Starwood Preferred Guest - targeted survey

Received a survey from Starwood this morning.

It simply stated, "You've been selected to help us make Starwood Preferred Guest(R) even better!" I'm Platinum.

My friend, also Platinum, but without as many points as I have, received the same survey. His said, "You've been selected to earn 250 Bonus Starpoints(R)! "

We both got the same survey, but he got 250 points. What's up with that? One could look at it as though it's only 250 points, but is it worth Starwood ticking off a very active member for "just" 250 points.

ALoha

Same thing happened to me today! I got the survey with no bonus points, my co-worker got the 250. Yeah, it's only 250, but then why not give it to everyone you send the survey to? Probably just running a test to see if they get more feedback if the 250 is offered. You would think they'd know by now we all 'talk' and would find this out!!

I also got the no bonus point version of the survey, but did it anyway as I like to give my input. It was a very well designed survey. I like when they are concise and sensible like that, and where all the questions are on 1 page so you can see how long it will take, as opposed to some of these surveys that straggle on page after page.

I got it with the 250 offer. I am lowest tier elite. I like filling out surveys (if I think management will listen) and this one was concise and quick. A nice way to pick up 250 SPG points. Thanks Starwood!

I think the poster above who said that perhaps Starwood is testing to see if they get back a greater percentage from those offered points is correct.

I got the bonus offer... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Got the 250 version too. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

No survey, no points, the last time I got Starwood correspondence was when my Plat card arrived. I often read about people receiving various things in the mail, ie the " Stay @ W 3 times for 1,000, 2,000, 3,000 ect" and never hear about it myself. If I wasn't a member of Flyer talk I would never know. I only have 30 stays this year with them.........

Gold here and got the 250 point survey. Took me all of 2 minutes to complete. Nice http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

No survey, no 250 points. Is there a pattern that all recipients are based in the US? (I have 104 nights and 29 stays with Starwood so far this year).

Always like to give my opinions too, and in Starwood's case I really believe they do listen... For all of you who got the survey - vote for higher earnings% for Platinums and more worldwide promos! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Received the survey with the 250 SPG points offer (I'm Gold). This is the first incentive of any kind sent to me by Starwood.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PhoebeSnow:
Received the survey with the 250 SPG points offer (I'm Gold). This is the first incentive of any kind sent to me by Starwood.</font>

Survey yes, points no. US-based and Corp Preferred.

USA gold. Got 250 points. Maybe it has to do with how many points one has in one's account.

My survey questioned "stays" No questions about "days" for 2001 & 2002.

I have scheduled 51 days in 7 stays for 2002 in Starwood hotels.

I don't understand why Starwood is not very interested in days, and so pre-occupied with stays. Sorta seems like the companies that are interested in number of orders instead of total dollars of orders.

I'm Platinum with lots of points, No Survey--No Bonus http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

I got the survey with the 250 points on Dec 04. I'm Plt.

Got the survey yesterday but without any bonus points offer. I'm SPG Gold.

Since everyone is weighing in (and to see if there is a discernable pattern)...

I'm Platinum, and actually got the 250 point offer (don't see it on my account yet).

40 stays this year in over 70 nights.

Also got the survey with no bonus points. I am plat. and actually received more point opportunities as a Gold. Go figure

Take care

Got the survey- with the bonus pts via email.

Plat for 3 years.

2001-- 40+ Stays, 80+ nights, aprox 20 different properties

I too received the survey yesterday. I was glad to see that Starwood was interested! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Just tied up Platinum Concierge for a few minutes. Rep was very nice. Then was transferred to "Internet Support". The woman there, again, very nice, understood my point, but couldn't explain why some got the survey, with points, and some got it without.

SHe's crediting me 250 points.

I can't understand why Starwood would rather we tie up their lines like this, rather than being fair in the first place.

aloha

I got the e-mail survey yesterday as Plat..
No points offered. Therefore I did not
complete it. Looks almost like an
investment banking type questionaire for my
trained eye. They also want that thing back
quick.

