Starwood Preferred Guest - Does the Luxury Collection "Welcome Package" rate count as an eligible stay/night?

I don't remember reading anything about this rate on FT and a search found nada....

I'm referring to the LC Welcome Package found here: http://www.starwoodhotels.com/worldwideleisure/home/default.jsp

You prepay in USD and receive vouchers... I've read everything on the site and can't find anything that mentions that Starwood points will NOT be earned - but of course I'd like to make sure of this before committing.

And yes, I have asked a phone rep and she said she "thinks so". :rolleyes: I will call back, and see what the next rep says but in the meantime:

Have any of you ever booked this?
Did you receive stay credit and points?
Also, did you have any problems with the vouchers and/or hotels?

And if Mr. Sanders has info that will definitively answer the questions, that would be fabulous too.

Thanks in advance.

You would get Starpoints and stay credit for booking this package with The Luxury Collection.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

A difinitive answer in 17 minutes no less!

Thank you very much - and again congrats on your 5 years with putting up with us! :)

I'm editing this to add a question.....

Being a FTer, I'd naturally like to get the current 500 pt booking bonus if possible.

The fine print of this package shows this (I've underlined and bolded the sentence I have a question about):

The Welcome program requires full payment 35 days prior to arrival. A booklet of vouchers will be provided. Each voucher is valid for one night's stay at any of the hotels. The vouchers can be used for consecutive and nonconsecutive stays. It is suggested that individual hotel reservations be made at time of purchase.

Mr. Sanders, are you also familiar with how this reservation needs to be booked? Is it possible that I make an online reservation that would be eligible for the 500 pts and then give the confirmation number to the LC desk so they can code it appropriately for the voucher rate? Is that possible?

A difinitive answer in 17 minutes no less!

Thank you very much - and again congrats on your 5 years with putting up with us! :)

I'm editing this to add a question.....

Being a FTer, I'd naturally like to get the current 500 pt booking bonus if possible.

The fine print of this package shows this (I've underlined and bolded the sentence I have a question about):

The Welcome program requires full payment 35 days prior to arrival. A booklet of vouchers will be provided. Each voucher is valid for one night's stay at any of the hotels. The vouchers can be used for consecutive and nonconsecutive stays. It is suggested that individual hotel reservations be made at time of purchase.

Mr. Sanders, are you also familiar with how this reservation needs to be booked? Is it possible that I make an online reservation that would be eligible for the 500 pts and then give the confirmation number to the LC desk so they can code it appropriately for the voucher rate? Is that possible?

It has to be booked over the phone. It says this on the web site:

Please contact The Luxury Collection at 1-800-325-3589 reserve the package.

Not sure if I understand this, but I'll take a blind stab at it.

You want to earn the 500 Starpoints web booking bonus, but you have to call The Luxury Collection directly and make this reservation over the phone, so you want to book the rooms online at the hotel(s) of your choice and then get a Luxury Collection associate to change the rate plan to a Welcome package hoping to still preserve the web booking bonus?

IMHO, no, this wouldn't work. For one, by calling us you really do the one thing that we were hoping to avoid in the first place - the cost of your having to deal with an associate. That can't be avoided if you want the Welcome package benefits, so I have to think there is something in place to prevent that from happening. You are certainly welcomed to try, however.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Thanks for your reply. Where I got confused - and hopeful to earn the 500 pts - was when I talked to the rep originally. She said it was a two-fold process - that she would first confirm that the Welcome Package was available for my dates and would then set things up for my purchase of the vouchers. Then secondly she said, as the website suggests, that I would then need to make reservations for the specific hotels. So for this second step I thought I could get lucky and be eligible for the points. Oh well.

And just continuing with exploring this package, interestingly, the LC rep said this package should ALWAYS be available if the hotel still has rooms. If true, that's fascinating to me that this plan wouldn't be effected by the usual Revenue Management fluxuations. (The rate quoted for the Italian hotels in low season $249, including tax and bkfst, beats the lowest SPG rate - the Holiday rate including one night free. And this is when the dollar is strong. If it gets comparatively weaker again to the euro, this deal in USD gets even better). Very cool.