RichMSN

And it was done in a way that nobody can change what they did (or would have done) in 2011. I find it hard to believe that only a few people are disappointed in this. Oh, well, I can try to stay 50 nights in 2012, I guess.

jammanxc

i feel violated... thankfully each property operates differently unless they change the different Platinum tier names, there is no way for them to tell at check-in if the guest is a Platinum+ or Platinum ++ lol........ dont worry, all platinums will still be treated the same. (returning platinum guests at properties will be treated better)

jammanxc

basically this is in response to starwood platinums who complained to starwood about achieving platinum which is way too easy for 25 nights. They just added the 10 suite nights for them and ambassador to keep them quiet.

SPG loves its 25 stay platinum guests, trust me....... how many platinums will leave to Hyatt if they announced a new top tier level with a new name

stimpy

Wrong. I earned these upgrades by giving Starwood hotels my money last year. I was loyal to them and they were loyal to me by giving me upgrades and points for those 50 nights. Nothing blind about that part. This extra suite bonus is on top of that, to repay me for my loyalty.

You guys have case of misplaced anger. You should be angry with yourselves rather than Starwood. I know I would feel that way if I did 49 nights. If you had given them more business, you would have the suite coupons too. It was entirely your choice. Had you done those extra nights, you would have earned extra points. You knew that going in, even if you didn't know about the suite coupons.

Starwood Lurker II

Qn 1.

FAQ 1.What is an SPG Suite Night Award?

It is a one-night confirmable upgrade to a standard suite or select premium room, depending on the hotel’s room designation and availability. Please note that hotels without Standard Suites or upgraded room types will not be available for Suite Night Awards, nor are Suite Night Awards available at vacation ownership or residential properties. Specialty Suites, including but not limited to presidential, honeymoon or multiple bedroom suites, may not be eligible for Suite Night Awards.

Qn 3.

There is no definite answer. It would depends on the type of suites offered by individual properties for the suite awards, determined by individual properties.

[email protected]

Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

ski1stoney

This conversation is not about standard upgrades or the points you earned off of 50 nights. Yes, you very much earned those!

This conversation is in regard to the suite bonus awards that were announced today, and I am sorry, but I still maintain that Platinum's with 50+ nights were blindly retroactively rewarded. Due to the suite bonus awards taking priority over a standard upgrade, it is my opinion that these bonus awards will eat up a large share of an already limited suite inventory.

I am very happy for the Platinum's who get to enjoy these suite awards...this is a great perk. I am just disappointed that Starwood decided to not use a more fair approach for these awards. Why not allow ALL Platinum's the ability to earn bonus suite awards for every X amount of stays? Just as it is not fair that I have 49 nights and wont receive a single award...it is equally not fair that someone who has 100+ nights earns the same amount of bonus suite awards as someone who has exactly 50.

trog

I think that only a few people who regularly post to this board have expressed disappointment so far in the new Plat Lite status and how it was retroactively applied to last years nights because many people here are business or atypical leisure travelers who stay 50 nights a year in SPG hotels anyway, regardless of any promotions, and are pleased about their unexpected benefit.

The newly minted Plat Lites who were loyal to SPG and directed almost all of their stays at Starwood hotels, but still didn't quite make 50 nights cannot be too pleased, especially if they see their previously meager upgrade percentages drop even further due to this.

Whether this new Plat Lite level benefits SPG depends on if any increased travel due to these changes from people who typically stay more than 50 nights more than offsets business lost from Plat Lites who decide that this status is no longer worth the effort and will now direct their stays to whatever chain is offering the best short term promotion.

MSPeconomist

To see some more critical comments, look at some of the locked threads from last night discussing the changes after we knew the details but before the official SPG announcements in the eight or so announcement threads started by our Lurkers. If you now go to about page three of the thread listings for this forum, you will find the discusssion from about twenty-four hours ago. To me, there seems to be a notable contrast there compared to the "official" threads for these changes, which tend to appear to be cheerleader style when they're not asking for clarification in the official rules,

paul577

The suite night awards have not been handled well. In every description of Platinum, there has been a reference to 25 stays or 50 nights. Now, overnight, and without notice, it becomes 50 nights only for the purposes of this reward. I do find this disingenuous. To make matters worse, it seems the 50 nights can include some Amex-based night awards not available to many if not most members. Consequently someone staying 50 nights at the Fargo Four Points can enjoy guarenteed suites on future stays in more desirable hotels while someone having stayed 49 at a 5* property @7 or 8 times the cost , but without the Amex, gets ...nothing . Bizarre.

