parkums

Anyone else feel that MR/SPG missed an opportunity to differentiate Its highest level? I feel they should have raised the bar on Plat Amabassador (or just call it Ambassador level). 100 nt and 40k spend (invitation only). Something to truly separate its highest spenders (a la United Global services). 20k isn’t that much when you think of the avg nightly rate for some of the high end properties.

I’m a LT MR Plat from 5 years ago and have spent the last 3-4 years as a SPG plat ambassador. I’ve been pleased with it; been helpful to my wife and I for or travel bookings and exception management.

I would prefer they differentiated its best customers with Ambassador. Not only the assigned Starwood advocate:
1. Best/guaranteed upgrade priority
2. Lounge / spa access
3. Others

MSPeconomist

Can we assume that you spend 101 nights and $40,001?

parkums

++
and your point is?

EuropeanPete

I enjoy nice hotels as much as anyone, but a $400 average spend would clearly reduce the scheme to all but a handful of people who happen to live some of the year in a Starwood 5* hotel in a tier 1 city. As they really need somewhere to stay anyways, I probably wouldn't base a programme around them.

yosithezet

Nope. I think they have made a mistake with the spend requirement. The Ambassador should be something that helps guests who stray the most. I’ve had years where I had 150+ nights and don’t think the spend was 20k USD. My stays use very good corporate rates and the cities I travel to are reasonably priced. I’ve converted coolesges and friends to SPG. The A,bassador perk increased my loyalty and was a mechanism that enabled me to increase my stays. The value of a guest can be measured in many ways and I am not certain a spend minimum is a good measure in this case.

UKTraveller4Fun

I do think they made it a bit simple to qualify, but rather than the 40k suggestion, I think 125 or even 150 nights a year would have been a better level.

As for the differences you suggest offering for this tier I think the upgrade priority and lounge access across all brands would have been a very good idea!

escape4

Regarding #1 , do we know already that AMB100 won't get upgrade priority over PP75? You might be suggesting something that will already be done, no? Unless I missed it somewhere and that AMB100 = PP75 for upgrades.

kaizen7

Once the requirements for a published tier become too difficult to achieve, it lose the purpose.
People no longer interested to try reach that tier.

Say someone who stay at 95 nights/ year with$20.000 spend) will try get extra 5 nights to get plt ambassador
but if the requirements increased to 150 nights or $40k spending, he wont be interesting to add the extra 5. He even might even move his 20 nights to another program
Then if he can get top tier on other smaller loyalty program than still cover his travel footprint then he might move his whole stay altogether

better for starriott to just create invitation only tier again

escape4

I think the spend requirement $20k AND 100 nights is already stringent, far more stringent than Hyatt and Hilton who make spend/nights "OR", not "AND". Yes some people spend far more than $20k, but I suspect a good chunk of them are not anywhere near 100 nights. They might spend $1k per night, but only 30-50 nights per year. They have a life at home too. And lots of people are in yosithezet's situation: far more than 100 nights, but short of $20k.

MSPeconomist

kaizen7

I believe if a guest stray before checkin then it can cause the reservation marked as no show

back to the topic, i believe my room rate average is $350/night
with 40 nights current stays then its about $14k spending

CPRich

I'm fairly confident they evaluated different spend levels. No 20K isn't a lot when you look at high end properties. Most regular business travelers don't stay at high end properties. We stay at the Sheraton, Marriott, etc., near where our clients are, per an expense policy.

If they wanted a program with a limited number of investment bankers, they could have made it 40K. But they didn't.

And 100 nights being "simple" to qualify for shows an FT disconnect with the real world.

TravelinSperry

I agree with this. Starriott knows the #'s and they obviously calculated how many P100's they would get based on stays last/this year. So they are happy with the level they chose. Perhaps it is already thinning the ranks greatly?

Now I have been saying for years that there should be a level above 100 stays. I had many years where I hit 100 and stopped. Moved all remaining stays to Hilton (in fact got to Diamond that year). Starriott should make a higher level or SOME sort of bonus (even if just points) so people keep chasing whatever the incentive is. However clearly after analyzing the #'s, there probably aren't enough of us to bother creating such a level. If there were, Starriott likely would've done it.

derpelikan

adding 5 confirmed upgrade vouchers every 25 stays after hitting 100 stays would be great

C17PSGR

I had 125+ nights last year with 33-35k spend. I probably used my ambassador on just 3-4 times. It saved me a few minutes calling in to add a guest to the res and asked her to push upgrades on two trips (that I didn't get).

So what was it that your ambassador did that allowed you to increase your stays?