Starwood Preferred Guest - Why isn't there Cat. 5 Cash & Points?

With so many hotels moving up a category, I wonder if Starwood has considered offering Cash & Points above the Category 4 level. For many of us (including me), C&P is our favorite award because it lets us stretch our points out over more stays. But when a hotel goes Category 5, its automatically drops out of C&P -- making it far less desirable or attainable, as most of us would have to burn a good percentage of our point balance for a multi-night stay.

Since C&P is capacity controlled (in addition to seasonal restrictions), logic would suggest that at least some Cat. 5 and above properties would want to participate if given the chance. At the same time, encouraging such participation would mollify the angry hordes of SPG members who have now seen their redemption options severely limited.

What say you William? :)

I second this suggestion for a Cat 5 C&P. Since it is voluntary and capacity controlled...why not give such a program a chance? :D

I wouldn't be surprised to see Cat 5 Cash & Points coming, whether it happens with the new round in the coming weeks or not we'll just have to wait and see.

Yeah but are you willing to pay $100 and 10k points to stay at cat 5
(which is what I expect it to cost :) )

mike

Hi,

I booked an spg 50 (with points) at a cat 5 hotel...the Westin St. John...booked it before the changes though. Don't remember if it was a cat 4 before...

Hi,

I booked an spg 50 (with points) at a cat 5 hotel...the Westin St. John...booked it before the changes though. Don't remember if it was a cat 4 before...

Are you sure that you used at SPG50 on points stay???:confused:

If so I would you are probably singularly successful in that regard:)

mike

Yes, I am absolutely positive...We are staying 7 nights and I had to use two SPG 50 with a 1000 points each...seemed worth it to me....

Yes, I am absolutely positive...We are staying 7 nights and I had to use two SPG 50 with a 1000 points each...seemed worth it to me....
Just curious. Did you mean you used two SPG50s and on an award stay? Or did you mean you used points (2 x 1000) to get two 50% coupons on a paid stay for 7 nights?

Just curious. Did you mean you used two SPG50s and on an award stay? Or did you mean you used points (2 x 1000) to get two 50% coupons on a paid stay for 7 nights?

Hi Chpotpliva, the latter....I used 2 x 1000 miles to get two 50% coupons for the 7 nghts

Oh, ok, thanks for clarifying :)

Since category 5 is in effect the new category 4, I wonder if SPG will change the regular free weekend nights promos to allow redemption at cats 1 to 5 in future? I hope so as, here in the UK, I'm now a bit short of places to use them!

...What say you William? :)

Why? So we could be criticized by everyone here for the numbers of Category 5 hotels that would not participate in it, if any? ;)

Seriously though, I have nothing to do with making those decisions, but I will be glad to bring it up even though I am not likely to have anything to report back here concerning it.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

Yeah but are you willing to pay $100 and 10k points to stay at cat 5
(which is what I expect it to cost :) )



If it does happen (which I personally doubt), let's hope you are wrong (assuming you were serious), because that wouldn't be much of a deal.

Cat 1 1200 $25
Cat 2 1600 $30
Cat 3 2800 $45
Cat 4 4000 $60

Seems to me then that Cat 5 ought to be about 4800 points + $75 (of course, perhaps the High/Low season thing would need to be addressed, as well).

i dont think the high low thing would have to be addressed since the award is capacity controlled and done by season so they prob just wouldnt make it available when the hotel is likely to be full...

If it does happen (which I personally doubt), let's hope you are wrong (assuming you were serious), because that wouldn't be much of a deal.

Cat 1 1200 $25
Cat 2 1600 $30
Cat 3 2800 $45
Cat 4 4000 $60

Seems to me then that Cat 5 ought to be about 4800 points + $75 (of course, perhaps the High/Low season thing would need to be addressed, as well).

4,800 points and $75.00 would seem reasonable during the low season. Hopefully the Cat 4's that just moved up would hopefully stay with the Cash & Nights program.

William, can you also pass along a request of a N&F III option for CAT 5 properties (for lack of a better term or acronym), given the simple and obvious fact that many of the CAT 4s are now CAT 5s and not available to the N&F or N&F II packages ? At least one other thread discusses this very issue, so I don't mean to be redundant but it is along the same lines as this C&P delimna we all now face.

Guess it would have been too ideal for spg management to have concurrently released a BUNDLE of new award packages when they rolled out the CAT increases Jan 31st ? Many members, myself included, now realize that some of the major benefits of spg, N&F-style awards, and C&P-style awards, are no longer available for our favorite properties.

