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FAQ: New Benefit for SPG Members - Award & Cash + Points Nights Count Toward Status

FAQ: New Benefit for SPG Members - Award & Cash + Points Nights Count Toward Status

 
Old Sep 29, 2011, 12:38 am
  #61  
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For those Platinums who thinks a higher level should be in place given its now too easy to qualify, well there is ... Ambassador status Please leave us Platinums who will qualify or requalify on C&P or Points alone
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 1:53 am
  #62  
 
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Now it is official, that is good news and a welcome addition from a personal perspective. ^
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 2:28 am
  #63  
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
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This is a great new benefit for me. I'm not a business traveler and have to do all leisure stays. Doing it with cash and points or other award or promo stays is awesome! Thank you SPG.

Can I be the first to point out we haven't had anyone yet say,

"great, now what about free breakfast?" ----- I'm just sayin
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 2:43 am
  #64  
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while it doesn't affect me personally at this point, i still think its a great benefit....will be very useful once i reduce my travel, which i will end up doing over the next few years....
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 3:25 am
  #65  
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Big thumbs up from me. ^

Now I will drive even more expenses to my Starwood Amex. I need to find some business reason to run about $40K per month through my card and then do a nice two-night Cat 6 stay each month to get half-way to Platinum.
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 4:34 am
  #66  
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Angry

REALLY freaking unfortunate for me. I JUST completed nearly 3 weeks of cash+points stays during September in Sheraton Towers Singapore... and just today I read Gary's blog and see that starting NOW they count C+P towards elite??? So frustrating!!!

Starwood Lurker: please tell your superiors to make this policy retroactive!!!!!!!
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 4:43 am
  #67  
 
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Well, we'll see what it does to upgrade availability. I've been platinum for years, and am at 38 or so stays this year, so I am certainly concerned about even more platinums than there already are. I really like Starwood, but if it dillutes the program even further (like that platinum challenge), it might be time to take a hard look at other programs. I am Hilton Gold and boring stuff like that, but Hyatt Diamond I liked quite well. In any case I think it's a bad move by Starwood - I think I take 2-5 award stays a year - so that frees up that amount in revene stays - I think I can safely go for SPG Plat and Hyatt Diamond now... SPG would lose a whole bunch od revenue nights
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 5:02 am
  #68  
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Now you can 'buy' platinum status for a mere 50,000 star points (25 weekend stays at Cat 1 hotel)
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 5:21 am
  #69  
 
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Originally Posted by mario33
Now you can 'buy' platinum status for a mere 50,000 star points (25 weekend stays at Cat 1 hotel)
Reduce it by 12,500 points to account for Plat Amenity for each stay if you are already Plat.
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 5:34 am
  #70  
 
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It seems that the only platinum benefit that could be diluted by this program are upgrades. But that doesn't seem to be a problem if high-revenue plats are pre-upgraded first (which already seems to be the case).

If properties upgrade high-revenue, high-stay platinum members (you) before they upgrade (for example) me (with zero paid 2012 stays), your benefits are not being diluted at all, and we both still get free internet.

The only dilution might be to the gold level. If you get the last select standard suite, and I get the “superior view” room, then a revenue-stay-based gold member might end up behind me. But that could just be an extra incentive for the gold member to spend their earned points on more SPG stays to make platinum. Then they're in front of me on the upgrade list again.

(Yes, there is a possibility that I'll check in on Monday and get the upgrade that you would have gotten on your Tuesday stay if I weren't platinum. But in that situation I could have just booked your suite with double Starpoints.)

Originally Posted by ktjan
So technically, someone can spend as little as 37,500 points to retain his/her platinum status a year...
Only someone who spends a lot of weekends in Indonesia or backwater parts of Israel and Egypt. Most category 1 hotels only give a 250 point amenity.
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 5:36 am
  #71  
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Originally Posted by mario33
Now you can 'buy' platinum status for a mere 50,000 star points (25 weekend stays at Cat 1 hotel)
Originally Posted by millere2
Reduce it by 12,500 points to account for Plat Amenity for each stay if you are already Plat.
the possibility of people outside ft doing that is remote at best....& please don't forget that ft makes up a very small percentage of spg members out there....

there is a four points i normally stay at where i have gotten day only stays for as little as $40....with mario33's theory i could 'buy' plat status for a mere $1,000 by staying here 25 times....
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 5:43 am
  #72  
 
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Originally Posted by Keyser
the possibility of people outside ft doing that is remote at best....& please don't forget that ft makes up a very small percentage of spg members out there....

there is a four points i normally stay at where i have gotten day only stays for as little as $40....with mario33's theory i could 'buy' plat status for a mere $1,000 by staying here 25 times....
My attitude would be go for it and god bless you. Checking in 25 times to a cat 1 property just to get status isn't going to happen in a great % even amongst FTer's. The prevalence of cat 1's is slim to none in the US anyway. Go to Indonesia and hotel hop in Cat 1's isn't my idea of fun or a good use of time, unless you are local.

The above scenario is so remote spg isn't worried about it obviously. I don't see this degrading benefits much at all IMO.
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 5:54 am
  #73  
 
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Thank you William for the info.
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 6:17 am
  #74  
 
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This really is a good incentive for people to really spend their points at SPG properties instead of using them for flights or converting them to miles! Big thumbs up from me!
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Old Sep 29, 2011, 7:14 am
  #75  
 
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This is a terrible idea

I can't believe how many of you are giddy over this. The reality is that an award stay is just that, an award stay. Status should be determined off of paying nights and stays, plain and simple. This is a huge devaluation and a terrible change to SPG. I am coining this the "AMEX Virus." Just like with Delta, now anyone with an SPG AMEX that uses their points for stays will be a Platinum. I love SPG, don't get me wrong, but they need not fall into the trap that Delta has with AMEX--making everyone feel special. For 2011 I am at 78 nights and 42 stays with SPG, I don't really have much reason to stay another night at SPG as they have no lifetime status and no higher tier than Platinum. Furthermore, I have 238,462 SPG points--I can, if so desired, be Platinum for about the next 5 years without ever paying for a night again. Don't be so quick to greet this as a good thing. If something is worth having, it's not given away for free. Just like when I board a Delta flight and 99% of the plane is priority boarding, soon, you'll be checking in and everyone will be a Platinum, there will be no benefit to obtaining status, and every "perk" will be gone. The better perks some of us want like free breakfast will only be given by hotels if people are earning status the old fashioned way: staying and paying.

I am counting down the days until SPG introduces "roll over nights" like Delta with roll over Medallion miles. This is the beginning of the end for SPG, mark my words.
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