A year or two ago, this type of recategorization would have caused a firestorm of outrage on FT (regardless of whether this would have translated into any meaningful impacts in terms of stay frequency or loyalty). By any measure, it is a significant bump up in the cost of many properties (80% are going up while 20% are going down).
However, Starwood is blessed with good timing. This is not an "ordinary year" and it seems that everywhere you look benefits and rewards are being cut back or eliminated in frequent flyer and frequent stay programs. People are still reeling from the Marriott and Hilton changes, and Starwood looks tame in comparison. The current Starwood recategorization "sucks less" than the competition, and the current Starwood quarterly promo is competitive or in some cases marginally better than the competition. Starwood also has the distinction of being one of the few programs to provide additional benefits for high-valued guests last year with the implementation of Lifetime status and P50 / P75 / P100 categories.
As a result of being one of the better options in a sellers market, I have been steering a greater number of stays to Starwood this year and should hit the P100 level.
SG