Starwood was the hotel brand loved by point chasers. The company operated name brand hotels such as Westin, Sheraton, The W, and St. Regis, etc. until Marriott acquired Starwood. Amex co-branded the credit card with Starwood and it was called the SPG Amex. The SPG Amex was thought to be extinct but in Japan, Amex still issues the SPG Amex as of 2020. This is one of the most popular Amex cards in Japan.

Annual Fee:

The annual fee is 34,100 yen ($340). It is significantly cheaper than the US equivalent, the Bonvoy Brilliant card, which has a $450 annual fee. If you want to add a cardmember, it would be another 17,050 yen. I don’t think it is worth adding a cardmember to the account.

Sign up bonus:

The sign up bonus is 30,000 Bonvoy points after spending 100,000 ($1,000) within 3 months. If you use an affiliate link provided by an Amex member (friend or family), you can earn additional 6,000 pints.

On the other hand the Bonvoy Brilliant card will earn you 100,000 points after spending $5,000 within 3 months as of November 2020. Both bonus points and spending minimum are much higher for the US version.

Complimentary Gold status:

The card gives you a complimentary Gold Elite status.

Annual Free Night Reward:

Both the SPG Amex in Japan and the Bonvoy Briliant card in the US give you a free night award every year on your card anniversary. The free night award is capped at 50,000 points. You can easily offset the annual fee since most hotels in Category 6 and 7 in Japan cost above 35,000 yen.

Earning Rate:

The earning rates for the Japanese SPG Amex are:

• 6x points per 100 yen ($1) spent with Marriott
• 3x points per 100 yen ($1) on all other purchases

I am glad Amex decide to keep the same rate as the pre-merger SPG Amex earning rates. A Bonvoy point worth 1/3 of a pre-merger SPG point so earning 3x points on non-bonus spending is like earning 1x SPG point.

On the other hand, the U.S. version of the equivalent card, the Bonvoy Brilliant card, has the earning rate of 6x points per $1 spent with Marriott, 3x points per $1 spent at U.S. restaurants and flights, and 2x points per $1 on all other purchases. The Japanese version edges ahead of the U.S. version for non-bonus spending (all other purchases).

Other perks:

Airport lounge access (Japan domestic and Hawaii only)

The Japanese version of the SPG Amex does not give you a Priority Pass membership but instead, it gives you access to lounges in the airport in Japan. These lounges are either operated by the airport or credit card companies. Most of them are mediocre to the best. They are often too crowded since many credit cards in Japan give cardholders access to those lounges. I would not be too excited about going to these lounges.

Luggage Delivery

This perk is unique to the select Japanese Amex cards. Amex pays for your luggage delivery service from Narita, Nagoya, and Kansai airports when you arrive from an overseas trip. With this service, you don’t have to worry about taking the luggage on the train, which is painful. Usually, it costs around 2,500 to 4,000 yen to deliver luggage from an airport so if you travel outside of Japan often, the saving adds up.

Kyoto Amex Lounge access

This is the Amex lounge in Entoku-in temple in Gion in Kyoto. Not many people know about the lounge. It is a good place to sip green tea, view the garden, and relax. The SPG Amex card comes with 1-hour free parking at the Kotaiji parking lot and free access to the lounge.

Spending points:

There are many ways to spend the points but redeeming at a Marriott hotel and transferring to an Airline to make your points worth more.

Hotel Stays

One of the ways to redeem Bonvoy points is to get free hotel stays. Sometimes this can be very valuable. For example, the Fairfield Osaka Namba, a Category 4 hotel, usually costs 25,000 yen or more between spring to fall. Using the points you can stay at the hotel as low as 17,500 points when a point saver rate is available. This would make the point worth more than 100 yen per point.

Hotel Category	Off Peak	Standard	Peak
1	5,000	7,500	10,000
2	10,000	12,500	15,000
3	15,000	17,500	20,000
4	20,000	25,000	30,000
5	30,000	35,000	40,000
6	40,000	50,000	60,000
7	50,000	60,000	70,000
8	70,000	85,000	100,000

Transfer to airlines (3:1 ratio for most airlines)

This is what makes the Bonvoy points worth earning. The Marriott Bonvoy points can be transferred to 40 plus airlines. Every 3 points you transfer to airlines, it counts as 1 mile in most cases.

• 3,000 points = 1,000 miles
• 30,000 points = 10,000 miles
• 60,000 points = 25,000 miles (5,000 bonus miles)
• 90,000 points = 30,000 miles
• 120,000 points = 50,000 miles (10,000 bonus miles)

As you can see from the above, every 60,000 point you transfer, you will earn 5,000 bonus miles (25% bonus). You basically earn 1.25 miles per 100 yen spent, which is better than JAL, ANA credit cards and other Amex credit cards.

Conclusion:

I think this is a solid credit card to have if you reside in Japan. The annual free night bonus can easily offset the cost of the annual fee. The earning rate is excellent on this card and the perks are great. The only wish I have is that the card offers more sign up bonus.