Presenting... the "King of Cards", Starwood Preferred Guest - American Express

For the past five years, the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) American Express (AMEX) has ruled the wallets of travel hackers, knighted savvy spenders to elite status, and allied itself to hotels and airlines alike.

The SPG AMEX comes in two forms: personal and business. The current promotion is at 25k. About two or three times a year, the promotion is at 30k points. (See "Important Note" at the bottom of the post.)

But if its only a measly 25k, why have so many bloggers been calling it the king of cards for the past 5 years?

Why SPG is great:

• These points are transferable to 29 airlines including all of the major players such as United Airlines, American Airlines, Jet Blue, British Airways, Virgin Airlines, US Airways, Alaska, and many international carriers. 
• These points transfer usually 1:1. As a bonus, if you transfer 20k points at a time they add in a bonus 5k! Full list here for SPG airline transfers. 
• Hotel redemption: SPG is the umbrella of Sheraton, Westin, Aloft, W, Le Meridian and many more. You won't have any problems finding one in a major city around the world. Full list here: SPG hotels. 
• You get 1 point per dollar you spend. 5 points on Starwood properties.
• $65 annual fee waived for first year.

How the promotion works:

• 10k points after first purchase.
• 15k points after $5,000 spent in 6 months.
• You can apply to both personal and business to get up to 60k SPG points.

Biggest perk:
The main value of SPG is not the complete point redemption, but the cash and points option. This is where you split a redemption using both cash and points.

Example:
Moana Surf Rider Hotel on Waikiki, HI. You have three payment options:

1. $350 per night
2. 12k Starpoints per night
3. $90 + 4.8k points per night

Essentially you are getting a value of $0.05 a point which is an extreme value. Again, similar to award flights, cash and points option is not always available, but when it is, it's a bargain.

Keeping points in the form of SPG points allows you liquidity and flexibility of planning. Different airlines and alliances offer different flight and seat availability to specific regions in the world. SPG allows you to transfer the points to wherever you need, instead of having them all in one program and being stuck with their coverage and availability.

This card has been the king of travel credit cards for the past 5 years, and for good reason. As a accountant would say, you want your assets liquid. These points are probably the most liquid you can get.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Make sure you read the promo of the landing page. David and I discovered that the same URL can show different deals. If you come across a landing page that does not show 25k or more, go first to the main SPG site http://www.starwoodhotels.com/ and look for a 25k ad.