Originally Posted by
aero0729
Starwood is a terrible program. It is a fact that the earn and burn it bad and the customer service stinks the big one:
1. 3 points per dollar is weak whe you consider category 1 hotels start at 3,000 points. $1000 spend - a free night. At Marriott you get 15 points per dollar as a plat and free nights start at 7500. That means $500 in spend earns a free night. As you go up the category chain Marriott always makes more sense.
2. There are no Starwood hotels...good luck finding one in rural areas.
3. Promos stink and they will BITE you when you find out the hotel you stayed in doesn't participate. Marriott promos all hotels participate.
4. Breakfast at CY Marriott is not included but Aloft hotels has the worst food and beverage of any mid-range hotel. All heated up junk. Also if you want breakfast it will never be a full breakfast at SPG and will take the place of your check in points making the earn and burn even worse.
5. Calling SPG over the phone has been a disaster. Helpless people who have no common sense or are not empowered. I usually hang up with SPG wondering what happened.
6. I never find SPG properties are a good value for the money.
Well, sorry to hear that. Seems from your profile you stay in other chains a great deal, so not sure how much experience you've had with SPG. Of course, soon SPG will just be a memory, so you needn't be so upset. And many of your comments/complaints seem to be addressed in the upcoming combination of MR and SPG.
With the SPG AMEX, a PLT member ends up getting 5 pts per dollar, 6 with PLT75, so that helps bring down the spend needed for the free nt. I've found CS to be equal to or better than some of the other chains, but YRMV. Also, many SPG properties offer both the PLT amenity and free breakfast, and if they don't it can't hurt to ask for both. That often works. I'm not a big fan of hotel breakfasts in general, as they usually are substandard and unvarying, but occasionally there are some outstanding one, not just at the high end properties. I don't like the targetted promo plan SPG runs, but then Hyatt does the same, and with a much smaller footprint and higher cost, generally.