Need Aeroplan Points For A Redemption? The 62.5% SPG Bonus Option, Marriott Option, & AMEX One

This post is partially a review of what you may or may not already know from Steve's Deals or other sources.

AMEX offers instant transfers of points in Canada from AMEX to Aeroplan.  A gold or platinum rewards card (personal or business) offer Membership Rewards points that on the AMEX website, you can make the transfer from.

SPG offers normally offers 25K Aeroplan points (a 20% bonus) for every 20K Membership Reward (MR) points you transfer, but until December 11th, you can get a further bonus that is equivalent to 62.5%!  You'll have to wait until as last as the end of January to see the bonus points post.

If you transfer 20K SPG points to Aeroplan, you'll end up with 32.5K Aeroplan points!  To get this 62.5% bonus, you MUST transfer SPG points in 20K point increments; otherwise, you'll lose out on the 20% bonus for increments of 20K that SPG normally offers.

Currently, there are no good deals with ANY Aeroplan cards out there other than the CIBC Privilege Visa, offering 50K Aeroplan points, but you need to have a household income of at least $200K for that one--and if you lie and they ask for proof, you could be BLACKLISTED by Visa.  Not to mention the hefty $399 fee. You're better off getting an AMEX Platinum Business card through my referral, getting 75K MR points, which transfer to 75K Aeroplan, and write-off the $399 annual fee. The regular bonus with that card through their website is only 40K--not worth it.

With the AMEX Business Platinum, you can lounge access, 1.25 points per dollar on EVERY purchase, and SPG Gold status when you call them at 1-88-625-4990.  Gold status with SPG gets you Gold status with Marriott when you link your accounts.  That gets you free upgrades when you arrive at the hotel, and if you call a general manager of a hotel, and book the stay on points, you may get them to agree to upgrade you ahead of time; especially if you're staying at a long-term stay property such as a Residence Inn or TownePlace Suites which have full kitchens and up to 2 bedroom suites.

I'll write more about the card again soon, but for an old post on it, you can click here to read the post and apply for that card.

The Chase Canada Marriott Visa card is being phased out, as SPG's card is three times more valuable per dollar at the same annual fee as the Chase card. Currently, if you apply for the Marriott card, you won't even get a welcome bonus for it--only the free anniversary certificate, for a one night stay at a  category 1-5 hotel. It was only really worth getting for the welcome bonus and certificate, not for actual spending on the card.

Marriott does offer a Nights & Miles program, but you'll need 270K Marriott points or 90K SPG points (transferred over to Marriott) to take advantage of it.  It's a superb way to get a free one-week certificate to stay at a Marriott, category 1-5 property AND a bunch of airline points for several different airlines, of which in Canada, there's no easy way to get those airline points (example: Southwest, Jetblue, United) without flying them and paying cash. Ewww.  Click here for more about the Marriott/SPG Nights & Miles program.  And no--you cannot use the Miles & Nights program in conjunction with any other bonus offer.