"No Offense But There Are So Many Platinums"
Dec 20, 2011, 10:59 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Oct 2009
Programs: DL DM, SPG Plat, AMEX Centurion (And All That Goes With It)
Posts: 393
"No Offense But There Are So Many Platinums"
Just checked into a hotel and asked about an upgrade. The desk agent responded with, "No offense but there are so many platinums we can't upgrade like we used to."
Sorry to beat a dead horse with a stick, but this is telling. 25 stays/50 nights is a very low threshold for the top-level of a hotel program. Either there needs to be a higher level or something has to give.
Gold means nothing with the AMEX giveaway and SPG's eagerness to bestow it upon anyone who has ever stayed at a property one or two nights. Platinum used to be great, but I am constantly finding that the benefits, which hotels used to honor without question, have to be fought for nowadays.
Please, please SPG don't run this like Delta's Skymiles: where everyone is "special" everyone has "status" and you need to create newer tiers to make everyone feel "important."
If you spend 100 nights in a hotel like I do, you'd view this a bit differently but the reality is letting award stays count toward status and the 2 nights toward status from AMEX are going to destroy SPG. Soon, there will be rollover nights!
Truth is, if you want status, pay the price with money and time. Not everyone has to be important.
/Rant
Sorry to beat a dead horse with a stick, but this is telling. 25 stays/50 nights is a very low threshold for the top-level of a hotel program. Either there needs to be a higher level or something has to give.
Gold means nothing with the AMEX giveaway and SPG's eagerness to bestow it upon anyone who has ever stayed at a property one or two nights. Platinum used to be great, but I am constantly finding that the benefits, which hotels used to honor without question, have to be fought for nowadays.
Please, please SPG don't run this like Delta's Skymiles: where everyone is "special" everyone has "status" and you need to create newer tiers to make everyone feel "important."
If you spend 100 nights in a hotel like I do, you'd view this a bit differently but the reality is letting award stays count toward status and the 2 nights toward status from AMEX are going to destroy SPG. Soon, there will be rollover nights!
Truth is, if you want status, pay the price with money and time. Not everyone has to be important.
/Rant
Dec 20, 2011, 11:13 am
#2
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Dec 20, 2011, 11:17 am
#3
Join Date: Jan 2004
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Dec 20, 2011, 11:38 am
#4
Join Date: Mar 2010
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Just checked into a hotel and asked about an upgrade. The desk agent responded with, "No offense but there are so many platinums we can't upgrade like we used to."
Sorry to beat a dead horse with a stick, but this is telling. 25 stays/50 nights is a very low threshold for the top-level of a hotel program. Either there needs to be a higher level or something has to give.
Gold means nothing with the AMEX giveaway and SPG's eagerness to bestow it upon anyone who has ever stayed at a property one or two nights. Platinum used to be great, but I am constantly finding that the benefits, which hotels used to honor without question, have to be fought for nowadays.
Please, please SPG don't run this like Delta's Skymiles: where everyone is "special" everyone has "status" and you need to create newer tiers to make everyone feel "important."
If you spend 100 nights in a hotel like I do, you'd view this a bit differently but the reality is letting award stays count toward status and the 2 nights toward status from AMEX are going to destroy SPG. Soon, there will be rollover nights!
Truth is, if you want status, pay the price with money and time. Not everyone has to be important.
/Rant
Sorry to beat a dead horse with a stick, but this is telling. 25 stays/50 nights is a very low threshold for the top-level of a hotel program. Either there needs to be a higher level or something has to give.
Gold means nothing with the AMEX giveaway and SPG's eagerness to bestow it upon anyone who has ever stayed at a property one or two nights. Platinum used to be great, but I am constantly finding that the benefits, which hotels used to honor without question, have to be fought for nowadays.
Please, please SPG don't run this like Delta's Skymiles: where everyone is "special" everyone has "status" and you need to create newer tiers to make everyone feel "important."
If you spend 100 nights in a hotel like I do, you'd view this a bit differently but the reality is letting award stays count toward status and the 2 nights toward status from AMEX are going to destroy SPG. Soon, there will be rollover nights!
Truth is, if you want status, pay the price with money and time. Not everyone has to be important.
/Rant
True, there are some hotels where a see lots of plat. card envelopes sitting and waiting for guests to come. These are urban business travel hotels. I can live w/o getting a suite there -- club rooms are OK. But I'd like my suite upgrades when I travel with family and if I bump into 1 or 2 plats at places like Caymans, Bahamas or Venice that will be it. True, I see there quite a few golds -- but they are no competition for my suites.
