(Member's proposal): 100K+ spend on SPG Amex = Platinum status
Sep 25, 2013, 9:12 pm
#16
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: san francisco.
Programs: Marriott Ti, OW Ruby
Posts: 1,852
I support the OP. Currently have top status in Hilton, Marriott, and IHG through credit card usage, and would love to see SPG (and Hyatt) have a comparable offering in their program.
Big credit card spenders don't stay as frequently in any of these chains as those who travel often, so it's doubtful that a significant amount of upgrade opportunities would be denied to those who earn their status from nights stayed. Simply put, a few of us have the ability to demonstrate a different form of loyalty to these chains, and that should be rewarded.
Big credit card spenders don't stay as frequently in any of these chains as those who travel often, so it's doubtful that a significant amount of upgrade opportunities would be denied to those who earn their status from nights stayed. Simply put, a few of us have the ability to demonstrate a different form of loyalty to these chains, and that should be rewarded.
Sep 25, 2013, 9:46 pm
#17
Join Date: Jun 2007
Location: JAX
Programs: UA Plat MM, AA Gold MM, Marriott LTT, Hyatt Globalist
Posts: 3,770
I agree. Plat status should be earned that old fashioned way. Hilton is selling Diamond through CC spend and increased the requirements for stays/night, further slap in the face for those of us who earn our status.
Sep 25, 2013, 10:17 pm
#18
Join Date: May 2005
Location: Houston (IAH,HOU) / Kāʻanapali (JHM,OGG)
Programs: UA GS 2MM, AA P 2MM, DL PM, US P, VS G, SPG LT P, HH D, HYATT P, PC P, AVIS PC, HERTZ PLAT
Posts: 970
$100k is far too low. It should be at least $5M/yr... err first born?
Sep 25, 2013, 11:06 pm
#19
Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: B6 Mosaic, Bonvoy LT Titanium (x SPG LT), IHG Spire, UA Silver
Posts: 5,847
You can already get Platinum status for $100,000 in credit card spend. Just redeem all the points earned at category 1 and 2 hotels and you can easily do the 23 stays with points or not much extra cash. With free nights and cash and points nights now counting for status, it is really not that difficult.
Sep 25, 2013, 11:50 pm
#20
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: India
Programs: Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, IHG Plat, HH Gold, Trident Plat, DL Diamond, AI Maharajah
Posts: 29,677
if spg & amex started offering the card worldwide then maybe (just maybe) i would agree with you....
Sep 25, 2013, 11:57 pm
#21
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: Marriott LT Tit; Hyatt Explorist; Hilton CC Gold; IHG CC Plt; Hertz (MR) 5 star
Posts: 5,536
You can already get Platinum status for $100,000 in credit card spend. Just redeem all the points earned at category 1 and 2 hotels and you can easily do the 23 stays with points or not much extra cash. With free nights and cash and points nights now counting for status, it is really not that difficult.
You get 2stays/5nights per year just having the card.
Book a night at a cat 1 once a weekend for 23 weekends on points. 46K points used.
Make platinum with $46K/yr spend.
If you have to do it with a cat 2 hotel, it's still only 69K points for 23 weekend nights.
Sep 26, 2013, 2:19 am
#22
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: California
Programs: Hyatt Global, Marriot Lifetime Titanium
Posts: 2,282
Sep 26, 2013, 7:42 am
#23
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,570
Billing your client for it? 
That's how I've "earned" most of my hotel statuses over the years...
I did hit SPG Plat one year with no employer-funded stays...happened to have a lot of inexpensive weekend trips where I could pick up Sheratons or Alofts for $60-80/nt. By October I realized I'd need to hop a bit to hit 23 stays so a lot of them were 1-nighters. But even then I doubt I'd played the "earn" verb too strongly. If I eat 9 burritos to get the 10th one free, it feels silly to say I've "earned" a burrito.
Back to the point at hand, when SPG carved out the "Plat lite" level, I really did expect them to tie in a CC benefit. Everybody knows SPG Gold is lame: I figured it was Starwood's way of dangling a bigger carrot to the credit card holders while keeping the "real" (for lack of a better word) Plats first in line for the suites. Who knows...it might still happen.
That's how I've "earned" most of my hotel statuses over the years...I did hit SPG Plat one year with no employer-funded stays...happened to have a lot of inexpensive weekend trips where I could pick up Sheratons or Alofts for $60-80/nt. By October I realized I'd need to hop a bit to hit 23 stays so a lot of them were 1-nighters. But even then I doubt I'd played the "earn" verb too strongly. If I eat 9 burritos to get the 10th one free, it feels silly to say I've "earned" a burrito.
Back to the point at hand, when SPG carved out the "Plat lite" level, I really did expect them to tie in a CC benefit. Everybody knows SPG Gold is lame: I figured it was Starwood's way of dangling a bigger carrot to the credit card holders while keeping the "real" (for lack of a better word) Plats first in line for the suites. Who knows...it might still happen.
Sep 26, 2013, 9:28 am
#24
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2001
Programs: DL 1 million, AA 1 mil, HH lapsed Diamond, Marriott Plat
Posts: 28,190
Big credit card spenders don't stay as frequently in any of these chains as those who travel often, so it's doubtful that a significant amount of upgrade opportunities would be denied to those who earn their status from nights stayed. Simply put, a few of us have the ability to demonstrate a different form of loyalty to these chains, and that should be rewarded.
Sep 26, 2013, 9:32 am
#25
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, AC Elite, Airmiles Gold, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
Posts: 785
You are not far from the truth. SPG Plat is already included with Amex Centurion. Don't bother with application -- invitation only
. I don't know what's Centurion's projected/expected annual spend (http://www.ehow.com/about_6597617_di...dit-cards.html says $250K [$5K initiation fee plus $2.5K annual fee] -- well above that meagre $100K proposed here). You can easily upload $30K-$40K in one visit to a Brioni pre-season sale
.
