A short while ago, I asked how people have so many SPG points. When AMEX was in full swing, you could at maximum get 60-70K a year from the 2 CC's signup bonuses. Nowadays, you can at maximum get 30-35K for the consumer once and then another 30-35K for the biz every year. That's maybe 1-2 free nights a year - not at their top hotels.
Someone suggested MS on the cards - if you don't have a threshold to hit on a different card, why not spend your MS on this card? A few thousand dollars for free from AP maybe, but I assume that really meant MS from GC's. Here's my problem:
I just added it up. Even if you're one of the lucky few to find GC's for $3 a pop, that's $6 for every $1000 of MS - 1000 SPG points. The top SPG hotels start at 40K/night. That means $6 x 40 = $240 and for most of everyone here who pays $6/GC, that's $12 x 40 = $480 for 40,000 points to stay just one night at a fancy SPG hotel. To take an example, the Hotel Danieli in Venice costs $490/night next week.
How could MS possibly make sense here???