Dec 20, 2011, 12:30 pm
#5
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: LAX
Programs: UA Gold/1MM, AA EXP, Marriott Plat
Posts: 963
Agreed. I feel like I always get suites when I could "care less" about them (ie when I'm by myself) and never get them when I travel with friends or family. It would be nice perhaps to get maybe 2 confirmable suites a year on top of the current SPG best available benefit.
Dec 20, 2011, 12:39 pm
#6
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Having said that, the FD agent could have been a little more tactful.
Mike
Dec 20, 2011, 12:42 pm
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Jan 2003
Posts: 8,720
If you spend 100 nights in a hotel like I do, you'd view this a bit differently but the reality is letting award stays count toward status and the 2 nights toward status from AMEX are going to destroy SPG. Soon, there will be rollover nights!
Truth is, if you want status, pay the price with money and time. Not everyone has to be important.
/Rant
Dec 20, 2011, 1:16 pm
#8
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Manchester, England
Programs: Bonvoy LT Plat, HH Diamond, IHG Plat, BMI Gold (RIP)
Posts: 8,013
A sample of one comment, from one agent, from one property, on one day is not particular telling in my experience.
Some properties are crawling with elite members, others far less so. William stated many times before that levels of Platinum members have stayed pretty steady over the years. Unless something has radically changed this year, then expect that to be the same.
I suspect that the total number of platinums in the program is a little more telling than a throwaway comment from an agent.
Some properties are crawling with elite members, others far less so. William stated many times before that levels of Platinum members have stayed pretty steady over the years. Unless something has radically changed this year, then expect that to be the same.
I suspect that the total number of platinums in the program is a little more telling than a throwaway comment from an agent.
Dec 20, 2011, 1:20 pm
#9
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Forget the FD / Deal with reality
What the FD said was uncalled for and supposition. But, even suppositions are occasionally true. All the FD ought to have said is, "sorry, there are no UG's available for your stay." End of discussion. The editorial comment is not necessary.
But, there is a kernel of truth in what the FD person said. It's true that so-called "elite" status is proliferating, yet the # of hotel rooms and accordingly the # of suites is not. More people for same # of rooms leads to fewer UG.
But, heaven forfend, the thresholds be raised.
But, there is a kernel of truth in what the FD person said. It's true that so-called "elite" status is proliferating, yet the # of hotel rooms and accordingly the # of suites is not. More people for same # of rooms leads to fewer UG.
But, heaven forfend, the thresholds be raised.
Dec 20, 2011, 1:32 pm
#10
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Join Date: Dec 2003
Location: LAX
Posts: 10,906
Just checked into a hotel and asked about an upgrade. The desk agent responded with, "No offense but there are so many platinums we can't upgrade like we used to."
Sorry to beat a dead horse with a stick, but this is telling. 25 stays/50 nights is a very low threshold for the top-level of a hotel program. Either there needs to be a higher level or something has to give.
..
Sorry to beat a dead horse with a stick, but this is telling. 25 stays/50 nights is a very low threshold for the top-level of a hotel program. Either there needs to be a higher level or something has to give.
..
I suspect FD folks are using this hard to check excuse more often - sadly SPG and individual hotels have very different vision of what status means.
Plus there is a widespread proliferation of upsells - the suite you are not getting will be offered to some non-status guest a few minutes later for $20-50 extra. Platinum benefit my foot...
Plus in you 100 nt/yr case - well, the reality is that hotels realize you'll be staying with them and paying your $ no matter what; they don't have to attract you as a customer anymore. It's new clients and new $ they care about.
Dec 20, 2011, 1:36 pm
#11
Join Date: Dec 2010
Programs: spg gold, CO Platinum, MR Gold
Posts: 619
I don't buy that "there are so many platinums" nonsense. I see no reason to believe there are more plats than before (in my area of relatively well-off pharmaceutical industry travel budgets seem to be getting tighter and tighter while 5+ years ago one could get approved almost any trip).
I suspect FD folks are using this hard to check excuse more often - sadly SPG and individual hotels have very different vision of what status means.
Plus there is a widespread proliferation of upsells - the suite you are not getting will be offered to some non-status guest a few minutes later for $20-50 extra. Platinum benefit my foot...
I suspect FD folks are using this hard to check excuse more often - sadly SPG and individual hotels have very different vision of what status means.
Plus there is a widespread proliferation of upsells - the suite you are not getting will be offered to some non-status guest a few minutes later for $20-50 extra. Platinum benefit my foot...
Dec 20, 2011, 1:51 pm
#12
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25 stays an year, without double stay, award or not, is almost 1 month out of the year.
An average person just doesn't not spend a month out of an year at a hotel.
The problem isn't really about how many Platinums there are, but how many SPG properties are unwilling to do anything for Platinums other than an one category upgrade.
