NEW-STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST-Questions/Answers

[bballmom56]

mrslane ~ I am in a similar situation to yours. We are staying at the Swan. My husband is a teacher, so we got that rate. He joined SPG, and since we are AAA members, we have SPG Preferred Plus. According to the literature we got with the SPG membership card, Preferred Plus entitles us to:

Exclusive AAA rates

1000 bonus Starpoints for each of your first three stays
through June 1, 2005.

2 Starpoints for every eligible US dollar spent

** Automatic upgrades to a Preferred Room at check-in
(subject to availability)

4 p.m. late checkout (not available at some hotels)


Now we haven't used this yet since we are going in June, so I am curious as to how it will work out. We booked a standard room. Are you AAA members? If so, call SPG and have it added to your SPG membership.

 

[maggiew]

I just received an offer from SPG and wanted your input. It is for six days and five nights accomodations at the Sheraton Maui Resort, plus $100 resort certificate for food, plus $185 Avis car rental. It is $749 for two people (total, not each). I looked at all the fine print and do not see that I need to sit through a timeshare promotion. The only thing is I need to decide within the next 15 days. The offer is good for any dates for 18 months. If I do not choose dates now I can reserve the offer by putting down $400 and paying the remaining when I decide on the dates. Changes are subject toa $25 change fee.

What do you think? Sheraton wouldn't be scamming me, would they?? Would we get there and be in some crummy room????

I WAS doing some searches for Maui and the Sheraton a couple months back. Do they track this? We have been thinking of going to Hawaii. But I decided to do Disney again this year. But maybe next year ....

There is a pin number and says only good for names listed.

Maggie

 

[maggiew]

No ideas?

Maggie

 

[MOM POPPINS]

Good Morning Maggie ~ I received an offer from Starwood last week for the Westin in Arizona. When I looked closely at it was a timeshare. I would call and ask if a timeshare tour is expected. My card also stated 15 days to decide and travel within 12 months. It sounds similar to your offer. I would suggest a phone call to ask questions about rooms etc. ...It sounds like a great offer!

 

[marymrg]

Maggie - that's where I stayed for part of my honeymoon.........way back in 1987. It was beautiful then and am sure it is now! (the other portion was at the Sheration Kaui)

I could've gotten some great SPG points..........don't know if they even had them that long ago! LOL

What's your airfare look like to get there?

 

[maggiew]

Originally posted by MOM POPPINS
Good Morning Maggie ~ I received an offer from Starwood last week for the Westin in Arizona. When I looked closely at it was a timeshare. I would call and ask if a timeshare tour is expected. My card also stated 15 days to decide and travel within 12 months. It sounds similar to your offer. I would suggest a phone call to ask questions about rooms etc. ...It sounds like a great offer!

I did call and she said NO timeshare tour was required. I even wrote down her name and ID number!

I just can't figure out where the "catch" is?

Rack rate for this hotel is listed as "starting at $254 per night". Now while I would never pay rack rate anywhere, This still seams like a good deal.

DH says "Looks like we know where we are going next year." So he is all for it.

The only thing is that you have to put $400 down now. You can change dates, etc. but no refund after payment. Maybe that is what the catch is???

Maggie

P.S. Even though it says "for two people", we can bring our 2 kids for no extra charge!! I know Hawaii may be more romantic for just DH and I, but my two DDs (12 and 8) are dying to go to Hawaii. SEVERAL of their friends have already been.

 

[Caren90]

I am sorry if this has already been discussed but when I went to the first page of this thread and saw that it began in 2002 I thought it might be easier (for me ) to just ask again.
So here goes: Does anyone know or have any idea if the Dolphin will be doing the cash & points deal again. I am going in August and have the teacher rate but would LOVE to do this. It is not currently available on the website but the current offer only goes until July 31st. I was hoping it might become available for August. has anyone ever done this or have any idea about whether it might pop up for the Dolphin again?
Thanks,
Caren

 

[EKevinD]

Hi -

You will have to wait post July 31st. If they extend it which they do sometimes it will post on the website about a couple weeks after the last cycle expired.

Kevin

 

[Disbug]

Originally posted by Caren90
I am sorry if this has already been discussed but when I went to the first page of this thread and saw that it began in 2002 I thought it might be easier (for me ) to just ask again.
So here goes: Does anyone know or have any idea if the Dolphin will be doing the cash & points deal again. I am going in August and have the teacher rate but would LOVE to do this. It is not currently available on the website but the current offer only goes until July 31st. I was hoping it might become available for August. has anyone ever done this or have any idea about whether it might pop up for the Dolphin again?
Thanks,
Caren

Hi Caren90 and EKevinD! The last thing I remember reading was that the WDW Swan and Dolphin would be discontinuing their participation in the Cash and Points program. I believe you had to have made your reservations before Jan 1, 2004 and complete your stay by March 31st. Of course, everything is subject to change... but thought you might want to know why you haven't seen the Cash and Points offer lately.

 

[Caren90]

Thanks Disbug, that's good to know. I won't count on it and if they do it ,great, if not I will hopefully have another plan to use my points by then.

 

[abitjaded]

I also cannot read the whole thread, so a question. My husband is a designated "Meeting Planner" on his reservation. Can we expect any perks? We are at the Dolphin July 9-15 for a Web CT conference. We are paying the confernece rate.

Carla

 

[232271]

okay, I need an updated answer to an age old question:
WE are platnium AMEX card holders for many years and
We tried calling SPG to get upgraded to a GOLD card and they said we had to call AMEX, and AMEX told us to call SPG!! We
are getting the run around.

