Starwood Preferred Guest - long term stay question

I'm going to pay for one of my managers to stay in a Starwood property for three months.
Do I get starwood points?? will this count toward my platinium status ??? Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated...

If you reserve the room in your name with you SPG number and pay with your credit card it should work, especially if the property is willing to help bending the rules a little (which they normally do for good customers).Most times this has worked fine for me. This does not mean that your manager cannot get his name on the room also, just call the hotel and ask for that.
But you will run into the 30 day stay limit for SPG points. This latter issue, and ways to get around it, has been discussed extensively on other threads in the recent past. Take a look at that.
Whatever points and stays are credited will count towards elite level.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by AAEXP:

But you will run into the 30 day stay limit for SPG points. This latter issue, and ways to get around it, has been discussed extensively on other threads in the recent past. Take a look at that.

AAEXP , thank you for your reply...
I searched, searched and searched and cannot find any information on the 30 day stay limit in relation with SPG points... can anyone answer that question ??? Thank you in advance...

Couscous,
I am on my way out of the door on a business trip and cannot find it either (lack of patience I guess)but take a look at the membership rules either in the booklet you got from Starwood or on the SPG website. It is clearly written up there.
I guess one of the suggestions in the past was to have the guest check out for a couple of days and the come back on a new reservation...??

Just a stab in the dark here, but if you are paying for the manager and the hotel is cooperating,why couldn't you check out on the 30th day, have the manager check in for one night, and you check back in for the next 30 days and so on? If the hotel cooperates then the manager would never have to even switch rooms??? just a thought

couscous, Starpoints are not awarded for any portion of a stay in excess of 30 consecutive days. Also, the room must be registered in your name and you must personally settle all charges associated with them upon checkout in order to receive Starpoints and stay credit.

In other words, this isn't going to work unless you are also staying, then you can get credit for up to three rooms under the stipulations outlined above. It will also be necessary to check out for at least a day on the 30th day in order to get credit for that length of stay.

You can, of course, negotiate with the hotel directly for other terms, but these are according to the Terms and Conditions of the program.

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 02-04-2002).]

Couscous:
With all due respect to Starwood Lurker (and he DOES deserve such respect for his daily help and advice in this forum)I think he is overinterpreting the word "personally", at least in my practical experience. If you settle everything over the phone with the reservations agent at the hotel at the time of reservation and then send them a letter stating that you will be responsible for all charges for your colleague (including a photocopy of the credit card you want to use for authorization purposes) I am almost sure that it is going to work.

Call the hotel, and negotiate a special rate and all the circumstances of this stay with the revenue manager. I'm sure they will be happy to get your business and happy to accomadate you.

Thanks, AAEXP. You can never discount the generosity of the hotel in cases like this. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

But, I have to assume that it won't work... that it won't get credited by the hotel within seven days and that couscous will send in a hotel bill or credit card statement to Program Services seven days after the check-out date, which results in his being denied the Starpoints and stay credit for the reasons cited above. I would rather that he/she knows this possibility up front than speculating on something that is outside the Terms and Conditions of the program. By registered, I mean couscous is standing at the front desk checking in and putting the room in his name and his manager's name in the "guest" field. Everything else is pretty much self-explanatory. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Best regards,

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

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

I think we'd all be best served if the discussions here were related to how to gain points and status according to the rules. Not by pointing out how easy some of them are to bend.

Starwood Lurker:
Now I think you are overinterpreting the word REGISTER......:-)
Couscous:
Conclusion: To be safe talk to the hotel; I am sure they will accomodate you. If not,in a pleasant way, tell them you will take your business somewhere else if they are not willing to cooperate. That should help in these daays of meager room revenues! In the worst case scenario just get your manager a SPG number, so at least he gets the points (perhaps he can the be nice and give you an award or two....).Why leave them with Starwood?
LAOCA: Is this the first forum you see where there is a discussion not only of the formal rules but also their practical implementation???If so, I will be happy to show you many, many others. If you don't like what you see, you can always go to another forum.....Don't get offended on behalf of others that make practical use of this excellent site.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by couscous:
I'm going to pay for one of my managers to stay in a Starwood property for three months.
Do I get starwood points?? will this count toward my platinium status ??? Any comments or advice would be greatly appreciated...</font>

Depending on what property he's staying at - look at the possibilities for getting StarChoice points as well!

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum74/HTML/001634.html

LAOCA-

I can only speak for myself, but I was in no way talking about bending the rules. In fact the whole idea that the consumer can somehow "bend the rules" is kind of silly, IMO. The hotel controls the purse strings in terms of points and benefits, they control what you get and what you don't. If anyone has figured out a way to wrest this control away short of hacking into secure databases, that would be news to me.

What I was suggesting was an arm's length transaction with the terms noegotiated by both parties for the benefit of each party. If one party doesn't want to go along, they don't have to. How this is bending the rules in any fashion is beyond me.

[This message has been edited by BoSoxFan45 (edited 02-05-2002).]

Thank you all for your help...
LOACA please stop reading... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
I called the hotel and talked to the sales manager. She will allow me to get miles for my manager's stay.. a couple of interesting choices after 30 days though... I could check out for a day and check back in and get miles or I could stay and be refunded for the tax I paid for the first 3o days stay and have a tax-free stay. Being a mileage addict... I'm leaning towards paying the tax !!! I'm going to the hotel to finalize everything today... keep you posted.

Couscous:
Good to hear you managed everything "by the book". And good to get confirmed (as it has been my experience in the past)that Starwood is in fact customer oriented.
Keep us posted on the what happens next.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by couscous:
Thank you all for your help...
LOACA please stop reading... http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif
I called the hotel and talked to the sales manager. She will allow me to get miles for my manager's stay.. a couple of interesting choices after 30 days though... I could check out for a day and check back in and get miles or I could stay and be refunded for the tax I paid for the first 3o days stay and have a tax-free stay. Being a mileage addict... I'm leaning towards paying the tax !!! I'm going to the hotel to finalize everything today... keep you posted.</font>

couscous, taxes are not eligible for Starpoints earning.

Best regards,

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

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

My choice would be to find a way to get the taxes refunded and get the points. I do not understand why the hotel will not go for it.

We have had offers from Marriott properties of 10,000 pt bonus after our stay plus Marriott points and stay counting for status. Also they would refund the tax since we are staying over 30 days. They would just check us out on Friday and recheck us in on Sunday every month. So properties have flexibility when there is low occupancy.. better to have you get points, etc.. than leave it empty...

Good luck

Couscous: My statement and advise were against POSTING how to break rules by having an alter ego stay in a room to obtain points. I never even said I wouldn't do it (when my wife stays in a hotel it's always under my account), just that this forum wasn't the place to talk about it.

However, contacting the hotel to make a special arrangement is exactly what you should have done they'd obvioulsy be happy to do it for you. Congrats.

quick update, booked the room under my name with my manager's name as a guest. Booked and prepaid for 30 days renewable if necessary. Sales manager was really helpful. She actually asked me if I knew about flyertalk, as I was so interested in Miles and Starpoints !!!! She congratulated me in advance on becoming a platinium member in 30 days. All is well so far.. but I won't be fully comfortable until the points are posted on my account.
Booked 2 others rooms for others times and their ballroom for a 200 people meeting... You take care of me, I take care of you...

LAOCA:
Every time you try to explain your first post, you get yourself into more trouble. Please explain who was telling anyone to "break the rules"?????
Again, if you don't like a topic, just stay away from it. Your comments have added absolutely nothing positive to this discussion and I take offence to being told that I (and others)am/(are) "breaking" any rules by the advice given.