shonamac

I am a Marriott Gold and am generally treated quite well in Marriott & Renaissance properties, particularly in Europe & Asia, which is where most of my stays are.

I had no status on SPG and now with the merger, I got my SPG status upgraded to Gold.

But there seems to be no substantial advantage of SPG Gold over SPG kettle . True you get a few extra points, but the marginal value of that to me is peanuts.

The most important Marriott Gold benefit for me is free breakfast / lounge access, but it seems that that does not apply to SPG hotels. So why should I get excited about my newly minted SPG Gold status and start booking SPG properties now?

What am I missing?

mahasamatman

You're not missing much. Gold gets you late checkout, 50% more points, and room upgrades. Platinum is the real meat of the SPG program, and that's where breakfast, lounge access, and suite upgrades come in.

Marriott - big jump from basic to Gold, nothing major at Platinum.
SPG - nothing major at Gold, big jump from Gold to Platinum.

If you really want to learn more about Gold status, see this thread:
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...what-they.html

Visconti

The main appeal of SPG Gold is to allow for higher points earnings via SPG at *woods, Delta crossover, and late checkout.

If you value the free breakfast and club access, MR Gold is considerably better than SPG Gold.

mahasamatman

Status has no bearing on Amex earning.

Visconti

With Gold, you earn extra point on SPG over Preferred. But, yes, the points on the Amex card are independent of status.

UA-NYC

To be fair, if your Marriott stays were primarily US, I don't think you'd notice the level of difference that you do in Europe/Asia

cfischer

free breakfast and lounge access vs. nothing?
How is this a EU-USA difference

Segments

Nothing.

SPG Gold is lame. Worse than most other hotel mid-tier elite levels. The dirty "secret" most SPG apologists ignore.

If you can do 25 stays at *wood then shift those 25 nights and earn Platinum in both programs.

photaco

SPG Gold guaranteed 4pm late checkout is way more than "nothing" to me. Marriott had no such thing before this past May.

Horace

You're not missing anything.

Rewards and SPG both use the same terms (Gold and Platinum), but the benefits are quite different.

With Rewards, the difference between Gold and Platinum is limited. The biggest benefit -- the lounge/breakfast benefit at five Marriott full-service brands -- is the same for Gold and Platinum. Gold is genuinely valuable.

With SPG, there's a huge difference between Gold and Platinum. Gold provides a welcome gift and is better than not having status at all. Platinum is another story. As loyal SPG members on this board keep reminding us, Starwood properties often treat SPG Platinum guests (especially at higher Platinum tiers) as VIPs, with suite upgrades and other recognition.

I've been SPG Gold for a number of years. I've found the benefits to be inconsistent. I've only received a meaningful upgrade once. A Sheraton and a Westin gave me lounge access, even though it's not a published benefit. A week apart, one Aloft gave me a welcome dessert and vouchers for breakfast, while another ignored my Gold status entirely (until I asked about the next day and received one free beer in the lobby bar). Gold is not particularly valuable.

Where members with linked accounts can really benefit now is that it's much easier to qualify for SPG Gold. With as few as ten 1-night stays, you're SPG Gold. With an SPG AmEx credit card, it's even easier. Then you're Rewards Gold too!

The downside of splitting stays across the two programs is that it becomes harder to re-qualify if you're not someone who has a significant number of hotel nights each year.

Visconti

I think for the leisure traveler who plans for 10 - 15 nights would find the instant Gold status (late checkout, DL crossover & bonus points) conferred from merely having an Amex Plat to be of some value, assuming the latter were to be their travel benefit card of choice.

UA-NYC

No - Marriott Gold. OP talked about being treated well in Europe/Asia as a MR Gold, and my point is that in just about ANY program the treatment is better in Europe/Asia, and that Gold in the US in Marriott isn't really anything "special", esp. now with the flood of UA flyers who now have it (myself included).

UA-NYC

The other side of the coin you're ignoring is that SPG Gold is free for a good amount of folks (via a CC), or even if you're getting it the hard way (staying), it can easily be done in 10-15 nights, vs. the 50 needed for MR Gold.

mahasamatman

Since Gold is not a mid-tier status, that makes sense. It's the entry-level elite status. If you take time to actually understand the program before trashing it, it all makes more sense.

My rankings pretty much interleave the programs: MR base < MR Silver < SPG base < SPG Gold < MR Gold < MR Platinum < SPG Platinum < SPG Platinum50 < SPG Platinum75+

(One could also point out that Marriott Platinum really serves no purpose. It's only marginally better than Gold.)

So are both MR Gold and Platinum.

Segments

HHonors Gold is also available via CC and worth more than SPG Gold.

As to getting status the hard way, SPG loyalists keep reminding us how hard it is to be loyal due to the limited footprint. So which is it? Easier due to less nights needed or harder because *wood properties aren't everywhere? Pick one.