Counsellor

Uhhh, no?

I remember 20K and 25K, but no 15K as a standard award. Can you refresh my recollection, please?

CPRich

My attitude also. The personal feelings of contempt, betrayal, blah, blah, and the excruciating detail of one specific property going up to proclaim that the entire universe has been devalued 133% (neat trick, eh?), just confuses/amuses me.

I take 2% cash back from my credit cards. I earn interest on it. The US currency is pretty darn stable and credit worthy. I can buy the other 97% of my annual expenditures with it. I can also buy hotel rooms with it. In another thread, someone showed how a simple $1667 spend would get them a $200 hotel room for free. Umm, I would get $333 in cash. Someone is missing the big picture

I earn points then use them for free flights/nights. It's not an investment, it's not a retirement account, I'm surprised at the misunderstandings that SPG is a company with a goal of making a profit, and periodic adjustments due to market demands will happen.

My math shows a global 21.2% devaluation using a simple metric of points to stay a week in every SPG property for a week. If you only ever stay in NYC, yes, it will be higher. But if you stay in the 60+% of properties that didn't change, or went down, then no impact. To me that's doing the math, not picking specific properties or generic "category changes" as the be all and end all.

schriste

Perhaps the only math that works is... YMMV

psyflyer

I guess by definition then Citi has brought up a solid argument

For my strategy the deval of starwood doesnt affect me at all. I might be in a group of few but the only reason *wood made sense to me was the ability to transfer points into miles @ the highest currently available ratio for redeeming air awards regardless of program, but rather dependent on availability on whatever airline. To me, the worst part of *wood "changes" has been devaluing the transfer of CO pts to 2:1 which effectively takes me out of redeeming CO travel using *wood. Im more than happy to pay for my stays and although you could get a better ROI on properties rather than air, most of my leisure travel is not in SPG properties anyways so that mitigates my ROI.

psyflyer

Yes, someone is missing the big picture: STATUS. Care to put a value on that?

YMMV

gregorygrady

Damn!! You get $333 back on $1667 spending?!?!? Sign me up for that credit card!!!

Edited to Add: Whoops, I just read the other thread you cited, I guess this was already discussed.......

ElmhurstNick

Devaluations happen, usually every year or 18 months, in every program. This is why it's important to keep your balances reasonable, and not count points over a threshold as being worth anything.

I use 72,000 points for Starwood (6 low season cat 5 nights) and 250,000 points for Hilton (two AXON 4-night cat 6 stays) as my thresholds. When levels get above that, I start burning. Now, burning on Starwood is difficult because I don't get stay credit unless I have one revenue night - so all my spending lately has been on my Hilton AMEX card.

I calculate my ROI based on ten one-night leisure stays, where I never want to spend more than $100/night. With the recent devaluation as well as the recent changes in the Hyatt program, Hyatt is moving ahead of Starwood for me as they have more sub-$100 weekend properties. I'll probably still requalify for Starwood Platinum this year because of my main work travel location - but it'll be on stays, not nights.

Steffo

As I've already said on other threads, almost none of the properties we regularly stay at or have booked in the next 12 months went up. We are booked in 4 cat4's, one went up to a 5, one cat5, went up to a 6, and a couple Cat2's, no change. Overall, the only place we regularly stay that we took a loss is Las Vegas where I have to go for CES week and have been using points at the Westin, which I really don't like anyway.

I earn about 40-50K Starpoints a month by charging and an insignificant number on stays and promos. I'm at a loss to see how I could do better in the Hilton or other programs, including cash back. If someone can show me the math, I'd love that.

GUWonder

The hotels I most often redeem at all went up and will now require, on average, more than double the points for those very same nights.

My earning opportunities have not doubled .... and I spent more nights travelling last year than I did in my own beds and spent more money last year than in any prior year in decade preceeding.

GUWonder

And you're not Centurion at Amex?

Cat 4 to Cat 5 during peak period is a 50% jump, right?

Counsellor

I think maybe someone is misplacing a decimal point.

2% of $1667 is $33, not $333. However, if you can get a $200 per night room for $33, you may be on to something . . .

rserson

And to South America too ......

FlyAAlot

All,

I haven't posted in quite a while, but I continue to read your messages. Thank you for keeping FT continuously updated with relevant information.

I hope that Starwood management reads these message boards and takes to heart their customers’ reactions. In my case, the devaluations are causing me to drop my personal and business SPG Amex cards ($150,000 of annual spend) in favor of cash-back reward programs. In conjunction, I’m giving up my loyalty to SPG hotels…I don’t feel that the reduced benefits warrant my loyalty. It was fun while it lasted.

Best regards,

FlyAAlot

wsbombers

I burned most of my points in January in anticipation of the changes. I'm not going to leave the program, but I did reevaluate my credit card strategy. The major change for me is going to be a shift of about $20K from my Starwood Amex (vs exclusive use of Starwood in the past) to my Hilton Amex in order to earn Hilton Gold. It will probably be just for my everyday spend which gives me 5 points instead of 3.

What I'm curious about is the impact these changes will have on the relationship between SPG and Amex. The value proposition for the SPG credit card declined significantly, so it's going to take a lot more effort to get someone to sign up for/use the card. Amex will probably have to offer a lot more bonus points, further diluting the program, negotiate a better deal for themselves with SPG, or come up with something creative.

cactuspete

Clearly you're the exception, not the rule, insofar as "standard" SPG earninng opportunities go.