Originally Posted by
bhrubin
It's no different than the W Maldives or the StR Bora Bora. We don't have to like it, but it's in no way surprising. The owners know they will have a high demand and very luxe property in an extremely high demand location, and they want to earn as much profit as possible as with any business.
Having a few exceptions at super-aspirational properties cheapens the program as a whole and erodes trust to an extent that can't possibly be made up for by the extra revenue from a few extra points in locations that have a very high difficulty bar to reach (MLE, BOB). As I said, I'm not surprised--just expressing my sentiment that it's BS given the way hotels are already categorized on price and room quality has a significant impact on price.
Hilton, Hyatt, etc have easily made points millionaires due to tie ups with more generous/stupid banks (Citi->Hilton) or easy to accrue transferable currency (Chase->Hyatt). SPG doesn't have this problem - most Starpoints are hard earned and making a Cat 7 redemption already a significant point load for even a high elite ... A plat 75 needs to spend over $35k w/ SPG (or about $150k on their SPG card ... again, a high bar) just for 5 nights at most St Regis hotels, for instance.