This post will explain how a couple can get 10 nights for free at a top-tier hotel in Hawaii plus First Class roundtrip flights all for about $150 per person total.

Starwood Preferred Guest's Cash & Points redemptions are some of the best values in travel.

Update: Reading through comments here and on Twitter and Facebook, this promo is clearly targeted. About a quarter of us got the free night offer, a quarter are getting 2k or 4k points per stay, and half are getting nothing. Try your luck, and leave a comment, tweet, or facebook comment.

Reader Daniel tipped me off about an incredible Starwood Preferred Guest promotion called Bonus Beginnings.

The continuation of Tahsir's round-the-world first class trip report that started here.

During my trip around the world, I stumbled upon some cash + points availability at the brand new W Bangkok. This hotel opened a few weeks ago (December 7th) and it is absolutely beautiful. For 4,800 Points & $60, this hotel should be one of the better options in the heavily Starwood-saturated Bangkok.

We were picked up from the airport and taken to the W, which is kind of far from the main area of Bangkok.

Worst Award Ever?

As part of Starwood's end-of-year recap of the Starwood Preferred Guest program, some annual facts and figures are given. The one that blew me away?

Someone redeemed 870,000 SPG points for a pair of business class tickets from Los Angeles to Rome.

Before I tell you how to do the same for less than a fifth of the cost, there are several amazing things about this.

Normally marketers brag about how valuable their points are.

There are some great deals and tips kicking around the web that were already written up perfectly. I have added a few notes, and hopefully the aggregation will be useful.

1) Mile Nerd flags the opportunity to earn 15 American Airlines miles per dollar on donations during October--Breast Cancer Awareness Month--to Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

Donate through the link on this page. Full terms and conditions:

If you were already intending to donate, this is a great deal.

Starwood Hotels Offering 20% Discount on Starpoints Purchases

Per this thread on FlyerTalk, Starwood is offering a 20% discount on all Starpoint purchases through November 30th. Purchasing Starpoints normally costs 3.5 cents per point. With this promotion, you can buy Starpoints for 2.8 cents each.

To purchase, simply follow this link and input your Starwood Preferred Guest information along with your payment selection.

I see that Starpoints top your Mile Value Leaderboard.

How lucky are they?

For the wedding, I'm staying with some friends at the Westin Pittsburgh. There is something in the room that we hung on the door knob that declined housekeeping during the stay in exchange for a $5 coupon per day or 500 SPG points per day.

Since 500 SPG points are worth more than $10, I told my friend to take that option.

This offer has expired. Click here for the current Starwood Preferred Guest American Express offer.

The Starwood Preferred Guest American Express Card temporarily increased its sign up bonus from 25,000 SPG points to 30,000 SPG points after $5,000 in spending within six months of getting the card. Here are the stats:

Issuing Bank: American Express

Absolute Value of the Sign Up Bonus: $732+

Rebate Percentage of the Sign Up Bonus: 14.6%+

This card's sign up bonus is denominated in SPG points (Starpoints), the proprietary points of the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program.

Hey there, you're reading an outdated post! The updated series from April 2015 can be found here.

This is the second post in a monthlong series. Each post will take about two minutes to read and may include an action item that takes the reader another two minutes to complete.