Originally Posted by bhatnasx

I imagine that the reason that the hotel categories for those hotels that changed have changed because of demand. A hotel probably gets some sort of compensation for the redeemed rooms. I'm sure it also costs the hotels money every time they have an SPG members stay with them & everytime they pay out SPG points. As the number of redemptions go up at a particular hotel, I'm sure the "value" of those redeemed rooms go up - therefore, the hotels are probably allowed to change their categories based on the previous years redemption levels. Should a lot of customers use their points at a particular hotel, then I'm sure the hotels would be able to charge a premium (i.e. more SPG points) for their rooms. Its supply/demand. If you were able to look at the hotels that you have listed above, I'm sure that over the past year, their redemptions have increased significantly, thereby warranting a raise in redemption levels.

Sucks though, doesn't it?