Flews

Just following up on earlier posts to say, in my experience, I am seeing WAY more C&P availability since this change was brought in; at higher end properties as well as the more moderate.

Not necessarily taking advantage of it, because a lot of this availability doesn't seem to be as good a deal as it was before the changes, but at least the options are there.

Cheers,

tys90

I'm struggling pulling the trigger on what most people might consider decent redemptions now (2.5-2.7 c/p). Starpoints aren't as easy to aquire as airline miles but it's much easier for me to find a good hotel rate at pretty good hotels than a cheap international business class ticket. I think it's airline transfers from here on out for me.

flyboy60

So I'm going to be staying at the Westin Desert Willows in Palm Desert in a few weeks. In March, there was ZERO C&P availability for Palm Desert mid-week in the week prior to Memorial Day - which is utterly absurd, as half of those rooms will be empty. Now, with the new policy, Cash alone pre-paid is $119 per night. But - thankfully (sarcasm alert) I can now book C&P for a massively discounted $110 per night with only a 6000 point a night adder. I think that about says it all - under the new policy, 6000 points is worth $9

Steve M

You're comparing apples to oranges. The $119 rate is pre-paid, with no changes or cancellations allowed. The C&P rate is post-paid, with a 72-hour cancellation policy. To make an apples-to-apples comparison, you need to use the cash rate that has the same cancellation policy as the C&P rate, which is $159. That's still a lousy value for SPG points of $0.0082, but at least it's a fair comparison.

jerry305

Very good point. I find Cash & Points, and Points, bookings to be a tremendous benefit for just this reason, especially if I'm booking far in advance.

Keyser

just put in a brg claim for a $102 rate at the le méridien arlington....if approved, including tax the final rate will come to $112.20 for a refundable reservation....c&p is available on the same day for 6k points & $121 including tax....'lousy value' is an understatement....

flyboy60

For a direct apples to apples comparison, Cash + Points is $110 plus 6000 points, whereas points alone is 12000. This is the first time I have ever seen Cash + Points being so much worse value for the points than using points alone (in fact, the points alone rate is nearly twice as good), since the 12000 points equates to 1.325 cents per point (still not great), while the C+P rate equates to 0.82 cents per point relative to the fully cancelable rate. If this is in fact typical, than IMHO, Starwood has rendered the C+P program nearly worthless with the new valuations.

Pseudo Nim

Look up the Sheraton Sapporo. It's something like $75 + 6,000 points OR 7,000 yen per night straight up flex rate

jerry305

Strong words, man.

Cash & Points provides a set of rates that are not necessarily in lockstep with cash rates. And that's a good thing. It works both ways.

Right now, I've got a Cash & Points booking that would be $459 as a cash rate, or 5000 + $75 / night on Cash & Points. Actually, it's 4000 + $60 per night, because Starwood let us know about the upcoming changes in rates, so I had time to book at the old rate.

This experience is not guaranteed with every other property, and that's the whole reason FT'ers like this sort of thing: If you really want everything smoothed out so there's no discrepancies, ever, then there won't be any deals, either.

In your case, yeah, you've found one or two rates that don't work as well. There's probably lots more that are like that. But on balance, Cash & Points still works out great.

If you don't want to use a Cash & Points rate, then don't.

Okto

Would you mind sharing which hotel offers such ratios? For every one of these $400 - $500 cash rates hotels you can find as a Cat 4, I'll show you two that are either Cat6 or Cat7. Or if you prefer, we can find Cat4 hotels for 5000 + $75 where the cash rate would make the points hardly worth 2cpm.


I think it's exactly the other way around: In YOUR case, you've found one or two rates that work well. Most others are NOT like that. On balance, Cash & Points (coupled with the latest category increases) has been massively devalued.

I'd love to, but it's hard to get more than 2cpm when not too long ago it was no trouble getting easily twice that.

cabbate1

It strikes me as odd that a cat 4 property is charging $459. Most category 4 properties run an annual ADR of between $135 to $175. It is certainly possible that a major Citywide event is in town causing everyone to raise their rates which would indicate the market is supportive of the higher rate. Starwood is usually pretty good at closing out C&P during prime events, but it happens occasionally. However, it is far more likely that the hotel has taken a large discounted group and is pushing the rates up on their last remaining rooms to help push the average back up. Offering a $175 room for $459 doesn't suddenly change the value you are receiving.

KSA_USA

I am not sure what's your point!!. even under the old rate ( which is $90+4800 points for Cat 5 hotel ) I see no value in using C&P .

flyboy60

Perhaps, but at least under the old program rules, the per-point value was slightly over 1 cent per point vs. the fully-refundable cash rate, and C+P was still a roughly equivalent value deal as spending 12000 points for a cashless stay.

TallestHotelInJapan

"Slightly over 1 cent per point"... ?! That is an awesome BAD value! No worth in collecting points if this is all you can get our of your points! And yes, the guys here are correct, value went down and that is not a funny thing!

schley

I would say this is pretty bad, not good.