Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) has launched a new Mystery Bonus campaign for buying Starpoints at up to 50% off between November 1 – December 31, 2016.
You can purchase for your account or receive as a gift A maximum of 30,000 Starpoints in a calendar year (this used to be 20,000). The account that receives Starpoints must have been open for a minimum of 14 days.
You can access the Starwood SPG Website for this offer here.
READ MORE: SPG Rate & Bonus Points And Miles Promotions
And the price at the 30% discount:
The price of a Starpoint is 2.45 cents when 30,000 is purchased at the 30% off.
Doe it make sense to purchase Starpoints at this price?
Starwood has greatly devalued the Starpoints by the yearly category creep. There can be some values left during special events and high season.
This is, however, a good way to purchase partner airline miles at reasonable price. You can convert 20,000 Starpoints to 25,000 airline miles in most partner programs (not on United and some others – see the table below – you can convert to United now at beneficial rate by first moving the points to Marriott).
You can do even better if you wait for a conversion bonus offer that airline programs often have.
I would consider to transfer points into accounts where purchasing miles is either not possible or quite expensive such as Singapore Airlines or Lufthansa Miles & More (Lufthansa only worth it because of the enhanced availability).
Purchased points post instantaneously:
When I purchased 30,000 points earlier this year during the 35% off sale the Starpoints posted to my SPG account immediately.
SPG Starpoints to Marriott Rewards
You can link your SPG and Marriott Rewards accounts and move points freely between them. 1 Starpoints = 3 Marriott Rewards point. Even if you don’t care about Starpoints, this is an opportunity to purchase Marriott Rewards points cheaply and later use them towards Travel Packages.
Conclusion
This is the first time Starwood is selling its Starpoints under this “Mystery Bonus” campaign. I would assume that the discount for most members is 30% off as this has tend to be the highest discount offered, although Starpoints were briefly on sale at 35% off earlier this year.
I maxed my Starpoints purchase for the calendar year during the 35% off sale. This is a great way to buy some Marriott Rewards points cheaply and later use them towards Travel Packages (read more here).
