Limited Time: 50k AA Card Offer Plus Expiring SPG Cards’ Offer Means Round-the-World Business Class Award

Update: American Airlines got rid of its RTW awards, so the best way to book RTW awards now is elucidated here.

Key Links:

Citi® / AAdvantage® Platinum Select® MasterCard®
Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express
Starwood Preferred Guest® Business Credit Card from American Express
Explorer Award chart (eliminated April 2014)
Explorer Awards: The Rules (eliminated April 2014)

Combined, the cards offer enough American Airlines miles for a round-the-world business class award with up to 15 stopovers.

You could take this trip in business

A Chance to “Buy” Starpoints for 1.1 Cents: Starwood Cash & Points Awards

The 25,000 Starpoint bonus for opening the Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express and spending $5k on the card in the first six months is one of my absolute favorite bonus offers.

How to Get 10 Nights in Hawaii and First Class Flights for Free

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 Cash & Points Strategy

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

Incredible Starwood Preferred Guest Promotion: One Paid Night = One Free Night

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 Amazing Race: The Brand New W Bangkok

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.

The Million Mile Award

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.

Free Giveaway, 15 AA Miles per Dollar for Breast Cancer Donation, Always Get Southwest Group A

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.

Forum Buzz: Evaluating the Buy Miles Promotions from Starwood and United

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.

I Assume the Bride and Groom Aren’t Reading on their Wedding Day

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.