remymartin

This isn't a benefit, it's an Easter egg. Very cool ^

Quasiconvexity

You forget Hyatt's year-end gift of 50K UA miles to select Diamond elites last year. At least in SPG's case, the qualification criteria are clear.

I think this is a great gesture overall! ^

yyznomad

Oh... didn't realize that they were chocolates initially...

Keyser

because starwood is probably the only program that gives away these random gifts along with their regular published promos & benefits....

Keyser

i agree....i think its a great gesture as well....i remember a few years ago when hilton first devaluated their points, they gave away a free night to some diamond members but not to all....that didn't make sense....atleast starwood is giving away the free nights to all members that hit the 9 brands....

geminidreams

Unfortunately Elements only seem to be located in the US. Makes it difficult for some of us to achieve this.

Kenji

@those of you got this gift: did only payed nights counted or also reward nights

GVA

IIRC at St Regis I had points and cash and one points redemption. All other brands paid as straight cash.

TerryK

Then SPG should not have given out 3 free nights to anyone to save revenue. It was neither promised nor advertised.@:-)

I thought the point is to get members to try out all brands. You never know, I may actually like Aloft or Element.

PTahCha

Great surprise!! I missed out Le Meridien and St. Regis last year.

On a side note, Element Dallas was the only property last year where they recognized the Ambassador status at the front desk, as opposed to the standard Platinum membership greeting. They also sell Texan cabernet in the lobby shop - that was interesting.

ENIAC

Nice touch SPG. Thinking back, I've never been in an Element and I think last year I also missed Luxury Collection. I may also have avoided Aloft.

The number of people who hit all 9 is probably quite small. That suggests an interesting point: without FT and similar sites SPG probably wouldn't bother with this kind of thing as word would not spread far enough to justify the effort. Thanks to these networks it can count on a much larger number of people find out, and maybe even making a few extra bookings in case it is repeated.

ZenWorld

I thought fun awards are interesting, but it should be made into an established annual target. This drives revenue for different Starwood properties.

Besides the 9 different brands, different Starwood regions can set targets like how many cities in the region to visit to hit an established target for fun awards (i.e. hitting target of 10 different cities in AsiaPac = 1 free night in AsiaPac region etc), or major cities that has multiple Starwood hotels (min. 3 different brands in same city? - so if Starwood is under represented in a major city, we can make some noise too - like Tokyo), can set a target to SPG members to visit all the different brands in the city. (i.e. one free night in Taipei after visiting all different brands in Taipei.)

All these can be sub-awards and fun things for SPG followers to do while they pursue their necessary stays to renew their elite status.

Hope Starwood Marketing considers coming up more of such fun awards, and we can see if we can adjust our stay patterns to bring us to interesting places that we may otherwise miss without the incentive by Starwood.

DallasEsq

I think by doing this, you're going to have several FT folks stay at all 9 in 2013, hoping for the surprise. That they gave this generous bonus will already result in extra stays this year, without actually having to give away the rooms for this milestone ever again. Making the formal announcement could result in a less desirable outcome for SPG; those people who are one brand short can stay one night and get three free nights.

remymartin

OK, here's another Easter egg / benefit suggestion - award people who've stayed in properties in every continent. Or every country. SPG could partner with Delta to do a MR+MR!

uxb

+1, I've been getting Easter eggs in the form of cupcakes, gummy bears, (mostly) fresh fruits and beers/wines throughout most of my stays in 2013. Clearly, the marketing is working. Whilst I did not receive three nights, the excellent treatment hasn't gone unnoticed, as I went out of my way to give SPG more business. They still have a long way to go to recover from BedBugGate 2012, but my experiences have mostly been positive. Had a great time at Cubs Spring Training via SPG Moments. Actually looking forward to what surprises may be in store for us at St. Regis Bora Bora. Also, crossing the LT Gold mark should be interesting.