Si_Ting_ca

Does anyone know if the PlanetHollywood website is considered a "Starwood-branded website". I want to know if I can take advantage of the AAA rate advertised directly on the PH website while booking online with SPG. Thanks.

tw1tch

So one experience suggests I won't get any points, but my question still stands. If there is no mention anywhere on the reservation or the terms/conditions about not receiving points, am I right in expecting them?

EDIT: spoke with Plat desk, they told me no points for any bookings done on 3rd party websites, I must make the booking using the SPG 800 number, spg.com or directly with the Hotel.

Starwood Lurker

It says this in the Terms and Conditions of Membership of SPG:

4B.2. An "Eligible Stay" is one or more consecutive nights at the same Participating Property, whether or not you checked-out and checked back in, during which you paid an Eligible Rate and presented your Preferred Guest number at registration. An "Eligible Night" is each night during an Eligible Stay. All stays are deemed to occur on the date of arrival; however, nights within a stay belong to the month in which they occur.

4B.3. If you do not pay an Eligible Rate, your stay is not an Eligible Stay and will not count towards the Gold Minimum Requirement or the Platinum Minimum Requirement, even if you earn Starpoints on Eligible Charges during that stay. Stays in which you used a Free Night Award or paid through a pre-paid third party channel, do not count as “Eligible Stays” as you did not pay an Eligible Rate.

4B.4. An “Eligible Rate” is the rate you pay for your room, but excludes:

(a) for hotels located in Asia Pacific*, rooms where the booking is not made directly with Starwood or a Starwood branded web-site;

(b) for hotels located outside of Asia Pacific*, pre-paid rooms where the booking is made by an agent or third party and you pay for that booking directly to such third party, such as tour operators, and pre-paid channels, including, but not limited to priceline.com, expedia.com, hotels.com, hrn.com, hotwire.com, lastminute.com, site59.com, orbitz.com, travelocity.com, cheaptickets.com, quickbook.com, travelweb.com, lodging.com, yahootravel.com, and travel.msn.com;

So, no, I would not expect them, especially if the rate is pre-paid.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

tw1tch

Thank you Lurker, I neglected to read THOSE terms and conditions, I was looking for information from hotels.com about that.

Cheers,

KENNECTED

Yes. See the Everything you want to know about status at SPG sticky thread

ENIAC

I'm thinking of booking a trip to LA through nwa.com's WorldVacations service. It works out at a fairly good deal on a combined hotel and plane booking. Three nights at the Westin LAX would add about $250 versus just booking the plane tickets alone.

Does anyone know for sure if platinum benefits or stay credit would apply? I'm well aware that bookings with Priceline, Orbitz, Expedia, etc. do not provide stay credit or benefits. But I think I remember from discussion back when this was a new policy that bookings made via airline partners were explicitly OK. I've not found anything with a search, so was wondering if anyone had experience with this.

The current terms and conditions do not mention an exception for airline bookings to the general policy denying prepaid 3rd party rates in 4B.4.b. https://www.starwoodhotels.com/prefe...spg_terms.html

They just state that

pushback

Kinda-sorta a third-party booking. I book with a fatwallet referral and get 3% rebate in cash plus all my SPG points. I only figured it out about a month ago though (made $150 so far). Wish I knew a year and a half ago. I've had about 130 nights since I started at my company. I'd be up a few thousand dollars by now. But wouldn't you know it, now that I found the rebate I got laid off. Sheesh!

Starwood Lurker II

Hi ENIAC,

I believe this does get tricky and I admit I might not be so sure as well. I would not commit any definite answer but one thing that might help would be to check whether the airline websites direct the user to our branded websites. If they do, then the stay itself would be eligible and you would get to enjoy the related benefits of your stay. Reason being you are still making a reservation through our website.

For other situations, the answer is no but YMMV.

[email protected]

Starwood Lurker

If this is pre-paid to NWA WorldVacations, it won't be eligible. No doubt in my mind about that at all.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

dgwright99

Could you clarify "3rd party site" - all my rezs are booked via Amex corp travel. Is that a "3rd party site" ? In the past I have always gotten full credit, and had Gold bennies.

KENNECTED

Non corporate travel sites, such as travelocity, expedia. Have you reviewed the information in the SPG T&Cs?? The information is posted in ENIAC post above.

Starwood Lurker

It's not so much the third-party site thing that's the problem. It's the pre-paid thing on a third-party site that definitely renders it ineligible. If in the past you've always gotten full credit and Gold benefits using this portal, why would that stop?

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

CanuckFlyHigh

So are all my stays. An SPG rep once told me there is a difference between some travel agents and others, and Amex corp travel books directly, or something like that - im sure the lurkers can clarify the difference between 2 types of agent bookings.

ENIAC

Thanks. It looks like the WorldVacations option does involve prepaying the hotel along with the plane ticket. So it makes sense that it would be treated like Hotwire, etc.

AA Novice

I booked a room at the Maui Sheraton through AAVacations. Do I still get my Starwood points?