Sorry - CAT 4s don't interest me very much.

Since I know changing contracts and announcing new award bundles may well take a year or longer (negotiations w/ hotels, etc) or may even be a multi-year process...I sincerely hope spg managers figured this out last year sometime and are thus well on their way to saying: "work is already in progress" ?

Or have we forevermore lost the N&F II and C&P for properties that just left the CAT 4 and below level and migrated to CAT 5 and above.

Seriously though, I have nothing to do with making those decisions, but I will be glad to bring it up even though I am not likely to have anything to report back here concerning it.

Thanks. If SPG is still interested in building customer loyalty, it's a no-brainer decision.

The big problem with the program right now is that almost all the hotels your members would "aspire" to stay at are Cat. 5. Even as a gold, it takes more than 25 nights at a $150 room rate to earn a single Cat. 5 night. Imagine one of those "lunch punch" dining loyalty programs where you had to buy 25 sandwiches to get a free meal. Would YOU bother? That's pretty much how many of your SPG members feel right now.

We can certainly suplement our stays with use of our SPG AMEX cards, but how many credit card points can the typical SPG member realistically earn in a year? To build loyalty -- a "relationship" with Starwood if you wish -- you need to have awards that your customers can use with some regularity. That's where C&P comes in -- a program that also generates room revenue for your hotels.

As I said earlier, it would seem like a marketing no-brainer. Without such changes, I would anticpate a decrease in customer loyalty and a reduction in spending on the SPG AMEX cards.

If it does happen (which I personally doubt), let's hope you are wrong (assuming you were serious), because that wouldn't be much of a deal.

Cat 1 1200 $25
Cat 2 1600 $30
Cat 3 2800 $45
Cat 4 4000 $60

Seems to me then that Cat 5 ought to be about 4800 points + $75 (of course, perhaps the High/Low season thing would need to be addressed, as well).

I was only kidding:), but if one takes the ratio betweeen the points only awards for Cat 4 vs Cat 5 ( high season) the cash part comes pretty close to $100.00

mike

William, can you also pass along a request of a N&F III option for CAT 5 properties (for lack of a better term or acronym), given the simple and obvious fact that many of the CAT 4s are now CAT 5s and not available to the N&F or N&F II packages ? At least one other thread discusses this very issue, so I don't mean to be redundant but it is along the same lines as this C&P delimna we all now face.

<snip>

Or have we forevermore lost the N&F II and C&P for properties that just left the CAT 4 and below level and migrated to CAT 5 and above.

This was among the things that I have actively passed along to the powers that be; however, just posting it to Flyertalk ensures that it is seen by people in the SPG executive offices. I am not the only person at SPG and Starwood that reads what is posted to Flyertalk so if I miss being the go-between, it will still be seen.

We will have to see what the future holds concerning the second question.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com

The big problem with the program right now is that almost all the hotels your members would "aspire" to stay at are Cat. 5.

William....and all of those unseen folks at SPG, maybe there is some intriguing middle ground options to consider.

* Make a Cat 5 C/P and/or N/F ONLY available to your Platinum (maybe Gold members), so that members who 'aspire' toward higher CAT awards, will also have to 'aspire' to be more loyal (and higher spend!) with SPG. And maybe consider limiting these proposed CAT 5 C/P and N/F to usage once a year for Golds and two or three times a year for Platinums, to mitigate issues of overdemand.

* Make a Cat 6 C/P and/or N/F ONLY available to your Platinum members on a once a year basis to mitigate overdemand.

While SPG definitely treats its top-tier members with preferred recognition on the points earning and hotel upgrade areas,this might be a strategic opportunity to extend elite benefits in the points burning area. Because currently, SPG treats all of its members the same from a points burning and access to all properties on a no cap controlled basis...might be time to better segment out your top-tier folks.

I like your thinking, beaubo.

William....and all of those unseen folks at SPG, maybe there is some intriguing middle ground options to consider.

* Make a Cat 5 C/P and/or N/F ONLY available to your Platinum (maybe Gold members), so that members who 'aspire' toward higher CAT awards, will also have to 'aspire' to be more loyal (and higher spend!) with SPG. And maybe consider limiting these proposed CAT 5 C/P and N/F to usage once a year for Golds and two or three times a year for Platinums, to mitigate issues of overdemand.

