Starts at 10am EST Monday: purchase 10,000 Starwood points for $145

The Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program has long been a favorite with frequent travelers, and with good reason.

Starwood “Starpoints” can be transferred to your airline frequent flyer account on 34 different airlines, usually on a 1:1 basis.  Plus, when you transfer 20,000 Starpoints to your airline account, Starwood will automatically add 5,000 bonus points.  Partner airline programs include American, Asiana, British Airways, Continental, Delta, JAL, Mexicana, US Airways, and many more.

Starpoints can be accumulated via stays at Starwood properties (Sheraton, Meridien, W Hotels, Westin, St. Regis, Four Points) and via Starwood Credit Card purchases.  You can of course use your Starpoints for free stays at Starwood properties.

Beginning at 10am EST Monday May 3rd, Starwood is offering a promotion – in concert with AmEx’s “Discover Getaways” program – which allows anyone to purchase 10,000 points for $145, with a maximum of 50,000 Starpoints available to any purchaser.  Click on this link to see details.

Note that although the deal is positioned as an opportunity to stay at a Sheraton property, you can use the points in whatever manner you see fit.  20,000 points for $290, transferred to your favorite airline account will actually be 25,000 points with the bonus, good for a domestic round trip coach ticket with most programs!

By the way, an overnight stay at some of the less exotic Starwood properties can be had for  3000 or 4000 points; you can stay at more upscale properties through a combination of points and cash – often in the 3000 to 5000 point + ~$45 range.

No matter how you slice it, it’s a solid deal for SPG members!

NOTE:  you have to use an AmEx card for purchasing these Starpoints.

Traffic will likely be heavy Monday morning, as this deal has been well covered on FlyerTalk (see below).  Good luck!

Starwood Preferred Guest homepage

FlyerTalk thread on this promotion