I've stayed in the hotel back in October on a regular paid stay, booked via SPG. I've received starpoints for my room charge, but no welcome points. According the the FAQ at spg.com "Gold Preferred Guest and Platinum Preferred Guests will automatically receive Starpoints as their elite welcome gift – 250 Starpoints for Gold Preferred Guests and 500 Starpoints for Platinum Preferred Guests per Partner Stay." So no choice of a welcome amenity or free breakfast.

So I've contacted SPG in November and I've got an email that they'd review the stay. Nothing happened in the past 4 weeks so I've emailed them again this week and they asked me to 'call them' to inform me about the status. Called them today and I was quite surprised to hear the Hotel Proverbs Taipei does not give welcome points to SPG Plats. Apparently they have chosen to opt out from that promotion. I've told the customer service rep that nor spg.com nor starwoodhotels.com mention any specific terms & conditions on the welcome points, it is published as a rule for all Design Hotels.

It's the first time that I hear that Design Hotels, within their limited SPG benefits, can even further limit the benefits. Any experiences with this?