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Starwood is offering a 35% discount on buying Starpoints through July 20.
They’re actually letting you buy points at a price which those points are worth which is great.
A 35% discount prices Starwood points at 2.275 cents apiece. And since Starpoints transfer to airline miles with a bonus — transfer points into 20,000 miles and receive 5000 bonus miles — you are effectively buying airline miles with your choice of programs (any of the many where Starpoints transfer 1:1) at a cost of 1.82 cents apiece.
Starwood only lets you buy 30,000 points per year for your account.
This isn’t the biggest discount we’ve ever seen, but it’s close. We saw it in February. There was a targeted better off a year ago and a half ago for 50% off Starpoints.
This price is probably worth it if you need to top off a frequent flyer miles account or top off your Starwood points for an award since I regularly get 3-4 cents on my hotel redemptions. And it’s hard to get hurt at this price.
Al Wadi Desert Resort: Less than 14,000 Starpoints Per Night Transferred to Marriott
Here’s the full list of airline mileage transfer partners:
| Frequent Flyer Program | Exchange Ratio (Starpoints : Miles) | |
| Aegean Airlines | 1:1 | |
| Aeromexico Club Premier | 1:1 | |
| Aeroplan/Air Canada | 1:1 | |
| Air China Companion | 1:1 | |
| Air New Zealand & Air Points | 65:1 | |
| Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan | 1:1 | |
| Alitalia MilleMiglia | 1:1 | |
| All Nippon Mileage Club | 1:1 | |
| American Airlines AAdvantage | 1:1 | |
| Asia Miles | 1:1 | |
| Asiana Airlines | 1:1 | |
| British Airways Executive Club | 1:1 | |
| China Eastern Airlines | 1:1 | |
| China Southern SkyPearl Club | 1:1 | |
| Delta Air Lines SkyMiles | 1:1 | |
| Emirates Skywards | 1:1 | |
| Etihad Airways | 1:1 | |
| Flying Blue | 1:1 | |
| Gol Smiles | 2:1 | |
| Hainan Airlines | 1:1 | |
| Hawaiian Airlines | 1:1 | |
| Japan Airlines Mileage Bank | 1:1 | |
| Jet Airways | 1:1 | |
| Korean Air Skypass | 1:1 | |
| LAN LANPASS | 1:1.5 | |
| Miles and More | 1:1 | |
| Qatar Airways | 1:1 | |
| Saudi Arabian Airlines Alfursan | 1:1 | |
| Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer | 1:1 | |
| Thai Airways RoyalOrchidPlus | 1:1 | |
| United Mileage Plus | 2:1 | |
| Velocity Frequent Flyer | 1:1 | |
| Virgin Atlantic Flying Club | 1:1 |
Bear in mind that the new Marriott program coming August 1 will no longer have Amtrak as a transfer partner.
Technically Starwood Preferred Guest will still exists August 1, but that’s a legal distinction. Marriott, Starwood, and Ritz-Carlton will all have the same program at this point just with different names because contractual issues prevent them from calling it one program. For all intents and purposes though this is the last sale of Starpoints qua Starpoints.
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Will the program post 8-1 still have the 5K bonus for airline mileage transfers?
@Gary. Same question as DJ. Will the post 8-1 program have a 5 K bonus when transferring to Delta? Now it’s a 20K transfer, gets you 25K Delta SkyMIles. Will there be that 5K bonus (I assume using 60K Marriott points) — to get 25K Delta SkyMiles. Thanks.
You mentioned “Marriott Rewards Premier Plus Card is offering 100,000 points after $5000 spend within 3 months and has a $95 annual fee.” What do you think of R-C card for, among other benefits, [real] Gold status [which I’m led to believe will become Marriott platinum in the program after Aug 1 [not take a clubbing like Amex “SPG>Marriott gold.”]