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.
Let me start by saying that I am not against promos of this sort. If they offer it - great. If not - great again. What I don't understand is the amount of whining (to put it bluntly) on FT in general about things that we (most likely) can not influence. Take advantage of whatever promo is offered but don't turn against your (supposedly) favorite program just because they didn't offer you something you presumed you were entitled to. If the lack of a specific promo (in this case double stay count) makes you switch your loyalty, so be it. It is your decision and you have every right to make it. Just keep in mind that there are tons of elites in other programs who are as willing to switch and may consider turning to SPG. As far as I know, none of the major chains has offered double stay count promo this year (actually Hyatt had a very limited targeted promo) so I'm sure there are a lot of elites there who are contemplating a change. And if the other chains haven't done it why should SPG.
Regarding the people who traveled a lot less for business this year, I said it before and will say it again - if the specific status is important to you then spend your own money. If it is any status you are after then simply match to another program.
As for the people who were laid off, well in all honesty they should not be thinking about status as there are much more important things in life. If their situation has improved they will make it next year or they can match to another program too.
Lastly, while I was fortunate enough not to loose my job I definitely don't have my blinders on. There are people in my immediate family who have lost jobs and I understand very well the impact that can have on someone's life. Let's not get personal, please. We will just have to agree to disagree.