We’ve seen fees increase late fees, over the limit fees for credit cards. But the SPG Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card has just increased their credit card annual fee from $30 to $45! This follows the increase in the fees for the Platinum Charge Card.

It appears to me that credit card issuers have changed their strategy from one of acquiring customers at any cost to one of “profitability”. This, I think, follows the trend we are seeing in balance transfer credit cards where issuers are slapping on their usual fees and in some cases, removing any maximum balance transfer fees.

However, in the case of the SPG card, I think that American Express will not lose many cardholders at all. Why do I say that? Here are some reasons why I think the Starwood Preferred Guest credit card is one of the best travel rewards credit card.

No Blackout Dates - The SPG program was the first that introduced the concept of no blackout dates. That means that as long they have a room, you can use your reward points to get a free night stay.

Requires less points for different categories - Frequent guest members of hotels will know that hotel and hotel rooms are classified differently depending on their status and whether they are two, three, four or five stars. There are seven categories - 1 to 7. The SPG program requires relatively fewer points for each category compared to other programs to get a free night stay.

Transfer points to airmiles plus 5,000 bonus miles for transferring 20,000 points - While most programs allow members to transfer points into airmiles, the SPG program allows you to transfer points to airmiles on a one point for one mile basis for most airlines. Furthermore, when you transfer 20,000 points into 20,000 airmiles, SPG will give you a bonus of 5,000 miles. That means that after earning 20,000 points, you can typically get a free airline ticket on most domestic airlines rather than having to earn 25,000 points.

More Freddie Awards - The Starwood Preferred Guest program has won more Freddie Awards progam than other programs.

Used by frequent travellers - Many American Express Platinum and Centurion Card holders also carry the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express , the card has a pretty good customer base. Frequent travellers who use the Centurion Card tend to also stay at Starwood Hotels.

Tip : Starwood busines card is a better deal - For those of you looking to get the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card, I would suggest getting the Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express instead. It has the same features, but the business card allows you to get discounts with OPENSAVINGs merchants like Fedex, Delta Airlines, Marriott Courtyard etc. (You do not actually need a business to get a business card. You will be treated as a sole proprietor).

As an incentive, new cardholders get a waiver for the first year annual fee.

I honestly think that Starwood will be unaffected by this annual fee increase. Do you have a SPG card? Any thoughts on this?

Related Post

Review of the SPG Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 11th, 2007 at 3:30 am and is filed under American Express Credit Cards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.