Starwood Preferred Guest - Vegas + Starwood

What is the best Starwood property to stay at in Vegas & still earn starwood points?

You only have one choice, Caesars

do you get starwood points for staying at Ceasars? Do they recognize platinum level status and grant space available upgrades?

You do get points but they do not have to recognize status. Several people here have reported getting upgraded to the tower rooms and some have even gotten petite suites but they are not required to do either. Most have said that they have the best luck being upgraded when they check in at the park Place counter at the airport down by baggage claim.

In my opinion, Las Vegas is the one city where hotel loyalty programs should not weigh into your decision as to where to stay. There as so many fine properties in Las Vegas, and most of them have no affiliation with a hotel program. Moreover, there are substantial differences in which property is best for any given person, such that considerations other than loyalty program far outweigh any benefit you'd get from elite status or earning points.

Although I usually take the hotel chain into consideration anywhere else, I would never do so in Las Vegas. Just my opinion.

SteveM,

I understand your point that Vegas may be a city where status and lolyalty programs should not be a consideration (don't agree with it entirely - here's why)....but I maintain that *because* the majors have done such a poor job of 1) affiliating with a major casino, then 2) marketing that affiliation so we all know it, then 3) ensuring the experience matched the status and the treatment was MANDATORY and CONSISTENT with that found in other non-casino cities....then the only conclusion left is....as you stated...."status and loyalty programs should not be a consideration."

The reality is, though, if STARWOOD, or HILTON HHONORS...ever got their act together, and established a solid affinity affiliation with any of the given majors....ie fixed problems #1,2, and 3 above, then believe me - I would indeed target the affinity hotel/casino first.

Having stayed at Flamingo as a HHONORS GOLD a few years ago (little to no value being a GOLD)...and then last fall with Caesars (STARWOOD GOLD, little to no value or recognition), I do not feel there is a tangible link to the affinity program and the given casino. In effect, *wood and HHONORS have dumbed down the Vegas connection, and have trained us to not expect much more than mere points. Benefits become more like a hotel management's after-thought...hotel says "yeah, we're part of that *x* affinity program...but we only have to adhere to the parts we find convenient, so don't expect no free upgrades and no free breakfast coupons".

No doubt - the casinos advertise said affiliation(s) to the max, and enjoy booking/reservation benefits from their affiliation.. but, with the blessing of HHONOS and *Wood, .then do a miserable job of making the benefit tangible. At least my personal experience.

That Starwood allows such a hybrid, loosely-defined, inconsistent policy is a disapointment to me - either make them live up to the ENTIRE responsibility if they choose to play into the *Wood affiliation (or HHONORS, or whomever), or dump them in my thought. It should not stand they they can claim 'but we're a casino and don't have to do those things" and not get penalized from the hotel affinity prople.

Same goes for Hilton/HHONORS and Flamingo...and are there any others ?

FWIW - I purposefully discount the Hilton/Convention Ctr from this group, because, IMO, one stays there more because of its proximity to the convention ctr than because it's any great casino (its not).

[This message has been edited by ILUVCITIBANK (edited 03-18-2002).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by ILUVCITIBANK:
I do not feel there is a tangible link to the affinity program and the given casino. In effect, *wood and HHONORS have dumbed down the Vegas connection, and have trained us to not expect much more than mere points. Benefits become more like a hotel management's after-thought...hotel says "yeah, we're part of that *x* affinity program...but we only have to adhere to the parts we find convenient, so don't expect no free upgrades and no free breakfast coupons".

No doubt - the casinos advertise said affiliation(s) to the max, and enjoy booking/reservation benefits from their affiliation.. but, with the blessing of HHONOS and *Wood, .then do a miserable job of making the benefit tangible. At least my personal experience.

That Starwood allows such a hybrid, loosely-defined, inconsistent policy is a disapointment to me - either make them live up to the ENTIRE responsibility if they choose to play into the *Wood affiliation (or HHONORS, or whomever), or dump them in my thought. It should not stand they they can claim 'but we're a casino and don't have to do those things" and not get penalized from the hotel affinity prople.
</font>

If you travel across a broad swath of SPG properties, you'll find a fair number that also don't give elite benefits, without the fair warning that Caeser's gives.

The REGULAR terms and conditions are so loosey-goosey that it allows the hotel to essentially determine what they will do.

With Caeser's at least the hotel is not hiding the ball. It would be nice if all non-compliant hotels did this.

I would rather suggest that we try to fix the non-compliancy of any participating hotels - one at a time, if necessary - rather than to have them publish up front that they don't comply. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

What ever happened to the web site that someone was going to erect that would allow Starwood Preferred Guest members to report non-compliance as far as upgrades are confirmed? We are anxious to support such a grass roots membership initiative like this with action on our part.

Until this is done, you always have me as a sounding board. I promise, as always, to report any violations of the terms and conditions to the hotel coordinators for their review and follow-up.

Best regards,

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

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