100,000miler

Is there such a thing as Lifetime status, esp at Plat level. I have made this level for many years but I am in the dark of such a level, esp as I face retirement or a sabbatical soon. Can I take a breather without losing my coveted Plat status? Some airlines permit this but what about SPG? A little loyalty in return would be nice for a change!

Starwood Lurker

Sorry. It doesn't exist in the Starwood Preferred Guest program.

Sincerely,

William R. Sanders
Customer Service Coordinator
Starwood Preferred Services

[email protected]

JerryFF

FWIW, you get gold status when you buy a Starwood Vacation Ownership (i.e.timeshare) and keep it as long as you maintain ownership.

ILUVCITIBANK

William, could you fill us in on more about this topic of a lifetime, aka "vested" status ?

Talk about locking up someone's lifetime business and loyalty. AA has garnered 99% of my flight activity in the last 5+ years since I earned vested PLAT status with them. And the people I've turned on to and promulgated to the AA solution...wow. Lots of them in my circle of friends over the years. (I would do the same for spg/AMEX card to my high-charging friends and business associates, but I am embarrassed to ever recommend my friends and associates get involved with AMEX these days, so am patiently waiting for a spg/Visa to release like the Marriott/Visa credit card).

So, IMO, the concept of a lifetime, "vested" status works, brilliantly, to reel in those few elite who can meet the stringent criteria for "lifetime loyalty".

So, even though you remind us that no program exists, could you let us know if such a program has ever been considered ? Modeled after most airline affinity program which offer either a "super-tier", or/also a "vested" tier, such status(s) would give starwood yet another "hotel affinity program" innovation, since I'm not aware any hotel affinity program has ever offered lifetime status. you know we spg members collectively expect innovation from recurring Freddy winners

TIA -

MikeFly

ILUVCITIBANK - just to let you know at least one major hotel chain does offer lifetime status. I have lifetime Gold with - uhhmm not sure I should mention it here - but it starts with M and ends with tt



[This message has been edited by MikeFly (edited 10-31-2003).]

100,000miler

Glad to hear someone does it. What are their requirements?

Frankly I think this is a brillant way to retain loyalty after ones travel years come to an end! Those who retire will still travel and all the stats show they travel alot.

SPG should consider this.

MarshKing

Here are how you can get lifetime status in other programs (this is excluding the use of charge cards like AmEx Centurion):

Name of Brand (Levels of Elite Status)


Marriott (Silver, Gold, Platinum)

Lifetime Silver Requires:
-1.5 million earned MR points
-600 nights
-12 years as an MR member
-Earned MR silver at least once

Lifetime Gold Requires:
-2 million earned MR points
-800 nights
-12 years as an MR member
-Earned MR gold at least once

Lifetime Platinum Requires:
-3 million earned MR points
-1,000 nights
-12 years as an MR member
-Earned MR platinum at least once


Hyatt (Platinum, Diamond)

Lifetime Diamond Requires:
-1 million points
-Earned GP diamond at least 10 times (10 years)


Hilton (Silver, Gold, Diamond)

Lifetime Diamond Requires:
-Purchase a $35,000 timeshare in NYC for Hilton


Starwood (Gold, Platinum)

Lifetime Gold Status Requires:
-Purchase a Starwood timeshare property (as reported above)

ILUVCITIBANK

MarshKing, thanks for this excellent breakout. Guess I am ill-informed; it appears this is possible with several competing hotel chains. I don't get out much .

To be technical, the spg "lifetime gold" is only while one is in the timeshare program right ? So, it really is a "conditional lifetime", which doesn't carry weight with me, not to mention I would not personally make any effort to earn lifetime status for only mid-grade for a hotel chain. Would need to be "top status" with substantive perks, or why bother ?

I note, at least per your details, Marriott DOES NOT INCLUDE credit card charging activity. hhmmm. The old "bu tt in the seat" argument that somehow fliers, and hotel stayers...are "more worthy" than are frequent users of the respective affinity credit card of a given program. Hate to see such outright discrimination, but this alone would make me skip making any serious effort towards Marriott's program. I know this is a debateable issue, bigtime, with the active FLYERS versus CC CHARGERS, so won't get into it in this thread. But - again - super breakout of info.

Maybe starwood should really give this concept serious thought, as it appears they are odd man out on this issue after all. Ao much for "innovation"...spg needs to "catch up".

best

Any more details on the $35,000 purchase of H timeshare , and the Starwood timeshare? I could not find anyplace the automatic lifelong top tier status for $35,000 ????

TerryK

Just like to add that Hyatt Lifetime Diamond is awarded on BASE points only. No bonus points, no transfer points, etc. Essentially, you need to pay Hyatt $200K in GP eligible charges to get Lifetime Diamond.

MarshKing

Take a look at this thread from the Hilton forum: http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum57/HTML/007956.html

It seems as though I remembered incorrectly. According to that thread, a timeshare was $45,000 for NYC.

zakami

Marriott does include points from credit card purchases, promotions, etc. But since they also have the nights requirement, I think you are going to have to sleep at Marriotts anyway. If you spend 1,000 nights at a full-service Marriott, you will have 3 million points.

FIKMM

Marriott has lifetime but you need 800 nights and 2 million points in the program and to have been a member of MR for specific period of years. You can call for details.

MWBonfiglio

Just wondering if Starwood has a similar program to what is available with Marriott. If anyone knows if there is a lifetime status, and what the stats on how to obtain each level are, I think it would be interesting.

fly co to see the yanks

no. i think there are existing threads on this subject, also. but, i believe not.

[This message has been edited by fly co to see the yanks (edited Feb 11, 2004).]