doctor15

I am very happy by this enhancement, as it will be great to have a sort of "trump card" for certain stays when an upgrade is extremely important to me.

That said the T&Cs of this are very unclear, and since a lot is being left up to the properties, I expect there to be many inconsistencies. Here are few specific questions/concerns:

- Do these certificates confirm into any (non-specialty) suite available for revenue purchase at the time, or does it come from a separate pool of "upgrade available rooms" similar to airline awards

- How will priority be determined when multiple PLTs have requested an upgrade at the 5 day mark? Is it according to the SPG rankings as suites are currently done, or the date the upgrade was requested.

- The terms are very unclear on what room type you can be confirmed into. I think it would be better if they only confirmed into something above a junior suite. I would hate to waste these certs for a "premium room" or small one room "suite". Hopefully the properties will understand their intended use and use them for something about the upgrade a PLT would normally get.

Starwood Lurker

They are pulled from live inventory beginning five days in advance of arrival.

There is an art and a science to that determination that is proprietary.

The terms cannot pre-determine what might be available five days before you check in, but any qualifying upgraded rooms, including select standard suites are going to present themselves as a choice when the upgrade request is made.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]

ski1stoney

Rambuster, I am right there with ya...my last years totals were 35 stays and 49 nights. I am very happy with the changes for the program, I am very happy for the people who will get to to use this benefit...and I am depressed that I was one night away, kinda sucks.

cubuffaloes2004

Hi William -

I have a reservation for the first week in April that was booked through the Platinum desk for 6 nights in an upgraded room, but not a suite at a resort. Will it be posssible apply these suite nights (after March 1st) to an existing reservation through calling in - or will i have to cancel and rebook?

Thanks!

wilsonnyc

A followup to this response: So, +5 days out, once the request is made, a member will be given several options of upgradeable room types, not dependent of availability? I.e. you can see the upgradeable pool of rooms, property-to-property, and decide which room types you are interested in utilizing a suite nite for (you can choose only suites or suites+premium view non suites, etc) ahead of any confirmation? If this is the case, I think this is a great system. I certainly wouldn't want to use one of these nites unless it was an upgrade to a room type I am pleased with.

One more question: Is the pool of upgradeable rooms that Plats choose from under this program the same pool of rooms each property uses to upgrade plats not using their suite nites? Could we conceivably use this program to better understand what rooms are deemed "upgradeable" property to property? (If so, again, this is a great benefit; I find the "upgradeable" room types to vary quite a bit from property to property and it would absolutely help in the pre-planning trips.)

thanks also for all the attn answering these questions on FT. SPG truly does it right.

Tak

I wish I could use TIME MACHINE to go back to Dec 2011, and spent more nights to reach 50!

As other said, 5 suite night awards would be nice for 25 stay players as well!
But hey, I was lucky enough to be ungraded most time 2011 so no complains.

Anyway, I will get those suite night award in 2013.

Thanks, Starwood!
Maybe, next year please introduce a new promotion such as giving away the same status to spouse.
I am sure my wife allows me to stay more nights!

KosherKimchee

William, any chance the Plats who narrowly missed 50 nights but had points/C&P stays before the nights "counted" might get some love from SPG? Had a 5 night point stay and 3 night C&P stay just before award nights started counting.

TrojanHorse

Whats the pecking order for the upgrade?

the one who made the request first?

I.e., if 2 or more plats request a suite upgrade fir a period where one of the nights overlap.

AJLondon

See post 32.

Starwood Lurker

When the functionality goes live on March 1st, you will be able to request a confirmable upgrade, provided you have earned any.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

My apologies, but this is doubtful.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

Not exactly. At the time the request is made, you select your upgrade preference from the rooms/suite available at that time. If it is available from 5 - 1 day before arrival, then it will be confirmed or another status update given.

Yes, the suite inventory is pulled from the select standard suites for a given property, noting that these are not always strictly "suites". For example, a select standard suite in a Hawaiian resort many come with a garden view, so one might find a Deluxe Oceanview to be a better upgrade. Regardless, that distinction is left to the property to decide.

Whether or not that will assist in understanding what a select standard suite at a given property is, is something that we will all have to discover. In theory though, I suppose it will help.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts

[email protected]

marlee1421

I would have the same question. Can one either see what type of upgrade might be available (5 days in advance) at a given property or call the PLAT desk to have them find out?
Will there be anywhere where the types of rooms available for Suite Nights are shown for a given property?

Starwood Lurker

I think I've answered this already. Check upthread and if I did not, please clarify the question.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts

[email protected]

barelyelite

YES!!! Just checked, and I had 54 nights last year!!!!