You may be wondering why people reading an eco-tourism blog care about luxury hotel chain mergers?  In this case, it’s not about the hotels or the elite status.  It’s concern over what will happen to the highly valuable transfer to airline miles with the 5k bonus if you transfer 20k SPG that has me worried.

The deal is expected to close in mid-2016, the companies said.

Forewarned is forearmed.  Full story here.  Worst case scenario is that the SPG program goes away and is absorbed into Marriott Rewards and we lose the transfer option – at those rates anyway.

We have time so no need to rush into anything but if you have been counting on SPG to get the miles you need for a specific trip you may have to prioritize those miles.  I know just this year I had to use the SPG option to top up LAN for a one-off redemption to the Galapagos.

For Aussies (unless you are a dual citizen and can get USA credit cards), if SPG goes away, so does our chance to get miles in AAdvantage, British Airways and Flying Blue.  That’s just from my list of Top 8 Airline Miles programs.