* Make a Cat 6 C/P and/or N/F ONLY available to your Platinum members on a once a year basis to mitigate overdemand.

While SPG definitely treats its top-tier members with preferred recognition on the points earning and hotel upgrade areas,this might be a strategic opportunity to extend elite benefits in the points burning area. Because currently, SPG treats all of its members the same from a points burning and access to all properties on a no cap controlled basis...might be time to better segment out your top-tier folks.


The other advantage to this approach is that it rewards *wood loyalty and not just SPG AMEX spending. I admit that I earn more points on AMEX than from SPG but I still manage to maintain minimums for Platinum these days.

i say, fine restrict it to gold and plat, but dont limit the number of times you can use it...its already limited by capacity controls anyway

and, i dont think limiting uses it is what spg is trying to accomplish with C&P. im pretty sure the program is meant to fill empty beds while rewarding members...they could do that for cats 5 and 6 when the rooms are otherwise empty without restricting the # of possible uses...


I like your thinking, beaubo.

i say, fine restrict it to gold and plat, but dont limit the number of times you can use it...its already limited by capacity controls anyway

and, i dont think limiting uses it is what spg is trying to accomplish with C&P. im pretty sure the program is meant to fill empty beds while rewarding members...they could do that for cats 5 and 6 when the rooms are otherwise empty without restricting the # of possible uses...

I was thinking to limit usage to once a year (Gold), 2-3 times a year (Plat) just as a test marketing suggestion. Once SPG tries it and sees that it works in principle, then we can lobby for no limits or fewer limits.

Also, politically it is easier for SPG to try this as a 'pilot program' with the usage limitations in place. Its easy to make the pilot program more liberal. As we all know, its more painful to have to pull back a generous benefit.

Maybe they could test this at a couple of properties on each continent to see how it goes.

Well, I'm a gold, so I don't care too much about "exclusivity," but I actually think it would be a dumb idea from Starwood's standpoint to limit availability of C&P opportunities.

At some point, we were all newbies to Starwood. I know for a long time after I started travelling, I didn't care too much about frequent stay programs -- the benefits just seemed so paltry compared to frequent flyer programs. That changed with SPG, and I'm now a loyal member. But the recent devaluation does make the program less attractive.

If I were just starting out, and you told me I needed more than 25 nights to get a free night at a decent hotel, I'd probably pass on the program. But give me a decent C&P option -- where I could accumulate a modest amount of points and then stretch them with cash into a travel opportunity I wouldn't otherwise have -- well, that would be different. In many ways, I think C&P is the single best loyalty inducement for newbie SPG members.

I'm all in favor of C&P Cat 5 and N&F III but I disagree with limiting redemptions to Gold/Plat. MAYBE N&F (although I'm not sold that's a good idea either) but certainly not C&P. Just because someone earns points from Amex doesn't be design make them less valuable to SPG. SPG makes a ton of money selling points to Amex.

Since C&P is designed to fill beds at non-peak times, why frustrate any member of your customer base. Especially a Platinum only reward... if someone spends $1MM on their SPG Amex (I don't but I know that some do) you can't argue that person is making SPG a lot of money. But he/she may not stay ANYWHERE enough to be Platinum so why penalize?

I say, stay exclusive with in-hotel benefits, but there's no reason to make an attractive redemption option - especially when so many are disappointed with the CAT shuffle - and then shut certain customers out.

If I were just starting out, and you told me I needed more than 25 nights to get a free night at a decent hotel, I'd probably pass on the program. But give me a decent C&P option -- where I could accumulate a modest amount of points and then stretch them with cash into a travel opportunity I wouldn't otherwise have -- well, that would be different. In many ways, I think C&P is the single best loyalty inducement for newbie SPG members.

I think you inadvertently helped me reinforce my point.

If you are a newbie, then like any seniority system, you work your way up to get the best benefits. As a newbie, your Cat 3 and 4 N/F and C/P remain available to all, no-status SPG members, heavy SPG Amex users (that's me!!), etc..

The goal with restricting Cat 5 N/F, C/P to top tier is not to penalize the general members, but to reward those members that have achieved.

The reality of all the airline and hotel programs is not just the PROMISE of great benefits, but the DELIVERY of great benefits. The hard truth is that no program can SUSTAIN servicing everyone or even the vast middle class (Silver, Gold members) and expect that benefit to stay intact. So, by fiocusing on Plats, at least there is a manageable enough number of them that SPG could realistically offer the Cat 5 N/F and C/P and not be overwhelmed.

