howtofreetravel

First year free so no annual fee

Keyser

your24 is a fantastic offering & in my opinion its one of the best perks spg offers....i have used it many many times & have only been refused once....

factory81

You are an exception to the norm then.

Keyser

i could say the same for you....

at the end of the day its not necessary that something that works for one person will work for the other....all the people i know who have access to your24 are pretty happy with the benefit....

zerolife

It's really a gamble depending on the Ambassador you get, however good Ambassadors appear to be rare. Those who have a good Ambassador will less likely give up his/her Ambassador so they are unlikely to have a slot open for a new member. I had two Ambassadors so far and while they are really nice, I don't think they have helped much with anything, but then I have not had any special trips like Honeymoon so far. Some hotel will give you extra perks with Ambassador status (fruit plates and once upgrade to Presidential Suite) but its very far between. Many times their system don't even display your Ambassador status

My recommendation is to take the $1000 dollar and treat your soon to be wife to a few nice dinners or pay for an upgraded room.

robertw477

SPG company is now in advanced talks with HYATT. Personally I would not pay $1000.00 for this. Not with the company and the program in play. I could see this with 1-3 nights, but not 9. I am Plat myself and the 24 benefit would be good for me in certain situations.

KSA_USA

My advice is save your money. Ambassador service is not worth it ( unless you get a good Ambassador which seems to be rare). I do stay more than 100 nights with Starwood. so I do have Ambassador but it adds no value to me. I stay more than 100 nights with Starwood because I like their properties not because of the ambassador service. my ambassador is a nice guy but that's about it.

I hope you realize that by being a platinum member you are entitled to have a personal platinum concierge. I had a great platinum concierge. much better than my current ambassador. unfortunately she left the company.

Congratulations on your wedding, I think you will be in safe hands in Dubai. all Starwood properties have great customer service. specially the Grosvenor House. call the hotel directly or email them ( or have your concierge contact them). I would be surprised if they did not treat you well.

Good Luck

sscywong

I was only a Pt50 in 2013 with is the first year I'm with SPG, and last year I've reach Pt100 since Sep and think can share with you my thought on Ambassador

I reached Pt100 because last year I suddenly had an extensive stay in one particular hotel for a job commitment. Since I was so familiar with the hotel (and vice versa happily) I really didn't think the Ambassador is useful as every single booking problem with the hotel can be resolved by directly calling the lounge manager I think I only reached out to my Ambassador twice: Once to redeem a hotel room which is not available online anymore, another was to handle a BRG claim mess

This year, my travel pattern changed a lot, comprised of lots of two to three days travel. Also my Ambassador changed. Now I'd say I'm really get used to sending email to my Ambassador and asked for help to sort things out for me, from getting Pt guarantee room to schedule change, room redemption, make special request to hotels like room types I need, missing points claim etc etc. She was so nice that had proactively help to ensure my family travel was smooth (though at the end the property messed it up a bit... Anyway not the discussion point of this post). Given my travel this year is mostly short trips, I think I can only reach Pt75 by end of the year

Will I miss my Ambassador after 31 Dec? No at the beginning of the year, but Yes now. So whether the Ambassador would be useful to you or not really depends on your stay pattern. I would say the more stays with different hotels you have, more likely you'll like Ambassador

donotblink

How does one set this up? What types of stuff can they do for you? Can you e-mail and call them?

I've e-mailed the platinum concierge general mailbox many times regarding stays, but they often get back to me too late, like 4-5 days after I e-mail them.

KSA_USA

Call the platinum line to make or modify a reservation. if you feel the agent is nice and knowledgeable, ask if she/he can be your platinum concierge. that's how I did it. my concierge was an extraordinary person. losing her was a disaster

Good Luck

Dr. HFH

I've used it maybe a half dozen times in the past year. I've never had a request denied. I think that it's a great benefit, and has been valuable tome.

entropy

seems like a meh benefit, but perhaps you can find a cat 1 to park a bunch of weekend nights and spend the 2k points a night = 18k to get the night credits.

laughinlab2001

I have it; completely not worth it.

cocacolaenjoy1

I just reached my 100 nights two nights ago and logged in today to see my contact info has been changed and I was assigned an ambassador. How long will it take for my ambassador to reach out to me? What questions do they ask? and how fast do they respond with email? Do they also call every property to make them aware of my preferences?

superangrypenguin

Useless for me. Absolutely useless.