Originally Posted by
Dr. HFH
Yes, it's nice (speaking as an SPG Gold member), but if you scan through the SPG boards, you'll find that the consensus is that SPG Gold is pretty much useless for anything other than a slightly increased earnings rate. SPG Plat, of course, is a different story.
SPG Gold gives late checkout (a big benefit for us), increased likelihood of early check-in (valuable for west-east redeyes) and upgraded rooms. I've even gotten this with opaque Priceline bookings. Considering that this comes along for free with the SPG Amex (for minimal spend) and has no loyalty requirements, it's not bad at all.
Cheers.