If the club level benefit was never a part of Plat benefit, hotels would never upgrade Platinums into a club room. More reason for SPG to follow Hyatt and give out 4 confirmed suite upgrades per year and free breakfast :-:
An average person just doesn't not spend a month out of an year at a hotel.
The problem isn't really about how many Platinums there are, but how many SPG properties are unwilling to do anything for Platinums other than an one category upgrade.
If the club level benefit was never a part of Plat benefit, hotels would never upgrade Platinums into a club room. More reason for SPG to follow Hyatt and give out 4 confirmed suite upgrades per year and free breakfast :-:
Dec 20, 2011, 2:43 pm
#13
Join Date: Nov 2008
Programs: SPG-Plat, Hilton-Diamond, Club Carlson-Silver, Cathay-Diamond, Virgin-Gold
Posts: 2,183
I think the comment is not appropriate for the FD person to make but in regards to it I think more and more people are becoming aware of the various programs on offer.
The press talks about frequent flyer and hotel schemes much mroe than they used to so you get more people looking into them or possibly using them to their advantage more. What I think might be happening with the sucess of Flytertalk, tripadvisor and other things which were used much less in years gone by is people with status are doing their research more and picking hotels that treat Plats better!
An example of this to a degree is LeMerdien in London we have been staying there for years ever since it became part of Starwood but since it opened its club lounge the number of Plats staying has increased considerably as they are choosing it over other London properties and you can understand why!
So the ones that treated Plats bad still do but the ones that treat them well get more Plats now which means they struggle to give the upgrades as they maybe once did. There is also a suggestion that corporate travel picked up again in the last 6-12 months compared to the previous couple of years which means there might be more Plats on the road again looking for those upgrades!
As I cannot resist the old argument my vote goes to having a level higher than 50 nights, say 75 or 100 nights a year who get first allocation of upgrades etc but I can see from Starwoods point of view this might discourage a lot of people staying to aim for Plat if they know they will never reach a higher level and thus end up reducing the number of nights people stay which would be great for us loyal people but not so good for Starwoods bank balance!
The press talks about frequent flyer and hotel schemes much mroe than they used to so you get more people looking into them or possibly using them to their advantage more. What I think might be happening with the sucess of Flytertalk, tripadvisor and other things which were used much less in years gone by is people with status are doing their research more and picking hotels that treat Plats better!
An example of this to a degree is LeMerdien in London we have been staying there for years ever since it became part of Starwood but since it opened its club lounge the number of Plats staying has increased considerably as they are choosing it over other London properties and you can understand why!
So the ones that treated Plats bad still do but the ones that treat them well get more Plats now which means they struggle to give the upgrades as they maybe once did. There is also a suggestion that corporate travel picked up again in the last 6-12 months compared to the previous couple of years which means there might be more Plats on the road again looking for those upgrades!
As I cannot resist the old argument my vote goes to having a level higher than 50 nights, say 75 or 100 nights a year who get first allocation of upgrades etc but I can see from Starwoods point of view this might discourage a lot of people staying to aim for Plat if they know they will never reach a higher level and thus end up reducing the number of nights people stay which would be great for us loyal people but not so good for Starwoods bank balance!
Dec 20, 2011, 3:47 pm
#15
Join Date: Apr 2005
Programs: Starwood:Lifetime Platinum, Air Canada:Basic, Asiana:Lifetime Diamond Plus, ANA: Basic
Posts: 980
I have full respect for the truth.
If there truthfully are too many platinum and golds that night and can't give everyone an upgrade, I understand and somewhat appreciate the front desk doesn't give some nonesense answer like "Our suites are all booked" when they are really all taken by other plats who arrived before I did.
That being said. It maybe true that particular hotel has too many plats (you can't help if that hotel is popular among frequent flyers). That still doesn't mean every hotel has that many plats. I bet some of those half empty hotels in Starwood China hotels don't have many plats visiting.
William says the number of Platinum members have been relatively stable.
So some property are more popular to plat/gold members than others. You can just have to curse that the fact the ones you frequent are those most popular.
If there truthfully are too many platinum and golds that night and can't give everyone an upgrade, I understand and somewhat appreciate the front desk doesn't give some nonesense answer like "Our suites are all booked" when they are really all taken by other plats who arrived before I did.
That being said. It maybe true that particular hotel has too many plats (you can't help if that hotel is popular among frequent flyers). That still doesn't mean every hotel has that many plats. I bet some of those half empty hotels in Starwood China hotels don't have many plats visiting.
William says the number of Platinum members have been relatively stable.
So some property are more popular to plat/gold members than others. You can just have to curse that the fact the ones you frequent are those most popular.
