Jun 12, 2015, 7:15 pm
Last edit by: KENNECTED
This thread is for discussion of the new benefits & fee structure announced in June 2015. For general discussion of the SPG Amex, see SPG American Express [Master Thread].
Will the additional cardholders on my Starwood Business Amex account get access to the Sheraton Club lounge? What about guests in additional rooms I'm also paying for?
Will the additional cardholders on my Starwood Business Amex account get access to the Sheraton Club lounge? What about guests in additional rooms I'm also paying for?
"This benefit is for Basic Card Members only on Starpoint Eligible Rate reservations...Sheraton Club lounge access is limited to the eligible Card Member and a guest staying in the same room for the duration of the stay, regardless of how many rooms have been reserved." (See Starwood FAQs.)
Which hotel brands with the Sheraton name will offer the lounge benefit?The benefit is offered at all Sheraton-branded properties, including Sheraton Grand hotels, with the exception of any Luxury Collection property. It is not available at Four Points by Sheraton hotels.
Wiil I still get Club access if I book my stay with points or cash+points?Per Starwood Lurker in post #104, yes.
American Express and Starwood enhance cobrand credit card benefits
Jun 9, 2015, 1:55 am
#181
Join Date: Jul 2001
Programs: Marriott LT Tit; Hyatt Explorist; Hilton CC Gold; IHG CC Plt; Hertz (MR) 5 star
Posts: 5,536
My guess is, if the program runs well like AAdvantage, the system SHOULD recognize you as a SPG OPEN owner and automatically flags it so the lounge access feature should pop up for the check in clerk to see - much like AA automatically shows your Group 1 boarding and first checked bag free when you own the Citi AA card.
If the above fails, you can always present your SPG OPEN card at check in - 90% of the hotels we stay at, regardless of chain, always ask for a credit card at check in to put authorization on, regardless which card is used to back the reservation. Very very rarely the clerk would not need the presence of a CC to put authorization on at check in.
I dont see any issue to get the benefit as long as you do own the card at check in time AND award stay qualifies for the benefits.
Of course, a reply from William to clarify your situation is very much appreciated.
If the above fails, you can always present your SPG OPEN card at check in - 90% of the hotels we stay at, regardless of chain, always ask for a credit card at check in to put authorization on, regardless which card is used to back the reservation. Very very rarely the clerk would not need the presence of a CC to put authorization on at check in.
I dont see any issue to get the benefit as long as you do own the card at check in time AND award stay qualifies for the benefits.
Of course, a reply from William to clarify your situation is very much appreciated.
William, in Post 173, above, clarified that C&P and Free Nights are eligible for lounge access w/the SPG AmEX business card.
Jun 9, 2015, 7:37 am
#182
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 64
Sweet! Free boingo wifi at Hyatt and Marriott! Thanks SPG!
Jun 9, 2015, 7:56 am
#183
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Canada
Programs: AC E50k, A3*G, UA*S, MR Titanium, HHonors Gold, Carlson Gold, NEXUS
Posts: 3,669
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (BB10; Touch) AppleWebKit/537.35+ (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/10.2.1.3442 Mobile Safari/537.35+)
Lol 
Originally Posted by fmcfad01
Sweet! Free boingo wifi at Hyatt and Marriott! Thanks SPG!
Jun 9, 2015, 10:38 am
#184
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: AA, SPG, HERTZ, BA, UA, CO, JB
Posts: 289
Just noticed this change. I get Boingo free anyway and don't really use wifi at their hotels. FTF is nice but the $30 bump in annual fee is huge. Sounds like I'm done with Amex SPG card and keeping my PRG Gold.
Jun 9, 2015, 2:11 pm
#185
Join Date: Apr 2014
Posts: 64
That said, $65-$95 is a lot. The decision then comes down to, is 5 nights and 2 stays worth $95 to me. I think it still is. You'd have to pay more to earn those than $95, so still a decent perk if you don't use anything else. Helps inch your toward lifetime platinum or get you over the hump to platinum in a slow business travel year.
The other perks aren't valuable to me...back to Chase Sapphire Preferred.
Jun 9, 2015, 2:44 pm
#186
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: AA, SPG, HERTZ, BA, UA, CO, JB
Posts: 289
I've more or less stopped using my card. My personal spend doesn't really make the points earned worth it. If I could expense my business travel, that would be another story. Have to use a corporate card.
That said, $65-$95 is a lot. The decision then comes down to, is 5 nights and 2 stays worth $95 to me. I think it still is. You'd have to pay more to earn those than $95, so still a decent perk if you don't use anything else. Helps inch your toward lifetime platinum or get you over the hump to platinum in a slow business travel year.
The other perks aren't valuable to me...back to Chase Sapphire Preferred.
That said, $65-$95 is a lot. The decision then comes down to, is 5 nights and 2 stays worth $95 to me. I think it still is. You'd have to pay more to earn those than $95, so still a decent perk if you don't use anything else. Helps inch your toward lifetime platinum or get you over the hump to platinum in a slow business travel year.
The other perks aren't valuable to me...back to Chase Sapphire Preferred.
