Last updated on March 30th, 2013 at 09:27 pm
My wife and I are both fans of the Starwood Preferred Guest program and over the years have amassed a healthy balance between the two of us. The good news is that we can freely transfer points between our accounts, so long as we have the same address listed on our profile.
I needed to give her 1,500 points in order to meet the right balance for a cash and points redemption, so last Tuesday I began the process of figuring out the best way to make this transfer.
Fortunately, there was good resources available, like this article from Darius and a warning from the Points Guy about SPG cracking down on rogue transfers.
Both of these articles indicated that if you transfer between accounts, you should expect to see your Starpoints post within 3-5 business days. This was important, because we had exactly 5 business days to get the 1,500 points into my wife’s account before the room we wanted to book would be released. Since this was the last room available at that particular hotel property, we wanted to make sure this was done promptly to avoid losing the reservation.
I am grateful that Starwood provides the ability to transfer points between accounts without incurring any service charges. Few other points programs can make that claim.
My Experience With a Starwood Points Transfer Between Accounts
1) I logged into Spg.com and selected the option to Redeem/Transfer Starpoints
At the bottom of that screen, you will see the option to transfer to another member.
Note: you must have the same physical address listed on both accounts.
2) I noticed that even though we live in the same household, her account still had her listed at a former address
I updated her address to match mine, knowing that this would likely cause an issue for Starwood and require further documentation.
3) As expected, on the 3rd business day after I filed for the transfer of 1,500 points, I received a note from SPG asking for address clarification
SPG asked that I provide proof of the address change in the form of one of the following documents:
1. Drivers License
2. Utility Bill
3. Household bill (must have name and address listed)
4. Voter’s registration
Fortunately, my wife’s drivers license has been updated, so we just sent over a picture of the ID.
4) Have your transfer approved
Exactly 5 business days after the initial request, our transfer was approved! I received a nice email from the SPG team that indicated my request was approved and the transfer took place.
5) Book Your Award!
Within about an hour of receiving the email of approval, the account balance was updated to reflect the new starpoint balance.
Has anyone had a similar experience with their transfers with Starwood?
