CubaLibre

pretty weak promo.
no need to concentrate my stays on Starwood during Q2/2011...

SceneStealer7

I was debating some of the Caribbean properties for a getaway this week, and learned through the Plat desk that a few properties offer all-inclusive (Aruba and some in Mexico) for $100/person/night. While at first they say you can't pay with Starpoints, after further inquiries, the hotels will usually agree to let you pay the inclusive fee with Starpoints on check in... for only 7500 Starpoints per person per night. I thought those fees were absurdly high, so opted to go to St. Maarten and not do an all-inclusive.

See here for a list of the Mexico properties that have the inclusive option:
http://deals.starwoodhotels.com/prom..._LAD_PROMOTION

mahasamatman

I'd say so.

MelanieS

I am not clear if I will stay 6 consecutive nights and not check in and check out, I will receive 1 or 2 free nights certificates. Can this offer be combined with other promotions?

mahasamatman

You will not get any. You need three separate stays for each free night.

MelanieS

So I will have to check in and check out every day to get the promo?

mahasamatman

You will have to change properties. Consecutive nights at the same property count as one stay even if you check out and in every night.

Unless, of course, something gets messed up. But don't count on it.

sc flier

Welcome to FlyerTalk, marlee1421!

IMO, the resort fee complaints are not well placed in this thread at this time. But resort fees are a long-standing problem that SPG has failed to satisfactorily address not only with award stays but also with paid stays. So until SPG adequately addresses the mandatory resort fee issue, they're going to hear a fuss anytime that offending resorts are mentioned on FT. SPG is not alone in the blame for the adoption of mandatory resort fees, but their actions and inactions have helped to allow the problem to persist and spread. (And in some places such as the Westin Whistler, it appears they have gone away, I'm pleased to see.)

While I do not wish to perpetuate negative discussion about the topic in this thread, I think that a thread with resort fees (and other mandatory fees) as the topic would be quite appropriate.

Regardless of anyone's stance on the issue, I think mahasamatman's spreadsheet is a great addition because it helps bring forth facts for us all to see a bigger picture of the issue. Of the participating SPG "resorts" in the US, Canada, and Caribbean...
45% are charging resort fees.
55% are not charging resort fees.

Until now, I couldn't have told you how that broke down. I helped mahasamatman with gathering the data, and I will send him some minor updates. I hope that a reasonable discussion will continue in a new thread and that the discussion expands to also raise awareness of similar fees at a few SPG hotels (non-resort).

Service Charges for FRN awards
mahasamatman, my understanding is that service charges on award stays are covered by SPG per the SPG T&Cs. Even if they were not, the service charge for the SPG member would be a percentage of $0. I have no reason to think that the FRN awards will be any different. There was some discussion about the topic in the following thread...
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...ard-stays.html

Even though they don't apply to award stays, I like that the service charges are being disclosed in your spreadsheet because many guests may still be combining their FRN award reservations with some paid nights. If I had just 2 FRN awards and wanted to go to St Maarten, I'd stay longer than 2 nights. And if I were interested in that, I'd be glad to realize that that property charges both a resort fee and a 15% service charge.

dankyone

I am surprised so many are complaining about this--some outstanding, very expensive properties are on the list and I am very happy with this...

sc flier

As am I!

The thing that probably surprises me most is the number of people here who can't seem to find even a weekend for a resort getaway between June and late December. Are some of these people the ones who need this promo most?

controller1

Probably, and Starwood even made it easier on them. It doesn't have to be a weekend!

mahasamatman

The big problem for us is that we already have a lot of travel planned, but there just aren't resorts in most of the places we're traveling. In the few places that do have resorts, we'd basically be swapping a Cash&Points award (mostly Cat 3 and 4 properties) for a FRN, so I'm basically valuing FRN at around 5,000 points each. If airfares ever drop to Hawaii, a weekend is a possibility, but when they want $800 or more to get from SFO to Hawaii, it's much harder to justify.

Thunderroad

Not the best promo ever, and I don't know if my wife and I can use it. (By definition, that makes it not the best promo ever.) Still, as evinced by this thread it will come in very handy for some folks. And maybe we can squeeze in a long weekend out of it.

I guess the problem for some of us might be booking a plane flight in anticipation of standard rooms still being available by the time we've accumulated the free nights. But that's our problem, not Starwood's.

Anyway, thanks Starwood. And thanks, William, for posting the news and answering all the questions.

cnerup

Good one - you get all my business anyways - but I love this promo. 3 months to log some serious nights.

SanDiego1K

Nice work. Thank you.