Starwood Preferred Guest - Any experiences with "Quest"?

My company's travel dept. has selected me as a beta tester of the "Quest Hotel Program" which apparently entitles, for an up-front annual fee, 50% off published rack rates. I ran a few dummy searches on the site and my common *Wood properties seem to populate the results, no problem.

My quesiton is, is there any downside to doing this as far as SPG points, recognition, and benefits? Some hotels have you book directly through the hotel, others through the membership directory.

Interested to hear experiences or thoughts on this. Thanks.

(foif you're bored, questhoteldirectory.com)

My quesiton is, is there any downside to doing this as far as SPG points, recognition, and benefits? Some hotels have you book directly through the hotel, others through the membership directory.

IMO the quest program is a membership club, like the Entertainment book program, where the properties offer a 50% Off rack rate on a limited number of rooms. As long as the payment for the room is made to the hotel directly and not pre-paid to questhoteldirectory.com you would earn Starpoint credit just as you would for any other discount rate program such as AAA, AARP, etc.

Warmest regards,

Valerie Saunders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Thanks Lurkerette.

Or, in Seinfeld speak, Bizarro Lurker. :D