bhrubin

^^^

That's a nice upgrade, indeed!

We need to give our Marriott brethren some time to adjust to the fact that SPG is a far more generous culture and more generous program for its elites.

HookEm

I don't know why the OP got hammered with his conclusion and why a 3:1 conversion is such a fair deal, or why even a greater ratio is fair. I am unfamiliar with the SPG program, but I just now looked at SPG hotels for London for next summer, and I saw 25,000 SPG points/night for all these hotels. Marriott hotels require 45,000 points. So 2:1 seems a fairer ratio. At the very least, the negative response to OP seems much too harsh. With a 3:1 ratio, a SPG person can transfer 25,000 points, stay at a top Marriott hotel and still have 30,000 Marriott points for another hotel. London is the only city I looked at, so maybe there are other places with a different conclusion, but London is a major holiday or vacation destination, so this data point is important. So even a 4:1 or 5:1 ratio seems to be even more ludicrous.
Regardless, I fear that the point requirements for all the hotels will be going up big time.
Cheers.

SkiAdcock

Actually you supported the various FTers who posted the OP was off-base w/ his comments saying that 3:1 was unfair. I'm assuming it's because you're not familiar w/ the SPG program. Basically most are in agreement that 3:1 was the fair point. Above/below would have been detrimental to one program or the other.

Cheers.

aCavalierInCoach

Probably repeating something from earlier but you need to look at both earning and redemption, and if we equivalize you can start to see where some of the more dramatic ratios are being derived.

Plat at marriott is going to earn 15 pts/$; plat at SPG will earn 9 (if we are being CC agnostic). That's a pretty dramatic difference.

SkiAdcock

There are reports on the SPG forum that SPG elites are getting suite upgrades at Marriott properties

Cheers.

bhrubin

As I've said before, a broken clock is still accurate twice a day.

SkiAdcock

Well must be more than twice a day, because there are more than 2 reports of SPG elites getting suite upgrades at Marriott properties

Cheers.

Happy

It is a fair ratio but as with any program there are some properties you have outsize value in redemption. This exists in both SPG and in Marriott program.

Take a look of the brand new Sheraton Dubrovnik which is a 3/4K SPG pts property - find similar caliber Marriott hotel at the 3 to 1 ratio in the Marriott family would be a shocker.

Ditto on the opposite - Protea probably is the best value in Marriott program for our travel needs as they are primarily Cat 1 to 3. SPG pts in this case would be tremendous value.

I would say, the 3 to 1 is fair value for 85 to 90% of the properties and you have the remaining being either the over-valued or under-valued types - it is Up To You, to be the smart consumer to find that niche value and use your points accordingly. This is the essence of playing arbitrage - a MUST for all the miles and points redemption.

crimsona

Category 6 and 7 SPG are inflated. That's all.

bhrubin

I do believe there is a false equivalency going on here. No one questions that Marriott Plat elites don't get suite upgrades...but no one also questions that SPG Plat elites don't get suite upgrades far more often and at a wider variety of properties.

The fact is, as I stated earlier, that SPG Plat elites get suite upgrades far more often than Marriott Plat elites do at comparable properties. Marriott and RC Plat elites rarely get suite upgrades at RC or EDITION or even JW properties, while SPG Plat elites often get suite upgrades at StR, LuxColl, and W properties.

Most MR Plat elites are staying at Marriott FS level properties and can't even imagine the comparable experience in SPG for SPG Plat elites who don't only stay at Sheraton, Westin, or Le Méridien.

Counsellor

Actually, if you're looking to maximize the number of airline miles you can get, you might be better off converting Starpoints to Marriott Reward points and using them for a travel package.

If you redeem for seven hotel nights, by adding Marriott points you get one airline mile per point (1.1 miles if you're converting to United Mileage Plus miles) in increments up to 120,000 (or 132,000) miles. So, instead of getting 1.25 miles per Starpoint, that way you get 3 or 3.3 miles per Starpoint.

bhrubin

It is true that Marriott's travel packages are a good value...but only for those people wanting to spend 7 nights at the same property. Otherwise, those packages are an offer that sounds good but which are of much less value. Either way, those packages do not offer versatility in their cost/benefit. I often say the same thing about Hyatt Diamond Suite Upgrades, which also can be used for stays up to 7 nights.

hhoope01

You might want to check the math on that. Depending on the airline you want to transfer miles to, a Marriott TP award is a better deal even if you never use the hotel cert.

For example, take any airline that Marriott offers a TP award with up to a 120K mile transfer rate, like AA. You can take 270K Marriott points and convert them to 120K AA miles (plus the hotel cert.) With 100K SPG points, you could convert to 125K AA miles or you could convert it to 270K Marriott which gets you the TP award (120K AA miles +hotel cert) plus leaves you with another 10K SPG points to convert to either 30K Marriott points or directly transfer to AA for another 10K AA miles (thus giving you a total of 130K AA miles plus the hotel cert.)

So if you have at least 90K SPG miles and you want to convert it to airline miles, for the airlines that Marriott has 120K TP awards, why wouldn't you ever want to use the Marriott TP award? You will get more airline miles for your SPG points and you still have that hotel cert that you can use, not use, give away, etc.

True, Marriott doesn't offer the 120K airline mile transfers with a TP award for all airlines. So you would need to check. And don't forget that for United you would get even more miles and with Southwest you could get a CP award on top of the airline miles. So you have even more incentive with transfers to those 2 airlines.

So yes, the value of a TP award is "less" if you don't want or can't use the hotel cert, but it can still be a better value than converting SPG points directly to airline miles.

crimsona

Even ditching the cert you come out ahead with the travel pack (other than Asian ff programs).

I see it as 90k SPG = 120 North American ff miles or Avios + 7 eqn (for throwing away the cert at a local hotel then going home)

bhrubin

Apparently, the throwing away of the other points toward a Marriott hotel stay doesn't matter to you. It does to me. If you'd like to focus on United miles, then please do so...since anyone with Chase URs has better 1:1 options for United with no hotel strings whatsoever.

SPG allows 1:1 (actually, 1:1.25) transfers of as many points as I want or need for almost any airline I want or need. That Marriott has a better transfer rate for United still doesn't compete with what I already have using Chase UR points--which any UA frequent flyer should already be using! (I'm SPG Plat100 AND United Premier Lifetime Gold, so I know what I'm talking about.) Using Marriott points towards United STILL costs a ton of points towards 7 night hotel stays that I do not want.

Everyone who disagrees, please feel free to continue using the Marriott travel packages to get your United or other airline miles. I'll keep using my Chase URs for United miles...since I never want a 7 night hotel stay--period, end.