Originally Posted by bocastephen

Given the circumstances many travelers are in over the past 12+ months, your post is overly harsh.

SPG offered Double Stay/Night promotions in the past when times were fine and people were traveling. Now that times are tough and companies have slashed their travel budgets, it's the perfect opportunity for SPG to offer a reasonable incentive to those who are willing to stay, but might not be able to make it to 25/50 without some help.

It's certainly a fairer approach and easier than having everyone request 'soft landings' or status extensions and it's likely to drive revenue as people who normally wouldn't even bother trying because they wouldn't have a chance are now incentivized to buy hotel nights, even if it comes from their own pocket.

Right now I'm at 7 stays and it's September. That means I need 18 more stays before December 31 with absolutely no business travel for the remainder of the year.

With the promo, I could easily maintain my status and possibly go over 25 for the year. Without the promo, I'm going to have a hard time scraping together enough stays across the next few months to hit 25.

Other companies (travel and otherwise) are incentivizing their customers to spend and stay loyal - why shouldn't Starwood? Just because your business or personal travel is constant and you have no problem qualifying?

Did you consider that some people were out of work and not traveling for a certain period of time, but who might now be employed and ready to travel again? Shouldn't SPG incentivize these people to remain loyal rather than cut their status and risk losing them to a competitor?

I think you need to take the blinders off.