jlb3

I'm excited for this. SPG seems to have some nice properties in inner cities and out west. Obviously, the SPG elite people are getting screwed. The upside is we get so few definite benefits in MR Rewards it's hard for them to take anything away! I am hoping they include SOME of the SPG perks -- 4pm late checkout would be amazing.

I think I read somewhere that 3/4 of SPG properties are outside the USA, with 2/3 of MR properties are inside the USA. So regarding DOJ approval, I doubt they'd block it since there isn't that much overlap. And where there is (big cities) there are so many other options it's hard to press the non-competition issue.

deac83

Former PP (for around 7 years IIRC), currently FT Plat and SPG Plat-100. I stopped staying at Marriott because the top end PP was completely inconsistent. Treated great 10% of the time and the rest as a regular Plat. SPG has more tangible benefits as a Plat than Marriott ever has.

- 50 nights - Plat - 10 suite night awards (now they also have some alternatives to choose from). Allow you to request a suite upgrade and they will try and confirm 5 days in advance and check until you arrive. Of course there is not guarantee you'll get to use all of them as they expire each year.
- 75 nights - Your24 (request alternative, confirmed if available, checkin or check out times)
100 night - assigned a personal Ambassador (direct phone number to a single point of contact). This is a mixed bag as some Ambassador's bend over backwards for their pax others only respond when spoken too. If they are not there you roll over to another Ambassador that, in my experience, provides equal or better service. I had one help us use free weekend certs in Hawaii when we only tried to book the rooms just 14 days in advance at a hotel which was almost sold out (based on available inventory) then on top of that we were able to use our suite night awards to ug from a 300 sqft room to a 900 sq ft ocean view and diamond head view room. That was all done in advance and we didn't have to beg the front desk for an upgrade, which seems to be more the norm at Marriott (even as a PP).
- FWIW 4pm check out is not guaranteed, if the property is sold out that night they can easily deny it, happened to us in Hawaii (online res showed zero availability) but they did make some accommodations for us. But at Marriott they make you feel like you are asking for them to get some special approval from Mr. Marriott himself to allow it.
- also there are points bumps as you go through the additional plat levels
- The point add ons. My typical week my base points is around 1,200 per stay, that doubles to 2,400 with my level bonus. Take the points for a 'gift' 500, green on a 3 night stay 1000 points, so 3900 for one 3 night stay. Doing the math, 1,500 point for the add ons is more than my base stay points. For reference the Sheraton on Oahu or the Westin in Paris are 10-12 points per night, so it's a pretty good haul of points for one week.
- Sheraton's normal UG policy on rooms does include suites

As for Marriott (some of the reasons I left)
- 'beg' for late check out or you have to make them look up your status to get it done
- 'beg' for that suite upgrade

Marriott benefits
- definitely more options, especially in Europe. We spent a few weeks in Spain (outside the main cities) this year and leveraged the AC Hotels and were treated very nicely there. SPG only in Madrid and Barcelona
- Agree the lounges are generally better
- Quality of the hotels are more consistent. You know what you are getting with each brand.

DJ_Iceman

Yeah, it would be amazing if SPG actually honored it, too. In my many years as a SPG gold and plat, that particular benefit has NEVER been honored when I've asked for it. I've had pretty dismal success with the amazing suite upgrades others brag about, too, so to me MR has always been a superior loyalty reward program.

If Marriott can bring Starwood properties up to a consistent level of customer service and quality, that will be a tremendous victory for us as guests!

deac83

90% of the time the front desk asks me, when I check in, if I want a 4pm check out, but that is as a Plat. I've only been denied 4pm when they hotel was actually sold out, usually do to large conventions or events in town.

Agree suite nights are a challenge and a lot of people complain about them, which is why I believe they have alternatives but I think the suite is the best value for them if you can use them. I've been successful 2/3 of the time but I've been able to use them all on vacations. Also, the suite night can be combined with award stays.

