Just got an email this morning with details of the post August 01 SPG/Marriott merger and the changes dont look too good.
Here are some of the changes coming August 2018:
I. Change to the earn rate
Current Earn Rate:1 Starpoint®* for every dollar charged to your Card.
New Earn Rate:5 points for every dollar in eligible purchases charged to your Card at participating SPG and Marriott Rewards properties.
2 points for every dollar in purchases charged to your Card.
II. Free Weekend Night Award
The Free Weekend Night Award will be replaced with an Annual Free Night Award and will have no spend requirement. It will be redeemable any night of the week at eligible SPG and Marriott properties with a redemption value of up to 35,000 points and will be awarded automatically each year after your anniversary date. This seems to be the only good thing as the minimum spend to get the free night has gone away.
III. Elite Status
As an SPG Cardmember you will receive an automatic complimentary upgrade to Silver Elite Status. This will entitle you to priority late checkout where available, 10% bonus points on stays, and more. To earn Silver Elite Status through the program you would normally need to stay at least 10 nights a year. On top of that, you will be eligible for complimentary Gold Elite Status after spending $30,000 in eligible purchases on the Card each year.
So, to summarise, its truly a devaluation in my mind, as currently;
I can earn two SPG points per $1 for spend at SPG/Marriott properties which is 6 Marriott points per $1.
One can get Gold Elite status through Amex Platinum so the perk of Silver Elite with this card is useless.
The referral bonus on this card was recently changed to a paltry $25 statement credit instead of the 5000 SPG points earlier.
So, come Jul31, I will be cancelling this card as its not worth the $120 annual fee on this anymore – even for the free night as I can probably get a room for close to that amount anyways.
Looking forward to an enhanced version of an Amex co-branded SPG/Marriott – else the Amex Cobalt seems a better bet at the moment. Click on the hyperlink to read by previous post.