Starwood Preferred Guest - Starwood Privilege Offer - Australia

Received a call and follow up fax from Starwood Priviliges today offering a package which includes:

- 20 x Complimentary Meals (50% discount for 2 diners, or 20% for one)

- 5 x 50% Accomodation Certificates (off full regular room rate)

- 3 vouchers for A$175 night weekend stay at Westin or Sheraton

Plus a number of other minor benefits.

Cost is A$235.

Has anyone had experience with such offers and may be able to shed some light on the program, especially relating to the Australian properties.

I have subscribed to the membership for 3 years in Kuala Lumpur. I believe the package is quite similar in most countries in Asia Pacific except for the "local" room discount vouchers.

Basically you are entitled to dine 20 times at a discount (a "scratch" would be marked at the back of the membership card each time you use it). It could be used throughout Asia Pacific (most but not all Starwood hotels) and in some countries the dining privilege is "scratch-free" meaning unlimited use.

The room discount vouchers varies from countries to countries,and I have found the 50% vouchers not to be of much use since most promotional rates offer more than 50% off the rack rate.

The package for year 2004 in Kuala Lumpur includes a voucher for 1 free night in a KUL Starwood hotel, 5 vouchers with 75% discount at any Starwood hotels in Malaysia, and several vouchers with 50% discount at any participating Starwood hotel in Asia Pacific.

The membership rate is RM548.

Some MEL biz. colleagues of mine who are in SYD at Sheraton each week or two love this deal.

They have found out the Seafood Buffet at SOP accepts these "twofer" coupons. The Buffet is superb but runs $40-$50 IIRC. At only $A20 it is of course a SUPERB deal. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif

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~ Glen ~ sipping bubbly from a UA 747-400 exit row 15 near you SOON!

Ah, the Platinum Privilege team got to you. They are based out of BNE Sheraton (as far as I know). I had this for a couple of years back in the 90's, dining was excellent (and I didn't even stay with them back them).

Used to be meals were 50% off "meal only" - no discount for bevereges. 33% off for 3, 25% for 4; one card per table IIRC.

My tastes changes and I cancelled. They still ring me faithfully every year and try to get me back into it. It only takes 2 or 3 meals plus 1 cheaper stay to get your "value" from the card. What it does give Sheraton is your patronage/revenue that they weren't probably getting before.

Most cases it's a win/win; but I don't know whether the stays are valid towards status - I stand to be corrected, of course http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by under the clocks:
Received a call and follow up fax from Starwood Priviliges today offering a package which includes:

- 20 x Complimentary Meals (50% discount for 2 diners, or 20% for one)

- 5 x 50% Accomodation Certificates (off full regular room rate)

- 3 vouchers for A$175 night weekend stay at Westin or Sheraton

Plus a number of other minor benefits.

Cost is A$235.

Has anyone had experience with such offers and may be able to shed some light on the program, especially relating to the Australian properties.

</font>


Hi, under the clocks, I've been a member for two years now and was just about to renew my membership again this year. Therefore, I also inquired about the current bennefits and was told some deals in addtion to the ones you already mentioned. You'll also get two 60% off coupons for hotels withing Australia/NZ which are pretty much the only ones I used from my package last year as the 50% off as discussed above are pretty much useless (quite good for the W Sydney and the Westin Sydney, however!).

The $175 deal is only good at the Westin/Sheraton in Melbourne, in addition you can stay for $99 at the 4P in Geelong and for $205 at Sheraton Sydney on a Fri, Sat, Sun and public holiday which is also quite a good deal.

As mentioned before, you'll get the 20 dining scratches which do have a great value if you use them for x-course dinners and buffet dinners.

Don't forget that you also get a newsletter every few months with some special offers for members. Most of the offers will save you about $10 or $20 and usually you get a free breakfast as well. In addition, you get the information on which hotel offers scratch free dining in Asia/Pacific.

If you are interested in joining, I would be more than happy to refer you to *Wood Privilege. They usually give out small goodies for the person who made the referral (it used to be a voucher for a bottle of wine next time you're dining in a hotel restaurant...I wouldn't mind that http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/wink.gif ). Drop me an e-mail at smart1999@gmx.de if you like...

Thanks Sydfly. Unfortunately I had already purchased the package prior to reading your post. May be interested in swapping Melbourne vouchers which I have received for your Sydney coupons if you are interested.