Sphinx

Same experiences here with the Seoul Properties. But got a good suite upgrade at the Phuket property.

Keyser

of the properties you have mentioned i have stayed on more than one occasion at the sheraton phuket, le méridien phuket & the sheraton singapore....have received suite upgrades for all my stays except for one....got a lagoon access room at the sheraton phuket once....

will be staying at the sheraton bandung & the sheraton surabaya next month so can let you know about those 2 properties then....

flyersfo

So from what I'm reading here, I'd be thrilled with SPG Platinum if I used the program exclusively in Europe or Asia. Lots of upgrades, VIP treatment overseas. So why doesn't SPG crack down on its hotels in North America and insist they match the treatment that is being offered abroad? Part of what I find so annoying is the lack of any special treatment in hotels in the U.S. that are, clearly, empty as a result of the recession. In my last stay at a Westin in California, where I received a very plain room, I appeared to be the only occupant on the SPG floor. Late at night, mine was the only room with a "Do Not Disturb" sign posted. The restaurant was empty -- totally empty -- the next morning. This was last month.

Barefootdr

Another Plat perk that hasn't received much mention in this thread: In Japan and elsewhere in Asia and around the world, some SPG properties charge for pool/spa/workout access... another Nice perk for PLAT is complimentary spa access.

Lurker(s), please pass on to management a big DOMO ARIGATO.

Like so many others here including saad, flyingscots & TomT... "I'm a happy camper" with SPG.

PS: for those who haven't visited Bangkok, the FREE breakfast choices(2 places) and evening cocktail services(3 places for Plats..I love the Sala at sunset) at the SGS.... as well as the evening cocktail service in the Towers lounge at the SRO; make it difficult to leave the hotels for the great outside dinning to be found in one of my favorite cities.

Football Fan

I like SPG Plat, but I rarely ever get upgraded to suites, I think (might have to do with the fact that I usually book the cheapest possible rate)...sometimes you have hotels who will never do it although you can clearly see online that they still have availability - when I once politely asked why they give you the "oh what you see there online is incorrect" excuse, which is the most annoying part about it.

But overall, what I really like about SPG Plat:

4 p.m. checkout (I think you already get it as a Gold, but it's definitely an advantage over Hyatt/Hilton)
Free internet (Hyatt has this as well, advantage over Hilton)
Lurkers (advantage over Hyatt/Hilton, however Hyatt has the personal line representative, which is awesome as well)
Suite upgrades (I prefer the confirmed Hyatt system and 4 per year is enough because you really only need it when you go on a vacation, but SPG still miles better than Hilton)
Plat is worse than Hyatt and Hilton when it comes to the free breakfast

mahasamatman

That all depends on (a) how often you go on vacation, and (b) how long your vacations are. Since all our travel is for pleasure, and most of it is weekend trips, limiting it to four per year would really handcuff us. And even on the long trips, we generally don't sit in one place, so even those stays are rarely longer than three days each.

Football Fan

Obviously more is always better, but I personally would rather have 4 guaranteed ones than 20 hit-or-miss. Yes, it is nice to be upgraded to a suite on a business trip when you are traveling alone, but to me personally, it doesn't make that much of a difference. But when you go on a vacation with your girlfriend, the perceived benefit of getting upgraded to a suite is that much greater. That was the one thing (among several others, but that was the biggest disappointment) that really turned me off from the HHonors program - no upgrade at all for a HH Diamond at the Hilton Barbados for the one big vacation trip (not even to speak of a suite - no upgrade at all). I couldn't care less about being upgraded at some Hilton in London while I am there for business.

Of course YMMV. I was just giving my perspective.

scubadu

Actually, it's not a radical course at all, it's what clear thinking consumers do in market economies. And frankly, folks on FT have been whining about this for a pretty good long time now.

Contrary to popular belief, large, global corporations in today's world tend to respond when they see clear data in response to a change in product, policy, or service (i.e. revenue decline, loss of volume, etc.)

What they don't generally respond to are a relative few FTers sitting in front of the glow of our monitors, day in and day out whining about things, but continuing to support the program via their spend patterns.

Money talks, "FT whining" walks... I assure you if SPG saw a clear pattern in the data that demonstrated a greater than average defection of SPG PLT customers they would take action.

Regards

Alpha

My travel has been entirely in the US.

Do I believe that SPG has promised me a suite? Absoutely not. But at risk of sounding rude, I don't believe you. And by "you," I mean whoever was checking me in at basically all of the properties I've stayed at in the last year. I find it awfully hard to believe that, with the exception of the Four Points SFO Airport, not a single one of those hotels had a standard suite "available" upon check-in.

FD1971

You brought up some good points from a real market(eer) perspective, however one has to look a bit deeper into the agreements between the hotel chain and franchisee to really figure out who is taking the (financial) burden
( including opportunity costs, especially for breakfast ) of perks like free breakfast, a Plat/Diamond Amenity and upgrades.

Although, mainly considered a disadvantage from a customer point of view, the relatively low amount of Hyatt properties is def. a huge advantage when it comes to organizing promos, such as Faster Free Nights / Next Best Thing. Generally, more or less all international Hyatt properties are on the same page in many 'customer service' related things, an advantage chains like SPG or Hilton do not have, clearly resulting in many communication problems and service issues.

On the bottom line, however, you are absolutely right and one can take airlines as a prime example. Although the American society and media are crying about the poor service mentality of most of their airlines, those companies simply reflect and offer what the American society wants and pays for, nothing more, nothing less. It is absolutely comparable with the hotel industry...

FD1971

Typical risk averse German attitude...and I cannot agree more.

As pointed out numerous times already, 4 confirmed suite upgrades plus some more suite upgrades based on luck, status, a smile checking in etc. is preferable to the SPG suite upgrade roulette...

Kudos for SPG Marketing for buying some time with the recent 1000 points in April promo.

Good ad hoc marketing giving them time to see what the competition will put on the table, to analyse SPG card holder staying patterns etc.

Hopefully, they conclude that they have to offer something similiar in summer...

Keyser

i usually take 2 vacations per year but am on the road for work almost 3 weeks in a month....

if my client's budget allows it then i book a suite all the time....if not then i request for one at checkin....a junior lawyer from my office usually accompanies me on pretty much every work trip....we conduct conferrences & have meetings with our clients while we are on road trips & i usually like to have them in my suite....i don't like people besides my friends & family to enter my bedroom so an extra room comes in handy....

4 confirmed suite upgrades just won't cut it for me....in fact, while on vacation i'm not really bothered with suite upgrades....if its a special occasion then i will simply book the suite....

Football Fan

Hehe .

By the way, let's not forget that you can get more suite upgrades with points at Hyatt, too - and confirmed suite awards. These would be nice additions to the SPG program.

However, I cannot complain - just recently got (I think with William's help) a plat override award (even though the hotel was trying to apply a blackout date) during the world cup in Cape Town and am posting this from a suite at the SGS.

mtensioners

I get suites about 70% of the time as Plat. Mostly I dont care but at WDW in MCO last sept it was nice. I had 2 children and spouse. We were given a King room joining a LR and the far BR was 2 queens. A week of this was perfect 3 big screens a DR/LR for eating and planning a 2 separate BR's was useful but 3 baths was the icing on the cake with 3 females. When traveling alone quiet King is fine.

Fuego

Hi SC Alum,

I stayed at Sheraton Surabaya 3 times and was upgraded to Suites all 3 times.

First stay was in 2004 and my last stay was in 2007, just fyi.


Cheers!