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A lot of people, myself included, see Starwood’s Starpoints as one of the more valuable points currencies around. And now Starwood is offering to allow members of its loyalty program, SPG, to buy Starpoints with a discount of up to 25%.
Buy Starpoints
Starwood has opened up a promotion whereby, between now and 15 April 2016, you can buy Starpoints with a saving of between 10% and 25% depending on how many you buy. Like a lot of the “buy points” promotions we see nowadays this offer is tiered:
- Get 10% off 5,000–9,500 Starpoints
- Get 15% off 10,000–14,500 Starpoints
- Get 20% off
- Get 25% off 20,000–30,000 Starpoints
Ordinarily Starwood is happy to let SPG members buy Starpoints for 3.5 cents/point but, with this promotion that can be reduced to as low as 2.63 cents/point (when you buy in the top-tier):
- 5,000 – 9,500 Starpoints will cost 3.15 cents/Starpoint
- 10,000–14,500 Starpoints will cost 2.98 cents/Starpoint
- 15,000–19,500 Starpoints will cost 2.80 cents/Starpoint
- 20,000–30,000 Starpoints will cost 2.63 cents/Starpoint
How Many Starpoints Can You Buy?
Starwood allows SPG members to buy a maximum of 30,000 Starpoints per calendar year but, luckily, there is a way around this limit for those sharing an address.
Starwood allows SPG members to transfer points between the accounts of those sharing the same address for zero cost (almost unheard of in the loyalty points world):
In Starwood’s sole discretion, an SPG Member may be permitted to transfer Starpoints from one SPG Member account to another SPG Member account under specific conditions. Generally, Starpoints may transfer if both SPG Members are active, consent to the transfer, and share the same residential mailing address that is not a P.O. Box, APO or SPO address for a minimum of 30 days prior to requesting the transfer. SPG Members may be required to provide proof of residency prior to Starwood transferring the Starpoints between the two accounts. Elite Preferred Guest Membership Status and the related benefits will not transfer to the recipient of the Starpoints.
What this means is that, everyone with an active SPG account that shares an address, can purchase the maximum 30,000 Starpoints and then all the balances can be combined into a single account where they can be used more effectively.
Should You Buy Starpoints?
As I stated at the beginning, a lot of people consider Starpoints to be among the more valuable rewards currencies and I personally value them at around 2.2 cents each.
That’s considerably higher than my valuation of just about any other loyalty currency and that’s primarily down to two things:
- The fact that Starpoints transfer to the majority of airline loyalty programs at a 1:1 ratio
- When you transfer 20,000 Starpoints to an airline loyalty program Starwood gives you a 5,000 point bonus.
Still, 2.2 cents/point is still lower than the best rate being offered in this promotion (2.63 cents/point) and that means that, as usual, I’m going to advise against any speculative purchases of Starpoints. If you don’t know what you’re going to do with them then it’s not worth it.
But there will be times when purchasing points at this rate may make sense and one of the best example of this is where you can use the “5th night free” benefit that Starwood offers on all award bookings.
Take the Westin Paris Vendome as an example:
Rates here can get pretty high…especially in the summer months:
€758 is approximately $820 so, at 20,000 Starpoints/night, you would effectively be getting a return of 4.1 cents/Starpoint on a stay of 4 nights or less (that’s already a price at which buying Starpoints in this promotion becomes a good idea) but it gets even better when you stay for a 5th night.
With the fifth night free benefit a 5-night stay would cost 80,000 Starpoints as opposed to $4,100 if you paid in cash ($820 x 5). That’s a return of over 5.1 cents/Starpoint.
Clearly I’ve taken an extreme example here to make my point but it should still hopefully show that there are times when it can make sense to buy Starpoints for more than they’re traditionally valued at. Naturally it would probably be more economical to move your visit to dates where the property isn’t quite so outrageously priced….but that isn’t always an option for everyone.
Will You Earn Bonus Points For Buying Starpoints With A Credit Card?
No. Starpoints purchases are processed by Points.com and not Starwood. That means that the purchase of points will not trigger a bonus from a credit card that offers bonus points on travel/hotel stays and will not earn you a bonus for using your Starwood American Express card either.
All purchases will track as regular non-bonused spend.
Bottom Line
This will be a short and sweet summing up:
- If you have a plan for the Starpoints and if you will be getting a higher return on your points than you’re paying to purchase them then you’re in the clear – go ahead and buy.
- If you’re topping up an account to reach an award then it’s most probably ok to buy Starpoints here too.
- If you’re thinking to buy them for some hypothetical future use then don’t do it. That’s a terrible idea and a great way to be caught out overpaying.
