Big (good!) changes from Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG)
SPG today announced a slew of new benefits starting March 1st, 2012. If you stay at any of Starwood’s brands (i.e. Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, St Regis, Le Meridien, Four Points, Aloft, or Element) on a regular basis, your benefits just improved in a big way.
To summarize:
1) GOLD members will now receive a welcome gift at check-in. Choose from 250 SPG bonus points (125 at Aloft/Element/Four Points), or FREE Internet, or a complimentary beverage. With some hotels still charging lofty fees for in-room Internet, this alone could make SPG Gold worthwhile. If you stay 20 nights as Gold, that could be worth $300 (at a $15 a night Internet access fee).
2) PLATINUM Members, who already get a 500 point amenity at check-in (or local welcome gift) will now additionally receive a free continental breakfast for them and a guest each day of their stay.
3) “SUPER PLATINUM” – (our term, not theirs!) means that Platinum members that stay 50 nights in a calendar year receive 10 Confirmed Suite Upgrade certificates (in a Standard Suite, not any suite!). Stay 75 nights and start receiving 4 Starpoints per dollar spent on-property AND “Time on your side” which means you can stay from 24 hours from the time you check-in. Check-in at 9pm and you can stay until 9pm the next night!
4) LIFETIME GOLD and PLATINUM !!
a) Earn Lifetime Gold after staying a total of 250 eligible nights (remember that award nights now count too, since last November) and earning Gold or Platinum any 5 years since joining the program.
b) Earn Lifetime Platinum after 500 eligible nights and any 10 years of Platinum status.
Conclusion:
These are really amazing changes to the SPG program. They’ve long been one of the leaders in frequent guest programs – but this really pushes them up a few notches.
While I’m sure some people will find negatives in this (i.e. things that don’t quite fit their travel pattern), I think it’s hard to argue with such improvements.
Complete details at: http://www.spgpromos.com/morepowertoyou/?language=en_US&IM=SPGT_Annc_SPG_ENG_1&EM=SPGMorePower
Share your thoughts in the comments!
DG
