yeunganson

I agree with sfozrhfco. The promotion is indeed very weak and it is all about choices. I was further irritated that they pulled a sneaky sneaky and not give points for the first 7 days of January 09.

I definately not going to on purposely stay in Starwood and given a choice between friend's house or a Starwood hotel, friends house it would be.

The promotion did change some travel patterns. My New Years Day stay turned to a points stay. My Jan 5 stay turned to a award stay instead of normal reservation. As impact, 4 stays in February converted from normal reservation to cash & points. Going to friend's house in Japan for a week instead of staying in Westins in Tokyo.

Honestly, had there been a stronger bonus, or even a double stay credit promotion, it would have been an all out. I would have use SPG points to airlines for flight awards.

yosithezet

Whoohoo! Better odds at a suite upgrade for me!

Personally I'd always stay at a friends house instead of a hotel if I had that option and convenience was the same.

Is your perception of the poor quality of the promo going to keep you from qualifying for Plat 2010?

sziv50

Being relatively new to Starwood, have previous years' promotions started on January 1st? I didn't see this as "sneaky sneaky" because the dates were clearly laid out in the promo details. Also, having switched most of my business from Marriott, I know that their promos usually start mid-month (for example, their current MegaBonus starts on Jan 15).

orsum

The title says it all but since being concise was never my strong point, i'll post the question. Is SPG50 a qualifying rate for this promo? mmmmm promo

Starwood Lurker

Yes.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

yossimills

I agree that it is weak (most of my travel this quarter is around Central UK, anyway), but I can't say that it is sneaky..

Getting back to basics, all loyalty schemes are about raising revenue, and a great way to do that is to encourage stays during off-peak periods. Hotels are frequently well-utilised in the first week of January, so it's just *wood applying good business sense.

Many of my Priority Club promotions began in early-mid January (9th, 12th, etc.), and again, it is just good business sense.

My issue with the promotion is that it is lacklustre, and there don't seem to be many others around. *wood was once exciting, with loads of promos aimed at individuals. They've now moved to this "Quarterly Promo for Everyone" - the Q4 '08 was great, and allowed choice and some semblance of individuality. This one kind of goes against the grain of the average FTer (comparing merits, swapping codes, making decisions...) - there are no decisions to be made, and no meaningful exploits , and no other ones to stack. The Quarterly promo has become THE promo, and this one just feels bland. I feel that the sentiment on FT is slightly different to that in the "mass market", and we're more sensitive to this. Perhaps a concurrent FT Promo would make us all feel better

I notice that more ad space seems to have gone into this promo than any others I recall (multiple emails, all over SPG.com, and even Lurker tag-lines! Replacing the "Vote for Freddy"). Of course, this is possible where 6 concurrent promos are cut down to 1. FTers aside, this probably means much stronger reinforcement to the broader market, and allows for the production of more material. Despite the comments on here, this promo probably makes more of an impact to revenue, especially to the "casual and frequent" traveller who only pay peripheral attention to the constant barrage of promos.

I work with many (well-paid, intelligent, and high-revenue) consultants and frequent travellers who don't know one promo from another, and pick a chain at whim (then stick with it until another seems more convenient). This kind of simple reinforcement probably works really well on them - they'll sign up to whatever is in front of them, and be thankful for it. The simpler and more frequent the message, the more likely they are to remember it and stay. Unlike us, who will weigh the relative benefits of 5 hotels within 10 miles, based upon a complex formula of status, requalification requirements, promo leverage, etc.

I think we've entered a new era of promos, and that this is the shape of things to come . Good for *wood? Yes, as long as they throw us min-maxers a bone.

jschutz

The SPG Night After Night promotion will reward all registered members with 500 bonus Starpoints per night.....

Does anyone know how long before these points are posted? My 500 Plat Amenity points from a recent stay were posted, as well as my other points - but not the Night After Night points. I just want to wait a reasonable time before I write to customer service.

Starwood Lurker

From the T&C's posted in post #3 of this thread:

Bonus Starpoints will be credited to the member's account within 2–3 weeks of the stay posting to the member's Starwood Preferred Guest account.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

jschutz

While I am registered for the NAN Promo - do you get the 500 points no matter what rate you book? For example- if I book the 2 nights offer, second night at the 50% rate, do I still get the 500 points for each night?

Starwood Lurker

Yes, as long as the rate is eligible to earn Starpoints and stay credit. IIRC, with the 2 nights offer (second night at 50% off), the rate is averaged over the length of your stay when it gets posted to your account.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

normcpa

I just signed up for the new promotion that awards 500 SPG points per night for all stays 1/7 through 4/30. In addition each 10 nights earns an additional 10,000 SPG points. Seems like a very good deal!

I have two questions:

1) I stayed at the Four Points So. SF Monday night, but didn't register until this morning. Will that stay count? (I think it will from a quick read of the terms and conditions, but that's a little unusual.)

2) The promotion speaks of "qualifying rate." This puts a fairly big onus on the customer to determine what rates qualify. Is there a way for SPG to build into its computers (spg.com) a way of notifying the customer what rates are/are not eligible for various promotions? That would be a big help.

Thanks for your help.

Starwood Lurker

Wow, that sounds like this promo:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...promotion.html



As long as you register by March 31st, all eligible stays will credit retroactively.

Sorry, but there's not much of an onus there, IMHO. Any paid rate (Cash & Points is considered an award rate) booked over one of Starwood's proprietary web sites is an eligible rate.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

normcpa

Thanks for such a quick reply. After I posted, I noticed the "promos" sticky and found the c4e promo. I looked up the Excelsior Rome where we'll be in April. The rates are fantastic, although there is a prepayment requirement and a pretty stiff cancellation policy. In any event, at the risk of being a little "thick," would you please confirm that the c4e rate will qualify for the bonus? Thanks.

Starwood Lurker

Are you booking this rate over a Starwood proprietary web site?
Is it a paid-rate reservation?

If the answer to both of these questions is "yes", then the rate is eligible to earn Starpoints and stay/night credit and therefore eligible for Night After Night.

Best regards,

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

[email protected]

normcpa

That's great. It was spg.com and it is prepaid. Thanks again for all of your help!