How would that even work, you're not booking through SPG so wouldn't in theory be eligible for points. They'd still pay for those points so I don't get what they'd gain here - distribution costs ?
Regular SPG properties can indeed push points to your account, I didn't know design ones could also. I guess they can.
I'm not naming the property - not to be a tease but because it's a nice hotel with great standard benefits for a Design Hotel (basically lounge-style benefits for everyone) at a good price and if I can get both the benefits *and* SPG nights + points then I wouldn't want that to change.
I was using this example to illustrate how Design Hotels appear to be using SPG simply as a marketing tool and not as a reservation tool. Certainly, I wouldn't have found it or booked it if it wasn't on SPG. Now I know about it I will follow their instructions next time. If they get chucked out of SPG as a result then I won't stay there again so the loss would be their's.