acelite

I joined SPG as a Gold member in 1997. I reached and maintained Platinum since about 2002.

I was downgraded to SPG Gold this year for the first time. I have to admit is was hard to take.

As an SPG Platinum member for about 10 years, I was sorry to cut my association with SPG. But when I was downgraded to Gold from Platinum last year (20 stays instead of 25), it was clear there was little to no value to keeping SPG Gold membership. SPG Platinum is a great product and if I had requalified I would have stayed with SPG. So I leveraged my Platinum status with another chain and got VIP Gold Status from Hilton. Impossible to compare. Instead of an “enhanced room” (a standard that you can drive a hotel laundry truck through), Gold VIP offers a room upgrade, including executive floor, free breakfast if not upgraded to exec. floor and free internet. There is no comparison. I have subsequently cancelled most of my SPG reservations.

I note that SPG did not offer their two-for-one qualifying nights in fall 2010 as they usually do. I certainly would have requalified had that been the case. That was my first indication that they were “culling the herd”.

Hilton`s VIP Gold is achieved after 16 stays. Since I had 20 stays with SPG, it is easily within the realm of the achievable for this year.

I know SPG has many customers and won`t mourn the loss of one. But I have been a pretty loyal customer and so I do want to say a final goodbye to SPG! It's been a great 10+ years!