And no comparison to Hilton program, please -- much worse than SPG (discussed in other thread around here about thousand times)
. Marriot is more comparable -- $180K for Plat, they say?
. I don't know what's Centurion's projected/expected annual spend (http://www.ehow.com/about_6597617_di...dit-cards.html says $250K [$5K initiation fee plus $2.5K annual fee] -- well above that meagre $100K proposed here). You can easily upload $30K-$40K in one visit to a Brioni pre-season sale.And no comparison to Hilton program, please -- much worse than SPG (discussed in other thread around here about thousand times)
. Marriot is more comparable -- $180K for Plat, they say?
Last edited by Medved; Sep 26, 2013 at 9:40 am
Sep 26, 2013, 9:47 am
#26
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: MCI
Programs: AA Gold 1MM, AS MVP, UA Silver, WN A-List, Marriott LT Titanium, HH Diamond
Posts: 52,570
I would consider Hyatt and SPG comparable to each other, albeit rather loosely.
With the Marriott card, you earn 1 EQN for $3,000 spend. Their card is designed primarily for use at the hotels (as opposed to SPG Amex, which is a good general spending card), so it's highly unlikely that anyone would spend $180,000 on the Marriott Visa without staying at the hotels. That would be a horrible waste of $180,000 in spending, considering the value of 180k MR points vs. pretty much anything else: 225k Avios, 180k SPG, 540k HH, some other airline miles, or even 2% cashback.
A more likely case is that the Marriott Visa enables a 55-ish night guest to hit Plat where they would have otherwise been Gold. Or a 30-ish night guest to hit Gold where they would have otherwise been Silver. Considering it's effectively a free card to hold as long as you can find a place to use a Category 5 certificate each year, anyone who stays at Marriotts should probably have it.
Sep 26, 2013, 9:53 am
#27
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: YYZ
Programs: Marriott Bonvoy Lifetime Titanium, AC Elite, Airmiles Gold, Hertz Gold Plus Rewards
Posts: 785
I would consider Marriott and HHonors comparable to each other. Both in the styles and brands of the hotels as well as how they treat their elites.
I would consider Hyatt and SPG comparable to each other, albeit rather loosely.
With the Marriott card, you earn 1 EQN for $3,000 spend. Their card is designed primarily for use at the hotels (as opposed to SPG Amex, which is a good general spending card), so it's highly unlikely that anyone would spend $180,000 on the Marriott Visa without staying at the hotels. That would be a horrible waste of $180,000 in spending, considering the value of 180k MR points vs. pretty much anything else: 225k Avios, 180k SPG, 540k HH, some other airline miles, or even 2% cashback.
A more likely case is that the Marriott Visa enables a 55-ish night guest to hit Plat where they would have otherwise been Gold. Or a 30-ish night guest to hit Gold where they would have otherwise been Silver. Considering it's effectively a free card to hold as long as you can find a place to use a Category 5 certificate each year, anyone who stays at Marriotts should probably have it.
I would consider Hyatt and SPG comparable to each other, albeit rather loosely.
With the Marriott card, you earn 1 EQN for $3,000 spend. Their card is designed primarily for use at the hotels (as opposed to SPG Amex, which is a good general spending card), so it's highly unlikely that anyone would spend $180,000 on the Marriott Visa without staying at the hotels. That would be a horrible waste of $180,000 in spending, considering the value of 180k MR points vs. pretty much anything else: 225k Avios, 180k SPG, 540k HH, some other airline miles, or even 2% cashback.
A more likely case is that the Marriott Visa enables a 55-ish night guest to hit Plat where they would have otherwise been Gold. Or a 30-ish night guest to hit Gold where they would have otherwise been Silver. Considering it's effectively a free card to hold as long as you can find a place to use a Category 5 certificate each year, anyone who stays at Marriotts should probably have it.
. Just don't want to get off-topic here: Plat for CC spend. My answer to this is current Amex Centurion which is comparable in spend to Visa Marriot @ $180K. That's it. No need to invent a wheel again.
Sep 26, 2013, 1:28 pm
#28
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: West Coast, USA
Programs: Skywards Platinum
Posts: 3,747
I support the OP. Currently have top status in Hilton, Marriott, and IHG through credit card usage, and would love to see SPG (and Hyatt) have a comparable offering in their program.
Big credit card spenders don't stay as frequently in any of these chains as those who travel often, so it's doubtful that a significant amount of upgrade opportunities would be denied to those who earn their status from nights stayed. Simply put, a few of us have the ability to demonstrate a different form of loyalty to these chains, and that should be rewarded.
Big credit card spenders don't stay as frequently in any of these chains as those who travel often, so it's doubtful that a significant amount of upgrade opportunities would be denied to those who earn their status from nights stayed. Simply put, a few of us have the ability to demonstrate a different form of loyalty to these chains, and that should be rewarded.
Applying for a credit card with a hefty sign-on bonus, running a bunch of charges through your business or "the mint" to get 100k, and now all of a sudden somebody is loyal?!
I can see it now... A guy has top tier status in every single major chain via credit-card spend and claims loyalty. Who exactly are you being loyal to?
Sep 26, 2013, 1:41 pm
#29
formerly declinespecificinformatiom
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 1,140
It strikes me as odd that Starwood would choose to reward someone who spent 50 nights in a Fourpoints more than someone who spends 30 nights at a St. Regis. Plat for hotel spend would be interesting.