The goal with restricting Cat 5 N/F, C/P to top tier is not to penalize the general members, but to reward those members that have achieved.

But that excludes the SPG AMEX group, and I'm not sure that SPG would want to go that route. Seems to me that the AMEX enhancements rolled out last fall were designed as a preemptory move to retain SPG AMEX holders when the big devaluation hit, so I assume that SPG must place some significant value on those folks.

With the new outrageous redemption rates, many of the really top-notch rewards are already out of reach for newbies.

One aspect of the recent devaluations which I don't understand is that the Trianon Palace in France went up from Cat 4 -> 5. This property participated in the cash + points programme pretty reliably for several years. Seems strange that a property that is so full/so expensive as to merit Cat. 5 should also have enough spare availability to have been a regular cash + points property.

One aspect of the recent devaluations which I don't understand is that the Trianon Palace in France went up from Cat 4 -> 5. This property participated in the cash + points programme pretty reliably for several years. Seems strange that a property that is so full/so expensive as to merit Cat. 5 should also have enough spare availability to have been a regular cash + points property.

Yes, I agree. This was no doubt one the favorite C&P hotels out there. With no C&P option, I suspect few members will now be excited by the prospect of using 12,000 hard-earned miles per night. It practically begs for a Cat. 5 C&P award!

BTW, there are still good affordable hotel options in Paris this spring. The Paris Hilton has been regularly offered on hotwire for less than $120/night. Certainly a better deal than using 12,000 Starwood points (and you get to stay in the city center, too).

Paris Hilton has been regularly offered on hotwire for less than $120/night.

;)

Just can't resist.

Just because someone earns points from Amex doesn't be design make them less valuable to SPG. SPG makes a ton of money selling points to Amex.

If someone spends $1MM on their SPG Amex (I don't but I know that some do) you can't argue that person is making SPG a lot of money. But he/she may not stay ANYWHERE enough to be Platinum so why penalize?

.

Elite top tiers will recognize the value of such options and be more inclined to continue to 'ASPIRE' toward yearly top-tier status with greater incremental spend to stay top-tier.

Whereas the credit card crowd will NOT appreciably change their spending patterns to accomodate a new benefit.

So, from a behavior modification (revenue enhancement) standpoint, I think SPG has a much better chance at seeing tangible elite top tier retention, even new member addition than opening up the Cat 5 proposed benefit to the credit card folks whose spending habits can't be appreciably increased to justify participation in a Cat 5 new redemption option.

I would assume that the capacity controls on any cash and point option... including the desired cat 5 C&P....would be limited to rooms that the hotel and their room management system believe would otherwise go empty and generate no revenue. It would make sense that any redemption by any spg member would add to the 'bottom line'. Restricting those eligible to redeem could restrict this added, 'bonus' revenue.

I believe that as all the recent changes 'sift out' that many spg amex card holders will be evaluating their choice of credit card when spending and later its renewal. Further changes in which many feel 'left out' could be the 'final nail in the coffin' regarding their spg amex.

however, just posting it to Flyertalk ensures that it is seen by people in the SPG executive offices. I am not the only person at SPG and Starwood that reads what is posted to Flyertalk so if I miss being the go-between, it will still be seen.

Do they read the Amex forums as well? I am curious if the executive offices are aware of how Centurions feel about the loss of SPG plat?

Thanks.

Cat 1-4 represent over 80% of total properties, so there is plenty of capacity to handle C/P.

Renard and I simply have different methodologies to access Cat 5/6 C/P. Renard prefers general membership on a capacity controlled basis. I prefer top tier elite membership on a no capacity but limited usage per year basis.

From SPG's standpoint, they need to determine which methodology will ultimately make them either more money, and secondarily, which methodology is easier to execute. Methinks servicing the much smaller world of top tier elites will be far more operationally doable AND sustainable.

Keep in mind, I'm not a SPG Plat or Gold, so I'm truly trying to put my SPG rose colored glasses on here!!!

Renard and I simply have different methodologies to access Cat 5/6 C/P. Renard prefers general membership on a capacity controlled basis. I prefer top tier elite membership on a no capacity but limited usage per year basis.

Beaubo, this is the first post in which I think that I am able to understand your thinking. IIUC, you're suggesting that SPG offer a Cat 5/6 C&P award option for ANY Cat 5/6 property on ANY date once (or more) per year. Whereas the C&P program has traditionally been offered at limited properties on limited dates. Am I understanding you correctly?

