greatson

I stay in *wood with all personal and leisure purpose. I just got my platinum today

Keith009

Congrats!

Bulldog King

Unlike many of you....all of my SPG stays are 'out of my own pocket'.......as most of my travel is either leisure or business/leisure combo but always everything 'at my own expense'.

Due to a recommendation by a SPG Plat member, I signed up for an SPG account back in 2004 and started staying at SPG hotels in Jan. 2005.

FWIW, I received an initial comp to SPG Gold before my first stay thanks to a direct deposit promo of points from SPG to my Delta Skymiles account....so, essentially I have never stayed at a SPG hotel as a general member.....at least, that's the way it was supposed to be.

After some initial info and assistance by our Starwood Lurker while continuing to 'play the field' in '05, I decided to focus primarily on SPG in '06.....and easily qualified for Platinum that year with over 25 stays.

In '07....I managed to requalify.....but only barely....as my travel dropped a lot (23 trips in '06 vs only 16 in '07).

This year......my travel has dropped even more.......but I still have a reasonable shot at Platinum once again.

FWIW, I primarily stay at Westins and Sheratons.....but I have tried 4pts and W brands.

Also.......all of my SPG stays have been within the 48US and Hawaii.

Same here.

My 2nd SPG stay ever was at a W......moreso just to try out that brand......and after that I decided to avoid them just because I didn't particularly care for the 'atmosphere' and 'attitude'.

Then again.....after my first stay at a 4pts....I almost put this brand on my avoid list as well........but gave them an additional chance as most of my initial assessment was based on issues with the specific hotel. Still....after staying at 3 other 4ps, I found this brand to be very inconsistent at best.....and after a rather poor stay at a certain 4pts in Illinois....I decided to start avoiding that brand as well.

What it comes down to is that I simply prefer the Westin and Sheraton brands........especially after seeing the way that the Sheraton brand has been 'evolving' lately.

In all....I've stayed at roughly 30-40 different SPG hotels over the last 3 1/2 years.

My top 5 favorites in no particular order are the...

Sheraton Seattle (nice lounge.....but really like the rooms in the new tower )

Sheraton Boston (gotta like the view from the Club lounge.....and always get treated well at this hotel)

Westin Chicago River North (have only stayed here as a Gold....but was always treated well....and the location is perfect for me)

Westin Arlington Gateway (great lounge.....and decent location and nice rooms)

and........a hotel to be named later.

An honorable mention goes to the Westin DFW.....as they treated me well during both of my stays......with nice suite upgrades each time. But what amazed me the most was their reasonable mini-bar prices.

A.J.

emuyshondt

You have to own enough timeshares with Starwood to be "5 Star Elite", the top level of their Starwood Vacation Network (SVN) elite program. The cost can vary greatly, but some people have figured out how to do this for about $50,000 by buying cheap resales and then requalifying them back into the SVN, as described here.

Also, it's not really platinum for life, but rather Platinum as long as you own enough timeshares. They also reserve the right to change the program and there's a rumor of a maximum number of memberships that will be given out to SVN owners. If you sell your timeshare you lose the perk.

RobbertS

Over here a leisure one as well

Just having fun all year round

All out of "daddy's pocket"

TomT

Greetings:

Happy the thread caught on, find comments interesting....a word on the "life" Gold and Plat. We are Starwood owners, offered Gold for life when we bought, we put the Time Share in wifes name, she is now Gold for "Life"

Just a word off track....Look very hard at the numbers, etc if thinking about a time share/Sheraton owners.......we have used it, enjoyed it and have given it away.....but......the bottom line is way out.....my two cents......

KENNECTED

All my travel is leisure. I've maintained Gold for years as Starwood was my second brand, as I'm Hilton Diamond.

However, with all the "double stay" promotions, this year I made starwood first and Hilton second.

I'm officially a Platinum Virgin!

Anglo Large Clawed Otter

Time to go pop your cherry somewhere nice . I would recommend Le Meridien Hotel Des Indes, Den Haag (excellent Plat treatment)...but that's just me.

Keith009

Congrats! Soon you'd wonder how you ever survived as Gold.

KENNECTED

Contrary to popular belief, Gold had been very good to me. I'd have to say that I received an upgrade to a suite for the majority of my stays. Look at my trip reviews.

I'm hoping my upgrades DO NOT decrease now that I'm Platinum.

fly co to see the yanks

i thought SVO only got lifetime gold. or, if you buy enough SVO do they give you platinum for life?

fly co to see the yanks

i have been platinum for years and my suite upgrade percentage is definitely less than 20%. i would venture to say it is under 10%.

the last time i stayed at the Diplomat (a notoriously good upgrader), i had to grovel for a junior suite city facing room the last time i stayed. i have NEVER received a suite at this property.

KENNECTED

Get outta here!

Being a leisure traveler I'm checking in on weekends, so I think my percentages are higher because of that. Now, with many leisure travelers staying home, I hope my percentages go up.

fly co to see the yanks

i used to have quite a few business stays but now i am primarily leisure. i am addicted to platinum, however, and was forced to do a few mattress runs last year.

fly co to see the yanks

in the past, my stays were primarily business and my percentage was about 10-20%. in the past year or so, my stays have been primarily leisure (weekends) and my "hit" rate hasn't moved.

in the (at least) 5 years i have been platinum, i would say my suite upgrade percentage is no greater than 10-15%. in 2005-2006, i think i had 150 room nights (just guessing since i know that i was on the road quite a bit). i would say that i stayed in suites no more than 10 of those nights total.

having said that, suites aren't super important to me...particularly on business travel. i would rather have great customer service (which starwood provides), an executive lounge, a heavenly bed, free bottled water in the room, etc. However, now that i am staying mostly for leisure, suites are becoming more important to me (AND FREE WIRELESS INTERNET).