Buy Starwood Points at 20% off Nov 10-Dec 31

Starwood points may be purchased for $14.00 per 500 points ($28/1,000 points) up to the 20,000 points calendar year limit from November 10 to December 31, 2009. This is a 20% discount on the regular purchase price for Starpoints at $35 per 1,000 points. The sale price is not yet posted on the SPG website. Starwood Lurker made a pre-sale announcement last Friday on FlyerTalk. Tuesday, November 10, the price will be reduced for purchases made through the link shown below.

www.spg.com/starpointpurchase

Some reasons why you might consider purchasing Starpoints are if you need additional points for:

Cash & Points night,

5^th night free award,  

Nights and Flights award  which includes 50,000 airline miles and 5 nights at a Category 3 hotel (60,000 points) or 5 nights at a Category 4 hotel (70,000 points). This is basically a way to get a 5-night Category 3 hotel stay for 20,000 points or Category 4 hotel stay for just 30,000 points in combination with the 40,000 starpoints exchanged into 50,000 airline miles.  

Starpoints exchange 1-to-1 with most SPG airline partners. Members receive a 5,000 points transfer bonus when exchanging a 20,000 mile block of Starpoints to a frequent flyer program.

20,000 Starpoints can be exchanged into 25,000 airline miles with about 20 frequent flyer programs.

Continental, United, and Singapore have a poor exchange rate at 20,000 Starpoints = 12,500 miles.

Buying 25,000 miles for $560 is probably not a good deal for economy class domestic travel, but this is likely a lower cost route to miles than a purchase through most airline programs if you plan to top off a frequent flyer account and redeem miles for a premium award airline ticket or upgrade to business or first class.

SPG members with accounts registered at the same address can transfer Starpoints between accounts to combine points for awards. This is one way around the 20,000 points calendar year limit if you have multiple SPG accounts in one household.

Last week I posted tables for excellent SPG hotel award value. The tables were based on the purchase price of $35 per 1,000 points needed for Cash & Points awards, free night awards, and 5^th night free awards. These awards are even a better bargain at lower room rates than shown in the tables with the 20% discount SPG points purchase option for the member needing more Starpoints to buy a great hotel stay value.