OKay, so now SPG wants the "code" does anyone have a clue
as what to do??

Any advice would be great!!!
as I am going....

 

[232271]

Say it isnt so, is it true that if we booked thru Hotwire , we will NOT get an upgrade at checkin??? for the Dolphin, we are SPG GOLD members.

oh no!!!

 

[magicaddict]

Caren90 - I just received a postcard from the Swan & Dolphin recipe club and it had a rate of $139 per night. Not too big of a savings but it gives you $10 off the teacher rate. It's good from 8/13 - 9/20 and you have to give the code CLUB139. Good luck!

 

[EKevinD]

Hi 232271

I would start here and search that site if this link does not answer your question directly

http://www.flyertalk.com/travelfr.shtml

Kevin

 

[FINFAN]

Hi, I'm Pam. Last December we stayed 3 nights at the FAB Dolphin! We joined spg before going in my name, and have 3WHOLE nights on my spg card Todays mail arrives w/a AA Advantage/ Complimentary SPG GOLD Membership, plus 3,000 miles per night for a stay up till 12/31. (max 9,000) Well, we are currently booked for 7 nights 12/18-12/25 at the Dolphin,so we will get those miles...just enough to get us to airline ticket #2! Fine print says we are invited to enjoy instant Gold status thru 2/06...works for me. So, to the nitty -gritty...what does Gold status do for me in terms of upgrades, perks, etc? We currently have the Allears rate for a lakeview (149) and was quite pleased with that, but if there is a way we can "uprade" that at all, please share the tips/tricks I will need to apply. Also, do we check in at the main desk or the SPG desk?
Can I transfer my whopping 3 nights to DH gold card since now we will use that one for our upcoming trip?
All gold card members please help walk this SPG Newbie thru this wonderful new world.
Will goof up anything to our current ressie when I call to have gold card applied to ressie instaed of my meager basic SPG.?
I am sure I will have a zillion more ?....thank you all so much!

Pam

 

[simonmunro]

FIN:

I remember seeing on spg.com a place where after you log in I think you can transfer points from one card to another??? Didn' t do that, just saw the place to click on it... You might try.
How crowded do you think the parks will be when you're going? Got any kind of plan to get the most out of that time frame? Maybe 12/05 for us! Can you swim then or is it too cold?

 

[FINFAN]

Simonmunro....well, to be perfectly honest, we don't think we have enough days to get the most bang for our buck, so to say. We are in the midst of trying to figure out whether or not to change our dates. We were going to switch to a 12/16 departure, only to find out today that DD will have finals on the 16 & 17. We currently have airfare booked for 12/18-25...HAD to be home for dinner w/MIL LONG story...anyway, DH sees how short a time frame that is, and says, lets stay longer...no problem...except for the booked non-refundable a/f. So we agree to take the hit on the fare if we can recoup it thru somewhere else, or at least not go too far over our orig budget. I feel if we can make the changes for $200 or less, we will. However, then our dates will change to 12/20-12/29 and while we will have more time, we will have more crowds and may just be having a bigger problem than 12/18-25. I think it is awesome that you can go 12/5...we stayed at the Dolphin for 3 days 12/21-24 last year...did not do parks..(we were en-route to visit family and broke up the drive) It was too chilly for me to swim, but the kids did 1 day. Now the following week it was really nice, in the 80's! Not the norm...10 degrees warmer at least...but was beautiful! It was awful driving back up to Chicago,,,everything just got greyer and colder and gloomier with every mile.
Thanks for the SPG info...I will check it out!

 

[Mouseteacher]

Hi, FinFan.

I'll try to answer some of your questions-

Do call and attach your Gold spg # to your current ressie. It won't affect it at all.

Gold will get you an upgrade depending on how booked the resort is. I travel to the S/D during the summer months and I have never been disappointed by not receiving an upgrade. I book in on the teacher rate which means a standard room - limited view. We just returned home from the Dolphin and our upgrade was spectacular - resort view, east wing with balcony. Spaceship Earth was dead center in our view from the balcony and Illuminations was our nightly entertainment!

You already have a lake view which is very nice, too. Perhaps you can request a balcony room.

I would suggest writing an e mail to the S/D through their website - click on reservations and then on special requests. Just humbly write that you would love any upgrade that can be given. Also, ask again upon check-in. Please make sure that in the email you add your confirmation # and spg # and specify the Gold status.

SPG check-in - it doesn't matter whether to use it or not. When we checked in this year and last, no one was manning the area so we went to the regular check-in. Our ressie is in the system with all our spg info and e mail request.

Btw, the S/D loves repeat visitors - make sure to let them know that you are.

I hope this helps. I believe no matter what happens, the S/D are terrific resorts in a wonderful location. Hey, your in Disney World!

 

[paras4ri]

Just wanted to share some info I just received from spg.com. I'm SPG Gold I've never been offered been offered an upgrade (free or with points) at check-in, other than at the Dolphin. Today I decided to e-mail SPG to ask why.

I received basically a "canned" response that was basically a cut-and-paste from their website that reviewed the benefits. There was however a few lines typed at the end that stated:
"Please be advised you will need to inquire at check in upon arrival at participating properties to see if the upgrade to a Preferred Room that is offered to Gold Preferred Members free of charge is available. This information is located in the terms and conditions of the Starwood Preferred Guest Program. "

Well I looked through the terms & conditions and couldn't find it noted anywhere that you have to ask and I was wondering if others have had similar experiences at other SPG properties other than at WDW.