own comparison of 2% cash back on $50K spend, well, you probably can't do the same for the $1K cash back either (in this example).
From a fellow Canuck, I get that you can't put everything on SPG amex - it is my go-to card and I fall close to the example above. I just got the Mariott Visa, as it does not have a foreign transaction fee - so I can pay my TS MF and other incidentals with the Visa, and the savings on FX pays for the annual fee. Between the two cards, I will be able to get some decent "free" nights and/or transfer to airline awards to try to get "free" flights. I have never considered trying to get a full week vacay from either - the best "value" is actually adding on a day or two at the beginning/end of a week TS stay to minimize the cost of airfare. Since I typically have to lock down the week prior to booking airfare (need to book TS 10-13 months in advance to get the best places/units), having that flexibility can save $80-100 per person (times 4-5 people), without putting me out of pocket for anything, and I can still get a decent place.
Not sure how to do the fuzzy math on that though......
If you clarify a bit on your end goal we might be able to help more, but if it is only to decide how to accumulate points, as others have stated, I would not wait for several years to accumulate # of SPG points needed to have a big vacay - they could devalue on you while you accumulate.
I hope this helpful btw. I am trying to be.
Craig