SPN Lifer

During the past few years I began a long-term quest toward Marriott Rewards lifetime status. So far I am barely halfway to MR Lifetime Silver, even using my Chase Marriott and JPM Ritz-Carlton Visa cards for rent and estimated taxes (sharply reducing withholding), and taking advantage of MR Platinum status to move excess UA miles over to MR at 50K per year.

Assuming the conversion rate is not too bad, at least 1:3, it would be nice to have my existing Starpoints count toward this goal. And nights, of course, but I was never a very frequent guest.

It would be even better for me if all Starpoints ever earned were attributed toward my MR point total. I bought 104 Inside Flyer subscriptions @ $60 each in mid- to late-2002 for 260,000 Starpoints.

That would be a nice windfall.

leeky

the points are great BUT you still need several hundred bed nights for S/G/P LT status

hhoope01

It all depends on the hotel and that local management there. Whether the hotel is sold out or not should only be an issue at a hotel designated as a Resort or Conference hotel. Otherwise, you're supposed to get it, period.

Unfortunately, my experience was varied with Late Checkout. I even got the Lurkers involved in one situation and the hotel still didn't budge.

It's like the suite upgrade benefit. Most of my travel was in NA and outside of one hotel in Toronto (which isn't a Starwood hotel any longer) I very rarely ever got a suite. I know lots of folks here on FT talk about how great this benefit is, but outside of that one hotel, I can count on one hand the number of times I received a suite upgrade. (I was a Plat for about 4 years.) So in reality a lot of those "extra" benefits SPG Plat gets you, I just didn't see. And that is why I haven't been a SPG Plat for the last few years.

I will say that while I doubt Starwood's consolidation with Marriott will adversely affect me as much as others, I am a little sad in that it is nice to have points in a bunch of programs. When I travel somewhere being able to look at 3 or 4 different program award availability is very helpful in my ability to go where I want to go rather than being forced to go where my hotel program of choice happens to have award hotel availability. And I'm worried that this might be signally a more general hotel industry consolidation and that could make it harder to find award availability where/when I want to travel.

CLEguy

Then immediately call SPG corporate care or contact the Lurkers here. The property being sold out is irrelevant. If it isn't a resort or convention hotel, they cannot deny the benefit.

hhoope01

Per the rules? You are correct. In reality though, some can and do still deny it.

TMM1982

+1

JHake10

I'm also hoping any SPG points and nights accumulated will count towards Marriott Lifetime Status. I'm only 120K points away from Lifetime Gold (already have the nights). Any little bit helps!

Boraxo

Why do people find this so useful? When I travel on business, I usually check out @8am if I have an evening flight back as I don't want to spend valuable time running back to the hotel for my luggage. It is a rare occasion when I pack up at lunch, but even then I am out by 1pm. The only time I've needed a room after 12 is when I have a flight that departs at 10pm-3am, and in that case I always pay for another night as 4pm doesn't help.

As for leisure trips, the 4pm checkout is not guaranteed at Resorts and IME is rarely available (lucky to get 1pm). Of course, Resorts are the only place I personally need late checkout as it makes it possible to change clothes after a day at the pool, etc.

Absolute

Current points you hold at the time of a merger, or your lifetime in the program? I don't think I've seen anywhere on SPG where you can access that, although you've made me curious now.

drowelf

Silver ain't much on UA these days. I doubt that United will even notice.

sdsearch

Or not!

In other words, until/unless we're assured that lifetime points from SPG will be transferred (somehow) to lifetime points at Marriott, and/or we find out that (if) the Lifetime Marriott program will get rid of the lifetime points requirements because (if) that data was not kept in the SPG program, it seems to me we want to avoid spending any SPG points, in case only the SPG points we currently have, not any SPG points we have before, count towards lifetime points at Marriott. (For those chasing Marriott lifetime status and shorter on points than nights, at least.)