Starwood is offering a 30% discount on purchase of Starpoints through July 1.

This is tied for the second biggest discount I’ve ever seen on Starwood Starpoints, which I believe is the most valuable currency (one point is worth more than one of any other point). The ‘regular’ discount that Starwood runs occasionally is 25%. Last month for the first time they ran 35% off for co-brand credit card holders.

You’ll be asked to validate your account though the offer appears open to all.

Once you’ve validated your account information you’ll see the discount which is valid on purchases of 5000 points or more, and will be available through July 1.

Oddly, though Starwood allows purchase of up to 30,000 points per year the purchase page only gives me an option up to 27,000. So to max out I’d presumably make a 25,000 point purchase and a 5000 point purchase. Here’s pricing for 27,000 – although any purchase of 5000 or more gets a per point price of 2.45 cents.

I often get 3-4 cents per point in hotel redemptions, so this will be useful to some people — because outside of high and low season pricing at higher redemption categories, pricing for hotel awards is fixed while rates for hotels are highly variable across the year. As long as there’s a standard room available redemptions are best when hotels are at their priciest.

W Doha

Al Maha Desert Resort

Most Starwood airline mileage transfer partners are at a 1:1 ratio, and they give you an additional 5000 miles when you transfer 20,000.

You can view buying 20,000 Starpoints as really buying 25,000 airline miles. The cost of 20,000 Starpoints under this offer is $490 (2.45 cents apiece) but when that gets you 25,000 miles you’ve purchased those 25,000 miles at — and then you are buying miles at 1.96 cents apiece.

That’s going to be too rich for most people, but if you need to top off for instance an Alaska Airlines account towards a good specific award then this can be a reasonable way to do it as it’s a lower price than Alaska usually sells miles for even when they’re running promotions. Another play is Japan Airlines miles, JAL’s Mileage Bank is one of my favorite programs for distance-based oneworld awards and for Emirates redemptions.

Virgin America transfers are interesting, buy 30,000 Starpoints and transfer to 35,000 Virgin America Elevate points which is enough for one-way Virgin Atlantic Upper Class one-way between the East Coast and London (plus fuel surcharges).

Korean Air is an amazing option for first class redemptions, Europe business class redemptions, and Hawaii redemptions.

Korean Air First Class

And Aegean, a new transfer partner arguably has the single best Star Alliance award chart.

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 Berlin		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 America Elevate		1:1
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club		1:1

Points.com processes these transactions, so buying Starpoints does not earn a bonus as hotel or Starwood spend with various credit cards. (Update: Reportedly it does earn double points via the Starwood credit card.)

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