Rambuster

Yes, it's indeed one's own fault entirely.
In my case my crystal ball was out for polishing towards the end of 2011. Serves me right!

Land-of-Miles

What is worse is that it also undermines confidence in the programme overall.

If targets which impact status benefits are going to be set retrospectively how can anyone have 100% confidence in the programme moving forward? In 2011 I thought (in line with all the programme material) that 25 stays would get me full Plat benefits I actually made 30 stays but find that my benefits have been diluted after the event.

What is to say the suite night award hurdle will not suddenly change to 65 nights for the 2012 year but this will be retrospectively announced in Feb 2013? What is to say that "Double Dibs TM" suite night awards will not be announced retrospectively in Feb 2013 for those who hit 88.5 nights in 2012 and allow holders to have us mere Plat Lites removed from a property for not being attractive enough

Suite Nights awards is potentially a massive programme benefit but the implementation has been badly mishandled and obviously causes resentment from those of us who lost out to an arbitrary target because we do not possess crystal balls.

TooMuchTravel73

Questions: 1) If I earn the 10 nights this year, then I have March 2013-March 2014 to use them (If I'm reading this right)
2) If I attempt to use them at a property, say the Westin Europa in February 2014, and they don't clear, will they still expire or will the 1 year re-start?
3) How will the confirmations happen? If there are 2 suites that are available and 10 plats are trying upgrade, is it the luck of the draw? the one that pestered the GM? is it based on the date of reservation? or?

This stems from my concern that it might not be a benefit at all; IE if its the luck of the draw, I can see that I'd try to use them on a vacation, fail, and find out that the next vacation was outside the 'upgrade' window.

Land-of-Miles

Here is a constructive suggestion rather than a moan, which may do much to pick up the concerns that I and other Plats who failed to qualify for the suite nights awards under the current terms.

Offer us a challenge so for instance if we hit 25 or 30 nights by the end of April 2012 we will pick up the same 10 suite nights as other Plats. If we don't make the challenge then too bad that will be down to us and at least we have had some control. The nights accrued under such a challenge should also count though towards the 2012 qualification numbers for the 2013 year just to ensure a level playing field.

The terms of the suite night awards allow for awards to be given in respect of promos, so how about a special promo for us non qualifying Plats? Since there seems to be only about 4 of us here that shouldn't cause too much disruption right?

Flews

Excellent promo. Looking forward to enjoying my additional benefits!

Cheers,

derpelikan

do i like the changes ?

well i love the awards count towards status. its so easy to receive platinum now.

as it is now possible to reach platinum so easily through 25stays, i feel that giving an incentive for people to reach the 50nights is a great idea.
(last year i had 57stays and 61 nights...) you guess, yes i jumped betweeen chains and brands.

is the confirmed suite upgrade affecting other Platinums, i dont think so. there is a certain set of suites in a hotel, most platinums will still get a very good upgrade. (but of course this depends on the region you are travelling. europe and asia are much better than usa.)

so i plan to use the 10 nights i earned last year, well i dont know when. i get a suite in 90% of my stays anyway, so the only time i can think of using that upgrades are for hotels, where i know that they tend to not give good upgrades (for example hotels in italy ! and certain hotels in japan are not giving good upgrades, there i would use the upgrades)

so for me its a nice bonus, but most of the time i dont need the upgrade vouchers, as spg platinum is already a very good program.

i like the idea of getting free breakfast, sometimes, you dont have a lounge. in this case, i would love to get the free breakfast.

the best part of the new program i have found is, the this

Time on your side. Also get access to our new Your24™ benefit, which allows you the flexibility to choose your check in time. For example, if you check in at 9 p.m., check out at 9 p.m.

for me this is the best benefit of all changes.
as a frequent flyer, i often arrive at a hotel, and have to wait for a room.
some hotels want half of the rate if i want into the room at 7am etc.

so this benefits, is really good for us flyertalkers. why is nobody talking about this?


i am greatful for the changes, it makes it so easy to reach platinum, and i will try to clock the missing nights to be platinum lifetime in 2014

thanks spg

dp