Reminder: SPG Starpoints 35% off sale ends soon

SPG Points are one of the most useful points currencies out there because of how flexible they are. You could use them for hotel stays, of course, but you can also convert them into mileage currencies that are impossible to earn in Singapore or very expensive.

Starwood is offering a 35% discount on Starpoints purchases until 11.59pm ET on 16 March (that’s 11.59am Singapore time on 17 March) which brings the effective purchase price down to 2.275 US cents each (regular price: 3.5 US cents each).  This is the best publicly available offer that we’ve seen, so if you’re thinking of buying points now’s as good a time as any.

To enjoy the 35% discount, you need to buy a minimum of 5,000 points. You can buy a maximum of 30,000 points in a year.

Use Starpoints for mileage transfers

I mentioned mileage currencies that are difficult to earn in Singapore- here’s the list of FFPs that you can transfer Starpoints to. Remember that for every 20,000 Starpoints you transfer, you get a bonus 5,000 miles

The one that’s interesting for me is Alaska’s Mileageplan. I’ve written about it before on the site (including an interesting way to get cheaper JAL flights), and Milegaeplan’s best public offer on miles sales is a 40% bonus (there’s one on right now). This works out to 2.11 US cents per mile.

Doesn’t that mean Starpoints (2.275 US cents) cost more than buying Milegaeplan (2.11 US cents) miles outright? Yes- but you’re forgetting about the bonus. Suppose I buy and transfer 20,000 Starpoints to Mileageplan. I will get 25,000 Mileageplan miles. In other words

• 20,000 Starpoints @ 2.275 US cents= 25,000 Mileageplan miles
• Effective cost of 1 Mileageplan mile= 1.82 US cents

We need 25,000 Mileageplan miles for our JAL trick, so that’s merely US$455 for an (almost) round trip business class flight from Singapore to Tokyo (plus US$60 of taxes and fees).

Of course, there are other options too. You might consider transferring your points to American Airlines/ANA to redeem for Etihad First Class awards. Or maybe explore the sweet spots that exist in other awards programs like Flyingblue and Miles and More. If you’re coming for the Miles Masterclass (fully sold out!) you can hear Troy Liu from Mileslife talk about using some of them.

Buy Starpoints for hotel price arbitrage

Depending on when and where you’re staying, it can sometimes be a better deal to buy Starpoints than pay the hotel’s revenue rates. Look at this example from New York City in June.

At a price of 2.275 US cents per point, you get

• St Regis New York- US$796 (although 35,000 Starpoints is more than you can buy in a year)
• Four Points by Sheraton Manhattan Midtown West- US$273
• W New York- US$273

This is cheaper than the revenue rates on offer. Plus, remember that the revenue rates here are the lowest, non-refundable and non-changeable ones. Starpoints bookings are generally refundable up to 48 hours before check-in (individual properties may have more strict/less strict policies so it’s always good to check) so that’s another factor in your favor.

Conclusion

The restrictive thing about Starwood points is that you’re only allowed to buy a maximum of 30,000 per year, but there are some ways of getting around this restriction.

If you’ve made up your mind to buy Starpoints, you can support the site by using this link to make your purchase.

Points purchases are processed by Points.com, so I’d use my DBS Woman’s World card for 4 mpd on the first S$2K of spend. You could also use the UOB Visa Signature for 4 mpd provided you spend a minimum of S$1K on foreign currency expenditures in that particular statement period,  or the Citibank Rewards card for 4 mpd too.