I've always taken the C&P program to be one that is primarily geared toward letting the hotels fill rooms during periods of lesser overall room demand or lesser award demand due to off-peak pricing. It's always made sense to me that the Mexican Haciendas would especially want to offer C&P awards during hurricane season, for example. An elite-only offer wouldn't do as much to help the three Cat 5 Haciendas fill their vacant rooms in the off season.

Beaubo, this is the first post in which I think that I am able to understand your thinking. IIUC, you're suggesting that SPG offer a Cat 5/6 C&P award option for ANY Cat 5/6 property on ANY date once (or more) per year. Whereas the C&P program has traditionally been offered at limited properties on limited dates. Am I understanding you correctly?

I've always taken the C&P program to be one that is primarily geared toward letting the hotels fill rooms during periods of lesser overall room demand or lesser award demand due to off-peak pricing. It's always made sense to me that the Mexican Haciendas would especially want to offer C&P awards during hurricane season, for example. An elite-only offer wouldn't do as much to help the three Cat 5 Haciendas fill their vacant rooms in the off season.

Not exactly!

I'm suggesting that Cat 5 hotels submit their own C/P avails and top-tiers can redeem C/P on a limited basis , like once or twice a year. Cat 5 hotels can choose to participate in C/P where advantageous, whetheer year round, on a seasonal basis or not at all (like some Cat 1-4).

I'm suggesting that Cat 5 hotels submit their own C/P avails and top-tiers can redeem C/P on a limited basis , like once or twice a year. Cat 5 hotels can choose to participate in C/P where advantageous, whetheer year round, on a seasonal basis or not at all (like some Cat 1-4).
But if they're only offering dates that they're having trouble filling, then they'd only have a chance at filling those slots with elites. Why should the hotels care whether regular SPG members are excluded? Wouldn't such hotels prefer to cater to a wider group of potential customers in order to get those rooms filled?

Last year, the managers of the Westin Palace Madrid agreed to offer the C&P rate to all SPG members. This year, the managers are being told that they can't offer the C&P rate to anyone since they moved up to Cat5. Your suggestion is that the managers be allowed to offer the C&P rate only to elites. But wouldn't the hotel managers see better value in continuing to allow general members access to their C&P rate, too?

On top of all that, I'm envisioning a thread in which elite members are complaining about how they have this offer from SPG that only has a few participating properties. And on top of that, there are date and/or capacity limitations. And they worked their way up the ladder to elite only to find out that the dates that they wanted aren't available even though rooms are available for sale.

Sorry, but I'm not seeing the real advantage in this idea for SPG or the hotels. In order for it to be advantageous for SPG's marketing department, they have to know that more than a handful of properties will participate -- and with sufficient availability. And the list would have to include properties that would be desirable to more than just a select demographic. (IOW, it couldn't be just properties in Asia, for example.)

Sorry, but I'm not seeing the real advantage in this idea for SPG or the hotels. In order for it to be advantageous for SPG's marketing department, they have to know that more than a handful of properties will participate -- and with sufficient availability. And the list would have to include properties that would be desirable to more than just a select demographic. (IOW, it couldn't be just properties in Asia, for example.)

Cat 1-4 C/P has the EXACT same limitations that you express concerns about with the proposed Cat 5 C/P- limited participation, limited availability based on the needs of individual hotels!!!

Overall, I'm NOT wedded to a Cat 5 C/P being limited to top tier elites. As I've maintained all along, restricting this proposed Cat 5 C/P to top tier elites simply provides SPG an INITIAL controlled test marketing environment. If the test market works, then SPG can decide to open it up to Golds or Silvers or the whole membership. And if it works, maybe more Cat 5 hotels will choose to participate.

My key contention remains the same- we gotta give SPG enough wiggle room to test out the concept in a politically palatable and operationally manageable manner for them. Focusing on top tier elites is a small cohort that has the ability to make tangible increases in incremental spending to 'aspire' to Cat 5 C/P.

* Best case scenario- Cat 5 C/p gets tested and is extended to all members on an unlimited usage basis at participating hotels
* Upper Mid Case Scenario- Cat 5 C/P is extended to Plats/Golds on an unlimited usage basis and general members on a once a year basis
* Mid Case scenario- Cat 5 C/P is limited to Plat and/or Gold members on a once or twice a year basis; no general membership access
* Worst Case Scenario- Mid Case Scenario is tsted and SPG decides not to continue with Cat 5 C/P next benefit year.



