Update 5/21/18: It’s been a year since I originally published this Transfer Bonus series, so I've updated all three posts with transfer bonuses over the last 12 months.

*I am bumping this up to the top of the blog roll as I added a section towards the bottom of this post regarding a new benefit coming August 1 that could be a largely influential factor in whether or not you keep your SPG Amex Card open. Thanks to Reader Jon for reminding me.*

I hold both the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express and the Starwood Preferred Guest Business Credit Card from American Express.

Marriott recently announced a lot of big changes for the future of their combined loyalty programs. Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott, and Ritz-Carlton will merge into one program in August 2018.

Marriott bought SPG many months ago, creating not only the largest hotel portfolio in the world but also the fastest growing. August of this year marks the day the loyalty programs become one (i.e. using one point currency, award chart, elite qualifying system, etc).

In July of last year I published a post welcoming readers to share their American Express card referral links in the comments. Since many of the offers in the comments have expired, I decided to start fresh with a new thread in January.

I'm a big fan of Alaska miles, because of the free stopovers on one way awards and great mix of partners from multiple alliances.
Alaska Mileage Plan Basics
Before we get into potential redemptions and stopover destinations, let's go over some basics about the program.

Partners

Alaska has a varied array of oneworld, SkyTeam, and non-allied airline partners:

Here are the award charts for flying Alaska and its partners.

LATAM and Cathay Pacific award space cannot be found on alaskaair.com. Search with British Airways award search engine instead.

You can earn 1,000 Marriott Rewards for taking a few seconds out of your day to tweet the answer to an NFL trivia question tomorrow--Sunday, September 24. Well, maybe more than a few if you need to google the answer like I will as I know next to nothing about football.
How to Get the Free Points
Step 1: Connect your Twitter account to your Marriott Rewards account here.

Do you have an American Express credit card? If you do, are you aware that you may have the ability to share referral links with others that will earn you tons of bonus points?
Checking For Referrals
Signing in here will take you to a landing page that should show any/all offers available for you to refer.

However, that page will only give you the option to send a referral link through email. If you simply want the URL, then sign into your Amex account and scroll down below the statement balance, payment, and rewards boxes.

The latest card I applied (and was approved) for was the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express.

The last two credit cards I signed up for were the Barclaycard AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard and the Business Gold Rewards Card from American Express.

Through April 30, 2017, transfers from hotel partners to Etihad Guest will earn a 20% bonus.

Your best transfer options are probably between Starwood Preferred Guest and Etihad, or purchasing a Marriott Hotel + Air Travel Package that contains Etihad miles.

Normally, 20,000 SPG points = 25,000 Etihad miles (thanks to the everyday 5k bonus you get on transferring in increments of 20k), so with the current transfer bonus, 20,000 SPG points = 30,000 Etihad miles.
As One Mile at a Time pointed out, normally for Marriott Hotel + Air Package 2, you'd pay 270,000

The 35,000 point bonuses on the SPG personal and business cards end Wednesday (April 5, 2017.) This is the highest sign up bonus we’ve ever seen on the cards, tied with the same bonus that was offered last year at this time.

Credit card links have been removed from posts and added to the menu bar at the top of every page of MileValue under the heading Top Travel Credit Cards.

Meet the spending requirements on both the personal and business SPG cards, and you'll have 83,000 SPG points, which can be transferred to 249,000 Marriott points