Oxon Flyer

Other than the increase in C&P rates, some SPG members, particularly in the UK, have been hit with an additional “devaluation” as the USD cash component has increased in price by about 20% due to the step change in exchange rates.

That said, if you can find C&P availability, there’s still a sweet spot in high season at, for example, a cat 5 property where the points rate increases from 12,000 to 16,000 a night, and cash rates are north of USD500. C&P rates don’t increase in high season, so 6,000 + USD110 is good value.

rockysinghmn

I have used it once

controller1

I have not used Cash & Points at all since Starwood took the value away from it.

Keyser

i do the same thing ever since spg changed the c&p rates....before that i used c&p quite often....

later this month i have a stay coming up in nyc at a cat 5 property that is $155 for the first night & $320 for the second night....if i did c&p then it would have set me back $220 + 12k points for the 2 nights....by paying for the first night & using points for the second night its now going to cost me $155 + 12k points....

schley

Correct this is a good example of using C&P where you have high season awards nights. The C&P doesn't increase, however the award nights do. Good point and usually I just use points for the cash price value of starpoints for the difference in C&P and awards is not high enough for me.


1 3,000
2 4,000
3 7,000
4 10,000
5 12,000-16,000
6 20,000-25,000
7 30,000-35,000

C&P

1 1,500 + $30
2 2,000 + $35
3 3,500 + $55
4 5,000 + $75
5 6,000 + $110
6 10,000 + $180
7 15,000 + $275

OK so taking out the fifth night free/high season/reduced weekend on cat 1 and 2 here are the prices (cents per point) SPG is selling to you to use C&P instead of all points for award nights. BTW the lower the better.)

1 $30 for 1.5k points = 2 cents per point
2 $35 for 2k points = 1.75 cents per point
3 $55 for 3.5k points =1.57 cents per point
4 $75 for 5k points =1.5 cents per point
5 $110 for 6k or 10k points = 1.83/1.1 cents per point
6 $180 for 10k or 15k points = 1.8/1.2 cents per point
7 $275 for 15k or 20k points = 1.83/1.38 cents per point

So as you can see this just gives you the cost you are paying per starpoint to use cash and points over all awards. The sweet spot is Cat 5-7 during high season. However there are other considerations that skew this:

1. You have to pay taxes most often on the cash price in C&P (none for awards, although some resorts may charge a resort fee still). This addition can be significant depending on the country/city you are redeeming. Don't discount this savings in some countries with a tax+service charge can be 20-30% of the room rate. Award stays will not have this (sans some resort fees perhaps if applicable).

2. When you use all points you get the 5th night free which is the best deal going for SPG point value most times.

3. On weekends Cat 1/2 charge 1k points less for award redemptions, thus it is terrible value to use C&P on weekends for Cat 1/2 properties.

4. You don't earn starpoints on the cash portion of the C&P price.

5. There are capacity controls for C&P whereas award stays are any basic room it is open.

6. Although C&P does earn elite credit they don't count for promos (same for award nights).

7. Can't use at all suite properties, whereas you can use award nights for an increased number of starpoints.

Thoughts?

CPRich

dupe.

Oxon Flyer

2(a) When you use all points, you don't get the 5th night free for any stay of less than 5 nights, or don't have enough points in the first place.

I would say the base case comparison is more representative if it excluded the 5th night free for awards. If you stay exactly 5 nights, then that's a sweet spot with awards. Staying 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 or 9 nights is less so.

schley

Well I thought that was clear as the 5th night free is exactly that. I didn't feel compelled to write the entire T&C's.

Oxon Flyer

Yep, I misread the price comparison table.

Point 2(a) is still a valid one though.

IMHO, the prime plus point of C&P is when you don't have enough points for a full award, so the benefits are measured against the cash rate or the cost of buying extra points.

navelfluff

Maybe SPG could do the same as Hilton and introduce the sliding bar with 0 points at one end and £0 at the other end. I use that quite a bit for my HHonors points.

karenkay

i use them when i can find them for shorter stays. unfortunately, the cheapo four points where i formerly used them (all cat 2, generally a good deal) no longer have any availability, ever, to end of schedule.

craigthemif

I sure hope not. That "innovation" destroyed the value of Points & Money. Use it at your peril.

jmanirish

I use them every so often for stays of 1-4 nights. As posted above, I view it as ‘buying’ points. At 1.5 each, that’s a good deal in my mind since I only redeem when the value is above 2.0

jpdx

As others have said, years of devaluations have driven redemption categories too high for most properties at most times. I'm a fairly skilled BRGer, and for about 1/3 of my stays, I have all-cash rates that are lower than the cash component of C&P. That said, C&P remains a potentially valuable tool. I will end the year with six C&P stays/15 nights. Others have already mentioned Cat 5/6/7 "high season," when C&P (if available) can still be a pretty solid redemption value. My most successful use of C&P has been linked to annual category changes, though. For example, lots of Japanese hotels have seen category increases this year and last. In some cases, at the time of the category change in spring, these hotels will not have revenue (and thus all-points) availability past the end of the year, but forget to close off C&P bookings waaaay out. Thus, one can often book C&P at the pre-devaluation level 1 1/2 years out. For instance, I just completed my last Cat 5 C&P stays at Westin Tokyo and SR Osaka (both of which went to Cat 6 in spring 2016). I have C&P bookings at Sheraton Hiroshima and Westin Kyoto at their old cost (Cat 4) through September 2018.

spgplat21

Yes, unless I'm staying for five nights or longer i always use C&P if It's available. It's been easy to get more than 2 cents per point of value and generally even higher so I just view this as an opportunity to buy/save points at a cheaper rate than that.