I spend about 15k on it annually mostly due to bigger purchases that I want some protection on (but never used, meaning I never used any of the return, warranty, purchase protection yet) and earn SPG points. I'm not heavy on SPG stays but rather stayed at Marriot more due to free breakfast properties. SPG is more for those one or two night stays at Sheraton/Four Points or Disney Swan/Dolphin stay.
At $95, it's harder to justify. 15k is worth about $300 to $450 to me but the same $15k spend may worth the same with a mix of UR/Discover/TY/MR. That $30, while not much, pushed me from having both PRG and SPG. So Amex likely will lose about $10k worth of charge while the remaining goes towards PRG (airline and gas only, restaurant for 5X goes to TY).
I do have to say that the ability to convert to ton of programs is very very valuable to a lot of people but considering my Ink Plus gives me that ability to the few programs that I care about converting to (United, Hyatt) and PRG gives me some of that, once again the increase pushed me over the edge.
Net net, looking at the responses here, it looks like Amex will lost more than they gain from this $30 increase.
Last edited by flyerwanabe1; Jun 9, 2015 at 2:52 pm
Jun 10, 2015, 2:39 pm
#187
Join Date: Mar 2011
Programs: Delta Skymiles
Posts: 1,982
This pretty much ensures I will cancel my PRG card... Possibly also my Platinum Card...
Jun 11, 2015, 9:11 am
#189
Suspended
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: YYZ
Programs: AC E50K (*G) WS Gold | SPG/Fairmont Plat Hilton/Hyatt Diamond Marriott Silver | National Exec Elite
Posts: 19,284
Sorry if I missed this, I didn't go through all 7 pages. Any time frame for the Canadian SPG Amex? (if any)
Jun 11, 2015, 9:24 am
#190
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Canada
Programs: AC E50k, A3*G, UA*S, MR Titanium, HHonors Gold, Carlson Gold, NEXUS
Posts: 3,669
Jun 11, 2015, 11:05 am
#191
Join Date: Apr 2003
Programs: B6 Mosaic, Bonvoy LT Titanium (x SPG LT), IHG Spire, UA Silver
Posts: 5,850
Just spoke to AMEX and they say that the Sheraton Club access through the Business Card will be for the primary card holder only and notes will be attached to the primary card holder's SPG number. So even if multiple people in the company have secondary SPG Business AMEX cards, none of them will gain entry to the lounges through the card.
This may be an incentive for new people to get the card but is not much benefit to existing primary card holders as those people like with our card are likely already Platinum SPG members.
This may be an incentive for new people to get the card but is not much benefit to existing primary card holders as those people like with our card are likely already Platinum SPG members.
Jun 11, 2015, 1:43 pm
#192
Join Date: May 2011
Programs: AA, SPG, HERTZ, BA, UA, CO, JB
Posts: 289
No, my comment is in reference to him cancelling prg and plat due to changes in the spg card. No forex for prg and plat is only positive, no? Also $20 increase by prg is very minimal compare to the new benefits ($100 airline fees) whereas this $30 increase for free wifi/no forex is pretty bad.
Jun 11, 2015, 2:06 pm
#193
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EUG
Programs: AS MVP, AA MM, HH Diamond, MR Gold
Posts: 8,223
I also don't want to read through 13 pages...if my renewal date is December, I'm good until then, right? It's not like everyone has to pay $30 extra in August?
Jun 11, 2015, 2:11 pm
#194
Company Representative - Starwood
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Austin, Texas
Programs: Marriott Employee Level
Posts: 31,593
Best regards,
William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
[email protected]
Jun 11, 2015, 6:36 pm
#195
Join Date: May 2009
Location: EUG
Programs: AS MVP, AA MM, HH Diamond, MR Gold
Posts: 8,223
Thanks for that, William. It will only postpone the inevitable for me (cancelling the card).
While I really like earning Starwood points/having the card, they fall short in so many areas for us.
No breakfast is huge for us (both Marriott and Hilton have so many properties where it is included, plus the gold status we have with Hilton gives it to us at ALL their properties (that can mean worth up to $50/day/stay since we don't like to tumble out of bed and leave the premises). Worth way more than the Hilton annual fee, plus the ratio of points brings it close to *wood. (12 at Hiltons, 6 at restaurants and supermarkets, 3 everything else).
Same with Marriott - lots of properties that include breakfast, we earned Gold legit with them so Club Access at their FS properties. And a FREE NIGHT each year more than covers the cost of the annual fee.
What will cover the cost of the annual fee with the Starwood card? For retired dinosaurs like us who don't need Wifi and have no idea what Bongo is?
Nothing...
While I really like earning Starwood points/having the card, they fall short in so many areas for us.
No breakfast is huge for us (both Marriott and Hilton have so many properties where it is included, plus the gold status we have with Hilton gives it to us at ALL their properties (that can mean worth up to $50/day/stay since we don't like to tumble out of bed and leave the premises). Worth way more than the Hilton annual fee, plus the ratio of points brings it close to *wood. (12 at Hiltons, 6 at restaurants and supermarkets, 3 everything else).
Same with Marriott - lots of properties that include breakfast, we earned Gold legit with them so Club Access at their FS properties. And a FREE NIGHT each year more than covers the cost of the annual fee.
What will cover the cost of the annual fee with the Starwood card? For retired dinosaurs like us who don't need Wifi and have no idea what Bongo is?
Nothing...