Originally Posted by DfwAAMileRunner
Information about the Starwood VIP program is not officially published information. Therefore discussing it on a public forum is not appropiate. If you would like to find out information about the program you should contact Starwood directly so they can decide what they would or would not like to disclose about the program. They can be reached at (914) 640-8100 during normal business hours eastern time. I will not publish the platinum desk number, but if you happen to have it the reps there may be able to legitimately answer your questions.
Oh, how I love it! A company doesn't publish information, therefore we should not discuss it? Yeah right. I have news for you, there is a lot of information that ALL companies (not only Starwood) do not publish. Things like their sanitary scores on the health inspector reviews, the true amount of executive compensation, the last time a hotel was renovated, whether their customer service is outsourced to India (or elsewhere)....the list goes on and on. Bringing things like this into public view and allowing people to make their own decisions about whether something is important to them and whether it will impact their purchase decisions is perhaps one of the greatest things about the Internet. Discussion of these "hidden" items should be encouraged, not squelched.
With regard to Starwood's 7 levels, it only re-enforces how useless Gold status really is.