Originally Posted by
broadwayblue
I see this a lot but don't really understand why. 60k spend on SPG = 75k mile on AA or similar = $3,000 business class ticket from NYC to OGG (or similar). What's poor about that? Don't really see that as any worse than 6 nights at a cat 5 (low season) for the same 60k Starpoints...unless you can show me cat 5 hotels going for a lot more than $500/night.
Two reasons (for me)
(1) I would never actually buy the $3,000 J seat to OGG with my own money. That seat is maybe worth a grand to me. I'm spending $1200 R/T per seat to get confirmed J to MUC this summer...I would have maybe gone up to $1500 for them, but not higher. That's just me and my own valuation on the seats...
(2) AA miles are too easy to get from so many places, whereas Starpoints are scarce. Even if I had a lot of disposable cash and routinely bought J/F tickets for my leisure trips, I'd try to get the AA miles from somewhere else and hang on to the Starpoints. There are many ways to convert into AA if you need it. Whenever I need a quick 120k AA, a Marriott Travel Package converts in about 1 business day. ^ Unlike a SPG conversion, you're actually
gaining value out of the MR Travel Package conversion.
As to the 2nd part of your question, here are some of my recent redemptions. All of them were in situations where Priceline or other "cheap" options were either not yielding anything good or nonexistent.
- Westin Berlin on the night before the Berlin Marathon. Cat 3, not even bookable with cash unless you were willing to go 3 nights at around US$500/nt. Gold desk in the U.S. called the hotel directly and got my jr. suite booked for 1 night for 8500 pts.
- Sheraton in Munich during the middle of Oktoberfest. Cat 3, also jr. suite, 8500 points for 2 nights, easily accommodating 4 people. Those rooms were about US$500/nt. with all taxes as well. Crappy twin/double rooms at nearby 2* and 3* hotels were going for 300 Euros/nt.
- Westin PVR during Spring Break before it bumped up to a Cat 4. 28k points + $40/nt. cash for confirmed Royal Beach Club rooms (free booze and half board) for 5 nights. The Westin was charging $350/nt. for rooms, although there were some cheaper options in the area. (This is a very good property with a great RBC - well worth paying a bit extra vs. the nearby Marriott.)
- W Union Square for the NYC Marathon weekend. Cat 5 at the time...I understand this one is a 6 now. Great hotel...would've been over $600/nt. with taxes. In 2009 I see better Manhattan rates in general: I'd probably look to use an SPG50 or one of the Marriott promotions before using Starpoints there.