Seattlenerd

By no stretch of anyone's imagination is the FlyerTalk membership any significant proportion of any frequent traveler's program membership. We're the freaks -- the ones who want to get the absolute most out of the programs and are willing to spend hours culling through messages and sites to find out how.

Starwood may be insulting you, if you take it that way. But it is hardly insulting the great majority of its membership who is happy to get any promotion to increase their Starpoints balance. It is, after all, a promotion, not an entitlement.

I suspect that if anyone wants to be targeted for more lucrative Starwood promotions, they should (and I'm guessing here), be borderline Gold or borderline Platinum in activity so Starwood has a better chance of creating a promotion to encourage GREATER loyalty, rather than simply rewarding EXISTING loyalty. The rewards for existing loyalty are written into the base benefits of every frequent program's various elite levels. Anything else is indeed a bonus.

It's not unusual for businesses to treat different customers differently, depending on their business goals. YMMV.

shoodawg

deleted

Seattlenerd

So are you saying you don't get Platinum concierge service, Platinum upgrades, Platinum amenity Starpoints for each stay, and late checkout?

This is a promotion, not the program. The loyalty program itself is the reward for a high level of loyalty. That was my point when I said that "rewards for existing loyalty are written into the base benefits of every frequent program's various elite levels."

I mean, I wouldn't mind getting the better promotion, either. I didn't qualify. But I expect that trying to explain this kind of marketing distinction isn't going to be well received among some on this forum, no matter who does it.

yyznomad

I got this as well (choice of either the points or free weekend stays Cat 1-5). I will be choosing the free weekend stays.

greatwhitenorth

So, am I the only one who got this variation:

Stay two times and earn 2,000 bonus StarpointsŪ, stay four times and earn 6,000 bonus Starpoints or stay six times and earn 12,000 bonus Starpoints on stays between June 1 and August 31, 2007.

perthite

I got triple points for stays between May 1 and July 31. Wish I'd know this a few weeks back! Oh well, such is life.

sushimg

Here's what I got which seems pretty good. I've got 54 nights at Starwood Hotels so far this year (finally reached platinum status last week!) and another 20 already booked so I'd say I've EARNED it!


Member can earn one Free Weekend Night award for every three (3) eligible stays up to a maximum of three (3) awards OR a total of 18,000 bonus Starpoints may be earned: three eligible stays — 3,000 bonus Starpoints; six eligible stays — 9,000 total bonus Starpoints; nine eligible stays — 18,000 total bonus Starpoints. Once selected, the offer cannot be changed. Stays must be at participating properties between June 1 and August 31, 2007. For members who choose Free Weekend Night awards, the earned awards will be available within 72 hours after the qualifying stay posts, are not transferable and may be used at Category 1–5 properties on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday night between date earned and December 30, 2007, for one single or double occupancy standard room only, including the cost of the hotel room and room tax.

Meerkat

Thanks for the heads-up!

It's interesting looking at it from the "other" side of the coin. I was Plat until this year (quit work last summer), and was happy to just let my various FF programmes gently fade to nothing (and spend the points in the meantime). When I was Plat, I was a quiet grumbler about not getting targeted for any good promotions.

Starwood have snared me though! First of all I got the double stays/points award for stays between (IIRC) Feb and May. Bang - suddenly I've got 13 stays & 36 nights. With this new promotion on top, it looks like the marginal extra nights that I'll need during the year to qualify for Plat will be worth it. So that's more money in Starwood's coffers that would probably have gone to other chains/boutique hotels.

So kudos to their marketing department IMHO. And when I do qualify for Plat again, I'll not grumble about not getting the promos; I'd forgotten just how large the gap in treatment is when staying as a Gold vs Plat.

JSC

I got it too. But I have 2 questions:
1) I registered for double points until May, so will this continue? I hope so as the above promotion doesn't start until June.
2) I am Gold but after next week I will be Platinum. So is the promotion better if you are Platinum before th estart of June? If so then can I unregister and re-register after next week? I could really do with the free weekend stays so if there is any way to get that then please let me know

THanks

MarkXS

As a first-year Platinum (from an HHonors Diamond status match), I got the 3/6/9 stays 3000/9000/18000 points promo. I consider that pretty generous and it's a good encourager for me to make all my next few month's stays Starwood instead of HHonors or other companies.

It was questionable whether I'd actually requalify as Platinum this year, rather than just requalify Gold (which I've already hit). But with this type of promo it gives me another reason.

Of course it would have been nice if Starwood had told me about this promo

troyintn

I jsut received it also. Still trying to figure out what to choose. The weekend is worth a lot more then the points, but I am worried about how hard is it to use the free weekend.

Brendan

Troyintn, it's a close call! Remember that the Weekend Nights expire in a few months, while points don't. How likely RU 2 stay at a Cat. 5 on a weekend? Do U have any such hotels in mind?
Because 20K = half of a 5-night stay at a Cat. 4, any days of the week! Of course if U stay Wed.--Mon. at Cat 4, it would be a wash: 20K + 20K or 3 free weekend nights + 20K!

allenwales

William,
My question doesn't seem to be answered in 8 pages of combined threads so here goes another variation on the same theme - maybe you can help if you have time ?

On 18 May, I got 2 seperate email based promo invites from Starwood :-

1. If you're looking for a reason to stay with us again soon, we suggest you think in threes. Simply register by 15 July, 2007, and earn triple StarpointsŪ on all your stays from 1 June until 31 August, 2007.

2. To show you it gets even better, we want to give you the choice of two offers good for stays from 1 June until 31 August, 2007, when you register by 15 July, 2007. (I ignored the free nights option btw) Stay four times and earn 4,000 bonus Starpoints, stay eight times and earn 12,000 bonus Starpoints or stay twelve times and earn 20,000 bonus Starpoints.

... do these offers conflict as both let me sign up without a problem (complete with confirmation emails), and if they do conlfict which offer would win out in precedence? It would be nice for the system to award me both as I seem to be a lucky guy in having 2 from 3 options to choose from this quarter. It looks like the 20k pts would be the best deal by some margin and I don't want to lose that promo.

Despite some of the comments in this thread, this is a totally awesome quarterly promo (the best I can remember actually), so please pass on my thanks to your marketing team. We <3 Starwood.

Rgds, Allen

troyintn

thanks, I was thinking I had a year for the weekend. You are correct, the only place I would use a weekend soon is the hotel near my house to go swimming at, and I have a great corp rate their so it would be a waste.

Starwood Lurker

It seems like it should. There does not appear to be any conflict with the timing because one is ending and the other is starting.

No, it would not be possible to unregister and re-register.

No problem.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Online Guest Feedback Coordinator
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

[email protected]