Land-of-Miles

I think you are on to something here because I am thinking the exact same thing but you should think about why maybe Starwood would want to prioritise a 50 night guest over a 25 stay guest and I don't think it is all about loyalty

I don't necessarily agree with your final conclusion because under the current model the property can still make a local decision based upon factors such as loyalty to their property beyond loyalty to Starwood, the suite night awards would reduce this flexibility I think.

derpelikan

when i do the math, its only 10 nights i can upgrade. its not 10 stays.
so i dont worry too much of not getting good upgrades.

the number of platinums wont change so much, so i think that you wont notice any different in 90% of the hotels.

in the top hotels, you will see that suite upgrades wont clear so easy. but well often these top hotels have some many platinums fighting for an upgrade, it doesnt change too much too.

so i am happy i did over 50 stays last year, and will use the suite upgrades on holiday stays with family or at the octoberfest in munich this year.

dp

MSPeconomist

It't not just the cert suite upgrades, it's also that, according to the WSJ, several tens of thousands of people have newly assigned Ambassadors who will contact every hotel prior to their arrival to request that they be preassigned to a suite upgrade, among other things. Then there will be the priority lists sent to hotels suggesting who should be upgraded, which will presumably also be based on the four levels of Plat. The odds of a suite or other meaningful upgrade being available to a fourth class Plat look grim under any reasonable scenario or estimate of numbers, except possible for bottom category hotels in bad locations.

Dr. HFH

Um, no. Those you describe as "2nd Class Platinums" were invited to attend, but declined completely. NoSevens described the event as a "volunteer day at the food bank." No mention of differentiation between cooks, servers and cleaner-uppers.


Well, yes. 25 stays equals at least 25 nights. 50 nights equals at least 50 nights. Not terribly surprising, IMO.

1stClassFamily

Really? Will those Ambassadors remember all itinerary of PLT 100+ guest and call hotel to make sure they get suite upgrade without request from PLT100? If that's true, that's really some service!

BTW, I talked to SPG PLT desk yesterday and it seems they are making new badge on all accounts, like PLT50, PLT75 or PLT100. But they told me hotels would not know this. Hotel will only know PLT is a PLT.

BizNYC

Agreed. I was just postulating that for those who qualify as Platinums on 25 stays but not 50 nights (like me, usually) and feel that through the introduction of the Suite Nights benefit that they are now being treated as second in priority to the 50+ nighters in terms of available upgrades, that this lesser status was was probably already de facto the case if the hotel used the Starwood-suggested priority upgrade list in assigning the upgrades and that list incorporated a corporate preference for the 50+ nighters. All of which is just a long way of saying that hopefully there won't be a big change in frequency (or lack thereof) of upgrades for those who qualify on 25+ stays based on the Suite Night Awards because it was already probably baked in the upgrade system.

pointswhore

The typical hotel I stay at has regular rooms, premium rooms (same size, but with view or on club floor) and junior suites. Platinums routinely get upgraded to premium rooms, but unless you are a very frequent and recognized guest or have an Ambassador, regular Platinums rarely get upgraded to a junior suite. Would others agree? I’m wondering about the implications of the new Suite awards. Property VIPs will likely still get their upgrades to suite (mgmt at one of the hotels I frequent will block a junior suite for me when I make the booking, never mind 5 days before arrival). The real impact will be on guests with Ambassadors. My Ambassador has mixed success scoring suite upgrades for me (depends on the property). If he is able to get me upgraded, I’m usually not confirmed until a couple days before my arrival. Suite awards will benefit Platinums who will now be confirmed 5 days prior to arrival, at the expense of Platinums w/Ambassadors (like me) – never mind that ranks of those with Ambassadors has swelled with all the new Platinum 100+s being added. So, sounds like available suites will now go to Suite award redeemers, benefiting <100 Platinums, leaving less inventory available for guests with Ambassadors. I guess this will now force me to play the game of trying my luck at scoring a suite through my Ambassador, or spending my Suite awards to (hopefully) confirm a suite.

MSPeconomist

The big diffence is that now a threshold has been established. The priority ranking algorithm probably did count the number of nights in the recent past, but probably also gave more credit for nights that were greater than 25 but less than 50. Now is seems that anyone who fell even slightly below 50 in one year only is now ranked below everyone who achieved 50 nights last year. So someone with 50 Four Points nights in 2011 is now above someone who, for instance, spent 45 nights in 2011 (with at least 25 stays) in St Regis, LC, or W properties and also spent a number of additional years with more than 50 nights at similar upper level Starwood hotels. This seems very shortsighted, far from optimal in terms of profitability, and now tends to reward the night gamers in an attempt to punish perhaps only a small number of stay gamers.

spg50BBB

If you think the SPG Platinum desk blew up after this announcement, just wait until March 1st!

While many are upset about the execution of this program, I think we all agree that it's an improvement.

However, how much better will lie in its execution. It will be really interesting to follow this forum in March as the first round of people actually go through the process of trying to book a "Suite Night". I will be one of those as I have an anniversary trip planned with my wife on March 20th.

CIT85

While I think this is a great move by SPG to satisfy the demands of Plats who have 50+ nights, I hope this won't affect how Plat Lites are treated at hotels, since individual hotels do not benefit from Plat 100+ if those 100+ nights are not spent at the specific hotel in question.

This added benefit won't alter the way I balance my stays among the different hotel chains based my travel pattern so that I have more options as Rambuster stated.

Dr. HFH

And if they are, the PLT members spending those 100+ nights at a single property are already priority guests for that particular hotel, anyway.

Dr. HFH

Before we go too far down this road of "priority algorithms," let's remember,.... IIRC, William told us last year or the year before that there is no algorithm, at least not centrally. SPG provides an unranked list to each property of arriving guests who are PLT. The individual hotels then allocate the upgrades as they see fit. Put slightly differently, there may, indeed, be "algorithms," but they're determined by each hotel and likely extremely subjective.

dtremit

With all this sturm und drang about "Plat lites" and whatnot, I'm surprised more people aren't mentioning a fairly major limitation of this benefit: suite upgrades are not confirmed until five days before arrival.

Hyatt's comparable upgrades for Diamonds are confirmed at booking. That makes them much more useful in planning a vacation when you need a suite (or at the least, need to plan around it).

On the other hand, the traditional logic still remains with SPG: if you need a suite, book it and pay for it.

itsaboutthejourney

I would think that to be the case as well. Remember someone with 50+ nights is likely to have an overall higher spend over the 25+ stayer once you factor in incidentals (dining, drinks, laundry, parking, phone, etc.) simply because they are physically in the hotels more and likely spending more.

itsaboutthejourney

I thought I addressed this earlier, but I think you are missing the much bigger picture of the ambassador program. Their job is not to call hotels and request upgrades for their clients, especially every stay. For many who travel so much that they have an ambassador, they likely have far more important details than an upgrade: copies of that proposal, quick changing itineraries (just getting a room at all on short notice), odd arrival times, restaurant reservations, special occasion requests, concierge type requests, etc. A friend had mentioned to his ambassador while leaving hime he forgot to pack a hat heading to a cold weather city only to arrive with a winter hat sent to his room. I know I've said please DO NOT upgrade me knowing my short turn or preference for a quiet room. You need to think of the ambassador program as personal and much much more than upgrades.