craz

nope many didnt like that it was for Weekends only and complained that Hiltons was good anyday of the week and any Hotel, while SPG also limited it to Cat 6s, same with Hyatts FFNs any day any Hotel

It worked out great for me thou, this 1 doesnt so for me its a yawn but as I posted its a ^ for those that it can work for.

sent

Yah, it means that because I'm still going to stay at Starwoods during the gap period, I am really loyal.

And it means I have to teach my husband to stop picking vacation dates that straddle quarters that are likely to put us out of promotion periods. Our last trip was at the end of March through early April and the one Hilton stay we had on that trip started exactly on the date their Q1 promotion ended. Now I have the same thing happening with this Starwood promotion. Oh well, win some, lose some.

myperks

haha... i'm going on vacation tomorrow, also staying 3 times during the Q1Q2 gap period with the last check-out on May 1st .

Robinjoym

It is interesting to note how many people felt compelled to reply about this promotion since I posted my comments a few days ago.
What I don't like about THIS promotion compared to prior promotions where guest would earn free nights after 2 or 3 paid nights is the limitations on where you can redeem the free nights..... only resorts, not all resorts. I understand that it may help Starwood promote their resorts, many of which would be underoccupied in off-season. But, I am disappointed that they have chosen to limit the redemption options more than in previous years.

mahasamatman

It's a different limitation. Last year was a weekend limitation, which was fine for some people and not for others. This year it's a property limitation, which again is fine for some and not for others. For our travel patterns, last year was better, but I also understand that's the way the cookie crumbles and look forward to future promotions that will be more advantageous to us.

By the way, the spreadsheet now has hyperlinks to all the resort properties.

sc flier

A few posts ago, I wrote about my redemptions during the past two years (Greece in 2009 and Italy in 2010). It's worth noting that a similar trip to Greece this year could be completed entirely with FRNs thanks to not being limited to weekends. However, the Italy resort options are not particularly enticing since most Italy properties are classified as hotels.

A good pairing of properties for a trip to Europe might be found with a trip to Nice and Monaco. Spain has a nice selection on the list, too.

sent

Hmmm, one of our stays that falls immediately after this promo ends is at Le Meridien Nice. However, if I do earn a free night through this promotion and am able to apply it toward our stay, then I'm assuming that it can only be redeemed for a "classic" room and not a "seaview room" which is what we want. Is this correct?

filelover

Great point. I try to evaluate the quality and richness of the promotion to decide whether it is a good promotion or not. This one seems pretty good although might not work out for me based on my travel patterns in 2Q. Hilton 1Q was great, and I think the 2Q (1000 pts/night) is poor. SPG 2Q is pretty good - my opinion of course.

[QUOTE=dcstudent;16232961]I recognize I'll get some hackles up by saying this but I'm somewhat surprised by the complaints after every promo announcement along the lines of: "This is a horrible promotion because it doesn't work for me."

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sc flier

That's correct. Standard room types only.

You could contact the hotel to see if maybe they would let you pay extra for an upgrade or redeem an Instant Reward for an upgrade. Such an option would be at the discretion of the hotel, though.

DCFlyer0306

This promo doesn't work for me at all. I unfortunately do not have the time or ability to make use of rewards nights that are only usable at resorts between now and December.

I'm thinking of moving my stays to Hyatt - their points-based promo offers a lot more flexibility and after a few more stays I will have already re-qualified with SPG.

DownUnderFlyer

I think it is a nice twists on last years free weekend night promo. Less flexibility due to the focus on resorts but more flexibility due to a higher category hotels and usable during the week as well.

I am actually surprised how Starwood has pulled this off internally. Because all the XXX Airport Sheraton/4P/Westin will get additional revenue through this promo will all resorts on the planet will have to cope with an influx of low value customers potentially during peak travel season.

And thanks to mahasamatman and all the other who contributed to the spreadsheet.

ihdihd

From a marketing perspective this is a very smart promotion for starwood. Why?

1. As a % of the catalog of SPG hotels, Resorts are more off the beaten path than non-resort hotels. This is important because for many/most, earning 2 or 3 nights will be accompanied, by virtue of a longer vacation, by a big dump of high cat redemption points or $$ paid nights to round off a real vaca.

2. It is clear that SPG is going through a large marketing effort/branding campaign with the pack your bags, new site, ad buys etc. This is a great way to keep the momentum going.

3. Wonderful way to bump utilization at some under-utilized properties. Starwood's resorts are not shabby places to vacation, especially once you get to the 5+ cats. For many, that will translate into a solid booking for a honeymoon, word of mouth recommendation or more down the line.

4. From reading some of the early posts, it seems like some will be shifting business from Hyatt and other programs to take advantage here. This is going to be make the brand managers very happy to hear!

Personally, I'm now looking at saving many many points by booking into the princeville using 5 free nights via the promo as opposed to spending many many points at the property.

ihdihd

For those complaining about the resort fees (and I am one of them), I would think that an action brought to the attention of the NAD (http://www.nadreview.org) would bring about quick change with respect to the advertising practices. I would imagine that Starwood would then rather fold these resort fees into the program than dilute the program's message by not being able to use the word FREE anywhere (and, having fairly good knowledge of the NAD's past decisions, they wouldn't be able to use it).

So why isn't this done yet?

1. It costs about $100K to bring about a decent challenge in front of the NAD. The only group who would pay that would be another group chain operating by slightly less scrupulous standards of advertising. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that there is such a group (and if there is, they really should mount that challenge with the NAD)

2. If an NAD action were dished out against starwood, and they removed fees, they would probably bake them right back into the nightly rate, or make for many annoying a la carte services. Want to use the pool, it's a daily $15 fee. Nothing says your room has to come with a pool, gym access, etc, other than competitive pressures. When you're on a honeymoon, either you have no choice, or don't care enough to mount a challenge to the fees.

flo0816

In general I agree but if SPG comes up with a promotion that does not give ANYTHING to people staying longterm, like in my case, 28 nights at a 200$+ property, that's not a promotion but it's win some, lose all. There would be simple ways to deal with that. Hilton for example did it last year by giving people a choice between one free night for 3 stays/10 nights or double points. Very simple, you chose what works for you. In my case, this Q2 promo simply led to a cancelation with SPG and a booking with Hilton (even though their promo is not great either). That's over 5.000$ less revenue for SPG. That's what I'd call bad marketing, wouldn't you?

KSA_USA

not necessary. because it is very likely that someone will cancel his/her Hilton booking and go with Starwood.

like you, Hate the stays promotions. I hate switching hotels.