Worst Case scenario- Cat 5 C/P is tested

Cat 1-4 C/P has the EXACT same limitations that you express concerns about with the proposed Cat 5 C/P- limited participation, limited availability based on the needs of individual hotels!!!

Overall, I'm NOT wedded to a Cat 5 C/P being limited to top tier elites. As I've maintained all along, restricting this proposed Cat 5 C/P to top tier elites simply provides SPG an INITIAL controlled test marketing environment. If the test market works, then SPG can decide to open it up to Golds or Silvers or the whole membership. And if it works, maybe more Cat 5 hotels will choose to participate.

My key contention remains the same- we gotta give SPG enough wiggle room to test out the concept in a politically palatable and operationally manageable manner for them. Focusing on top tier elites is a small cohort that has the ability to make tangible increases in incremental spending to 'aspire' to Cat 5 C/P.

Reading your earlier posts, I did not understand your suggestion to be that this is strictly a test market. SPG already has a test market plan in the form of targetted offers. All that I hear you to be suggesting is that they make a Cat 5 C&P targetted offer in order to gauge making it a more permanent offer.

Yes, existing C&P has the same limitations of limited availability, but it does NOT exclude any members from participating. Your proposal does nothing to address the limited availability, and that's fine as long as you don't also create a test market that has too few participating hotels or too few targetted members that would actually be interested in the offer.

And if there's no consistency about how many hotels and which hotels will participate in the future, then how can this be a meaningful elite incentive? (This is already a problem for the existing elite offer for Cat5 European hotels since participating hotels move in and out of the offer as their Cat changes each year. But at least there are enough participating properties to make it worth something to a small subset of elites. I don't think that it's a huge incentive for most elites, though. Not like Hilton's VIP offers.)

Cat 1-4 represent over 80% of total properties, so there is plenty of capacity to handle C/P.

Renard and I simply have different methodologies to access Cat 5/6 C/P. Renard prefers general membership on a capacity controlled basis. I prefer top tier elite membership on a no capacity but limited usage per year basis.

I'm a bit confused. Is what being suggested a cat 5 C&P for plats with no capacity controls other than the hotels' willingness to participate in a given quarter? (perhaps with some added seasonal restrictions for some hotels within a quarter) I think I understand the thinking better now.

If so, this would be a big departure from C&P as I have understood it to be. I would be surprised to see SPG move towards a cat 5 C&P that didn't allow for capacity controls as we have known them...even for plats.

Wouldn't this, to a certain extent, reduce SPG's ability to get plats to burn points at the regular rate (for a totally free stay)? Now of course as the proposal includes limits even for top tier elites, this would diminish this effect somewhat.

SPG's recent moves...namely the cat increases...are largely about keeping the hotels happy with reimboursement rates while at the same time 'getting the books in better balance'. At least I suspect they are. While attracting increased loyalty is always one of their goals, it is probably behind the financial concerns. Of course, this is quite a balancing act.

[QUOTE=Renard;7219615]I'm a bit confused. Is what being suggested a cat 5 C&P for plats with no capacity controls other than the hotels' willingness to participate in a given quarter? (perhaps with some added seasonal restrictions for some hotels within a quarter) I think I understand the thinking better now.[QUOTE=Renard;7219615]

* bingo

[QUOTE=Renard;7219615]If so, this would be a big departure from C&P as I have understood it to be. I would be surprised to see SPG move towards a cat 5 C&P that didn't allow for capacity controls as we have known them...even for plats.[QUOTE=Renard;7219615]

* I'm defining 'limited usage' to mean that a given member could only REDEEM a Cat 5 C/P award once (twice, etc.) per year, since there are so few Cat 5 hotels compared to Cat 3 and 4 and because it is likely that the number of Cat 5's actually participating and how many quarter's they would participate quarterly might not be too large.

* I'm defining 'no capacity controls' like SPG- if there's a standard room available in a hotel's inventory, an SPG member can book it with points.

Do they read the Amex forums as well?

Probably not. But if they do, it is to look for postings regarding the Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card from American Express.

I am curious if the executive offices are aware of how Centurions feel about the loss of SPG plat?

Thanks.

Yes, they are intimately aware of how Centurions feel about SPG Platinum no longer being a benefit of being AMEX Centurion.

Sincerely,


William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

guest.forum@starwoodhotels.com