Another super-plus to Starwood Customer Service. As Gold I received the request to do the survey but no offer of points. I sent an email this morning to customer service, asking why some people were offered the points and others were not. I received the following response within 1 hour -

"Thank you for your recent message to Starwood Preferred Guest. We welcome this opporunity to assist you.

Please allow three to five business days for these Starpoints to be credited to your Starwood Preferred Guest account. We were having some problems with this survey but all guests were offered 250 Starpoints for completing the survey.

Thank you for your interest in Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. Please contact us if you require any further assistance.

Best regards,

Charlene Healy
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide"

No survey, hence no points. I am Platinum with 42 stays and 140 nights. Guess I'm just not qualified to give my opinion. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

(Edited for typo.)

[This message has been edited by bassque (edited 12-05-2001).]

Gold here. Received survey but no offer of points. I was happy to fill it out though, because it was so short.

It would be nice to find out that it was indeed a mistake and everybody will be getting the points!

I received the 250 pt offer. My wife, who has a 11 numeric digit starwood number, tried to modify the URL to take the survey - but was unsuccessful as the site did not take the URL.

The trick - as mentioned last year when the 250 point survey was also offered was to use the URL: http://www.esurvey.com/starwood/dec2001/survey.rti?XXXXXX

where XXXXXX is your Starwood number (numeric portion only).

Has anyone with an 11 digit Starwood number been able to take this survey?

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PG:
Has anyone with an 11 digit Starwood number been able to take this survey?</font>

Yes, PG, I have.

There was no mention of bonus points for taking the survey, however. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif

Thank you for the link, PG.

I have an 11 digit number (sort of a pain in the neck to give each time I need to use it) and got the survey, but no points.
Plat--20 stays, 30 nights

Got the survey with the 250 point promo-- the link didn't work, so latter today got an additional email from SPG asking me to complete the survey. But now the offer was 500 points because "inconvenience" of the earlier email link that didn't work. How’da like them apples???

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Posted by Dudemon:
I got the survey with the 250 points on Dec 04. I'm Plt.</font>

PG, my SPG number is 11 digits.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by PG:
Has anyone with an 11 digit Starwood number been able to take this survey?</font>

Just tried the URL you gave above with my SPG#, and got:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Invalid Survey ID.

We're sorry, but the Survey ID is not valid. The email message you received included a link to a specific web address containing a survey ID number which enables us to provide a link to a specific web address containing a survey ID number which enables us to provide you this survey. </font>

Just tried and got the same message aswell. They have developed a way to foil us flyertalkers..........

Plat - Survey - No points offered. Complained and this is the message I got back:

"Please note that the recipients of the survey you reference were chosen on a
random basis and the Starpoint incentives offered varied in order to test
the response rate. I regret that you are unhappy with this survey. I will
post 500 Starpoints to your account as a gesture of goodwill to you. Please
allow 3-5 business days for the bonus Starpoints to post to your account."

I received and completed the survey. No points were offered.

Completed the survey, no points. Not going to bother to complain about 250 points, and don’t feel that SW is obligated to give the same freebies to everyone. Of course, my morals are fuzzy, and for 5,000 non-given points I’d feel persecuted.

[This message has been edited by Jailer (edited 12-06-2001).]

Well, I'm with Jailer on this one. I did get the survey yesterday, it took about 3 minutes to fill out. No points offered, and I'm not going to call and ask for them--I do have lots of points already and don't really use them--so 250 one way or the other doesn't matter.

Received the survey yesterday and did not get any points offered. It was very short and I was happy to fill it out for them. The lack of points doesn't really bother me since it wouldn't make a noticeable difference in my current total.

Gold. Got the survey. No points offered (though I wouldn't turn them down). Did the survey anyway.

I do wonder why they talked only about "stays" and not "days".

