SPG Gold is useless. SPG Platinum is fantastic. There's a huge gap between the two levels.

No its not bad , but its not as close as I thought to the center of town.
But she said it was in a nice area with luxury shops and not too far , but there is only a ten euro difference in the rate between the 4P and sheraton

I'd love to be SPG Platinum. If they only had hotels in more locations I could do it. However as they expand some of the newer brands it might be more doable in the future.

I'm actually somewhat shocked I'm now SPG Gold — and the main thing I'm looking forward to is just getting a few more points per stay.

JRB is shut down right now thanks to the city transferring the operations over to a company that is not approved by TSA to operate the facility. :td:

You'll get the most mileage out of your SPG Gold status if you book some leisure stays at non-US properties somewhat off the beaten track. Don't expect much at flagship hotels in places like Paris, Rome, etc. However, you could probably expect decent treatment as a Gold at some of the Hacienda properties in the Yucatan, Le Meridien Den Haag, Some of the smaller Italian Cities, the Moroccan properties, etc.

Yeah, and that's fine.

I just checked and next year I might actually be able to pull off top-tier status at Hilton, SPG, and Marriott. Once I start working full time in Columbia, SC :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes: I'll have all three options available. If I balance my stays out among the three, and take advantage of any stay/night bonuses that SPG offers — those helped me get to Gold this year — I might be able to do it. It also helps that I can hit Marriott Platinum with only a few stays over those that are required for Gold, thanks to the 15 night bonus I automatically get each September for having the Marriott Visa.

Over the next few weeks I've got to look at my work schedule and plot this out, but I think in 2009 the stars might align just right to allow it to happen.

I think I'll pick out a new Aluminum Pole this year. Perhaps someone could bring a travel-sized one to BRU so we can have a belated Box Airing of Grievances?

Does the Box even have grievences? Will you represent the Box's Head of Household(Head of Boxhold?) for the Feats of Strength?:D

CAE isn't that bad, there's some darn good food there.

We're going to be getting absolutely hammered on Belgian Beers. I'm sure we can concoct some grievances, if necessary. Drunken Icy Canal-Swim sounds like an excellent candidate for a feat-of-strength. :D

I definitely know one way of getting the grievances aired. All that's necessary is to assert that Chilean wines are generally superior to Argentinean wines. :D

Thanks for the encouragement. I'm sure it won't be awful… but I'm not really looking forward to going there every week for 18 months either.

DL used to operate 752s into CAE.

I would love to… if only I could make the BRU Do.

That discussion should be reserved for the SCL DO in 2010.