I find it contradictory to suggest that *wood, a hotel chain, should physically manufacture its own loyalty cards, while in the next breath, you b*tch about how mediocre the program is. Its hardly a secret that it makes good sense, both economically and from a customer service perspective, for companies to perform the functions that are within their core business and contract out those things that aren't. Doing so allows them to focus on being the best at what they do and allowing others who specialize in other areas, to fulfill those needs. I'm sure this is why *wood doesn't manufacture its own TVs, weave its own sheets, mix its own cement, etc. (and, in my opinion, nor should they).

If the supplier for the SPG cards isn't performing well enough, I think *wood should do exactly what they have done and change suppliers. Given the bad luck they've had so far, maybe they should outsource it to a firm that has proven success at producing cards like, say, a credit card company. I'm sure American Express wouldn't have any trouble fulfilling the requirements (assuming they would do it, I don't imagine it would be cheap though).

For what it's worth, I qualified for SPG Plat in June of this year and my welcome pack and card arrived two days ago on August 3. The next day, a duplicate pack and card arrived, so now I have two identical cards. ^