Am Platinum since the program started.
Got the survey. No points offered.
Filled it out. Not whining.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bostom:
No points offered........Not whining.</font>

Good boy.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Bostom:

Filled it out. Not whining.</font>

Didn't receive survey... not whining.

Why haven't the points posted?

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

Survey - but no points. Of course, I responded anyway. Love the Free Fridays.

I'm Gold with an 11-digit # & I got the no-points version http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/frown.gif. I answered it.

------------------
Brendan

[This message has been edited by Brendan (edited 12-11-2001).]

Gold, 11 digit Starwood number. Tried PG's URL and got this message:

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">We're sorry, but we have stopped recording responses for this survey. This survey was conducted by MessageMedia on behalf of Starwood.</font>

I understand why Starwood doesn't give a **** what I think anyway, I'm a cheap Priceliner for the most part this year http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I'm Gold - got the survey with no points offered. Answered the survey anyway.

250 points just posted!

CS said everyone who answered the survey would get the points. The reason different people got different emails was to determine how people's willingness to respond depended on whether the points were offered.

I'm gold, got the survey but wasn't offered points. I filled it out anyway but no points have posted to my account.

I'm Gold with an 11-digit # and I got the points version.

Thank U, JerryFF!
SPG's logic is flawless! They have tested us to see how many of us answer surveys out of courtesy rather than lust for points! I bet that those of us who answered the non-points email will get MORE surveys & points, as our opinions are more heartfelt! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

------------------
Brendan

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by JerryFF:
CS said everyone who answered the survey would get the points. The reason different people got different emails was to determine how people's willingness to respond depended on whether the points were offered. </font>

Actually JerryFF, you were granted a personal exception. Everyone will not be receiving 250 Starpoints for filling out the survey unless they received the email offering them or were granted an exception.

Now, before my Inbox begins filling up, let me say now that I am not granting these exceptions, nor am I guaranteeing that any will be given. You may inquire through other channels, however.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Specialist, E-Communications Department
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com



[This message has been edited by Starwood Lurker (edited 12-12-2001).]

Starwood Lurker -

Thanks for the clarification. I was only passing along the comment from Charlene Healy in her email to me (that I posted above) that "We were having some problems with this survey but all guests were offered 250 Starpoints for completing the survey."

I guess I misunderstood what she meant by the above statement.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Brendan:
Thank U, JerryFF!
I bet that those of us who answered the non-points email will get MORE surveys & points, as our opinions are more heartfelt! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
</font>

I don't know about that, Brendan. I gave the exact same answers I would have with or with out points. I would have filled it out either way. But, I am one who is always happy to do a survey for a program I care about. Heck, I usually take the surveys from the guest rooms and fill them out on my flight home and mail them in.

BTW, I always try to point out all the good before suggesting improvements.

Happiest of Holidays to all here!

Paradocs, that's exactly my point!
Starwood values answers from those like you who answer sincerely, POINTS OR NO, more than from those who answer JUST FOR THE POINTS!

Happy to report that my 250 survey points posted!!

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Lulu:

Happy to report that my 250 survey points posted!!</font>

---

Me too! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

12/20/2001 SPG EMAIL SURVEY - 250 BONUS +250

Thank you again, Starwood! http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by Starwood Lurker:

Now, before my Inbox begins filling up, let me say now that I am not granting these exceptions, nor am I guaranteeing that any will be given.</font>

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/biggrin.gif

FlyerTalkers - can't live with them, and can't live without them.

I did not get any version of the survey, and don't worry William - I am not going to email you complaining about it http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Happy holidays!

Goldlust



[This message has been edited by Goldlust (edited 12-23-2001).]

This is a true story (sorry to upset you mere 250 pointers..I'd put a happy face here but don't know how)...the original email myself and a co-worker received (both active plat's) did show 250 points for filling out the survey however, the link was broken. I then blew off filling out the survey but the next day received another email from Starwood apologizing that some links did not work and offering the 25o points plus an additional 250 points for filling out the survey. I just checked my account a few minutes ago and yes 500 points did credit!!!