beachfan

I'm sort of boggled by this perspective. If it was a promo EVERY month, it would be a basic benefit, or at least a rotating basic benefit.

I don't see how they are taking a month away unless you feel entitled to continual promotions that somehow aren't basic benefits.

Land-of-Miles

That is a fair point but the reality seems to be that the this isn't just a month less, it is actually effectively moving from the typical quarterly rolling promo period to a single quarter of promo in a 7 month period. That means at least 1/3 of the year without any promo if the reports are taken at face value.

Clearly SPG can stack their promos any way they like but in a competitive market with many guests having status across multiple chains either by choice or to address property footprint failings, that is also dangerous if the competition continue to offer appealing rolling quarterly promos.

My guess here is that Starwood are conducting something of an experiment. They are gambling that the recent changes to SPG will be so effective in trapping frequent guests in order to keep or upgrade their status that they do not need to offer terribly attractive promos. This may also mean that whatever benefits accrue from the next promo will also be at quite a weak accrual rate, but no doubt we will find this out soon enough.

marlee1421

This promo seems to be an attempt at something new which could work out very well. Time will tell. Promos are not a basic benefit, but an enhancement of additional perks which should be embraced not thought of as a basic right. We should be grateful for the extras that promos provide.

sfozrhfco

It has been a FT myth that SPG has promos every quarter. For the past several years, there have been 3 real promos a year with gaps in between. Every year people post about quarterly promos when it has been repeatedly said that there are no quarterly promos in the true sense (Jan/April/Jul/Oct). The past few years they have been Jan/May/Oct--sometimes the Oct promo starts in Sept. Even William started this thread by posted it as next Promo 2012 and not Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 Promo.

If people come to expect three promos as is likely to occur each year, we can cut by half the number of posts in threads regarding promo speculation.

lkar

As I said, I like Starwood with or without promos. But they are not offering promos to be nice. They offer them to compete. So I guess the concept of being or feeling entitled isn't the right word. I don't feel entitled to any particular rate either. If it is too high, I stay somewhere else. What I wouldn't really like is if a hotel that charged $300 for a long time told customers, "you can now pay in any currency you like," but raised prices $50. Just raise the price and I will decide if the extra $50 is ok. If Starwood feels stong enough to have two fewer months of promos this year, that's great. And maybe what they give during the promos will make up for it. But to do it while telling me it's unprecedented in the industry is a bit much. Also, I can't believe they think so little of us that telling us our first choice is to choose which months we won't have a promo is funny to me. I would think maybe that should come as the third or fourth teaser after giving me the good news.

uxb

+1!!!

True. My guess is that the promo will have to do with the type of room you book.

schley

Who cares if people post asking for what the next quarter promo is. Some years there are 4 promos as when the double nights/stays were in 2009 in Q4 I believe. It is close enough to 4 and an easy way to group it, calm down tiger.

wannabeupintheair

I have no probs with the currently speculated Q2/Q3 promo as long as it is not eat-up days/period for the last promo of the year.

Given what we have heard till now, the last period "choice" for this promo might be "July to Sept", then I am sincerely hoping there will be no gap and last promo will start straight away. Also it will be very likely the last promo would end before the travel-heavy Christmas period starts. So given the way Nice Choice promo is structured, it very much seems the last promo will be of 30 to 45 days only.

I hope spg is not trying to do away with the last promo.

NavyTraveler

I see a lot of dialog stating that SPG is doing this and doing that but I don't think the promo rules have actually been posted yet? How does anyone know that you cannot participate in all three periods? Maybe you can do the first period as FWN but then can only do a points deal in the second period timeframe? Doubtful but as fact based as all the other posting so far? I, like all of you would love to know the details but maybe all should stop posting/complaining until we actually know what is being offered and stop stating what appears to be facts of the promotion until the details are rolled out...Once out....Then we can release the hounds with opinions.
Note: If I have missed the actual announcement, then let me apologize in advance for this post...

Santander

Nothing has been made official yet but there's some unofficial info about the promo in post #114.

Rolling Stone

What? And give up my chance to get 10 more free suite nights? No way.

Rolling (no sour grapes here) Stone

mikeef

Isn't that against the Flyertalk T&C?

Mike

Thunderroad

Definitely! Someone alert the Mods!

seaflyguy

+1

I read this forum (many on FT, for that matter) and am reminded of the line from Red vs Blue: "You know, you could bi*ch about anything."

Out of my Element

You think this is bad, check out the "rumored changes to skymiles" thread on the Delta board. 20,000 posts!