NEW-STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST-Questions/Answers

[Roxie A]

Thanks for your interest, I have sent AMEX an email requesting that the limit is dropped. My husband is self employed in the building industry so our credit is checked everytime he buys a lot. Having to much credit whether you carry a balance or not causes points against you.

 

[kmr]

Does anyone know if I transfer a balance over to my SPG AMEX from another CC if this will count towards SPG points? Sometimes transferred balances do not qualify for different promotions. I'm trying to upgrade to club level for a couple of nights this summer.

 

[prncess674]

Originally posted by kmr
Does anyone know if I transfer a balance over to my SPG AMEX from another CC if this will count towards SPG points? Sometimes transferred balances do not qualify for different promotions. I'm trying to upgrade to club level for a couple of nights this summer.

Just remember that the SPG AMEX carries a pretty high interest rate. Think carefully before transferring. There are many lower interest rate option cards out there.

 

[disnurse]

No, transfers do not count towards points

 

[csmommy]

Does anyone know the current points to $'s ratio at the Swan/Dolphin? I called & they couldn't tell me. I am looking to cash-in some points at a restaurant & wanted to know haw many points = $1.00.

TIA

 

[ozziewags]

I am not sure but when I was there in Dec. I called down to see how many points my massage would cost in points and it was like 20,000! It cost $55. Needless to say, I paid the $55!

 

[Debi]

It costs 10,000 points for a free night at the Swan/Dolphin. I hope that helps?

 

[csmommy]

Thanks for your help. I finally got someone at the Swan to tell me that 1500 points = $20.00. You must spend a minimum of $20 worth of points, or you will not get the full value of the 1500 points.

ozziewags

This means that your massage should have only been 4500 points, or 3000 points & $5.

 

[maggiew]

OK. I made a room request on the dolphin website. This is what I said. Let me know what you think. Do you think I laid it on too thick?

"We will be staying with you at the Dolphin from June 16 - June 22. It will be our first time at the Dolphin and we are soooo excited. We are bringing my mother with us to Disney this year so she could help celebrate my daughter's birthday and we want to make mom's trip as magical as possible! So I would like to request an extra magical room for my mom's sake. I have heard that the East Wing 7th floor or higher facing epcot rooms are nice. But we would be happy with any room you think would meet our needs.

Thank you and your wonderful resort for giving us such happiness (and we aren't even there yet!!!).

Margaret Workman"

Oh shoot! I just realized I didn't say I was a SPG member! should I send another request? Darn.

I booked this trip with hotwire, so I can't monitor the room reservation on the starwood page.

Maggie

 

[laurieny]

Returned home from our trip 2 weeks ago. Our plan was to use points for CL for the first 5 nights and no CL for the last 3. To do this we had to have 2 seperate ressies. Had a beautiful balcony room on the 8th floor. Loved CL. On day 6 went to check out/check in and the girl at the desk comped us CL for the remainder of our trip or so I thought. Just checked my spg points and none of them were used! Am I correct in assuming that the points would have been deducted already? I may have to plan another trip!

 

[disnurse]

we returned 2 weeks ago and our points haven't been deducted yet either. I figured I'd wait till the monthly statement arrives before I sigh with relief!

 

[Piper]

I emailed starwood asking nicely for any upgrade they had available. I am checking the starwood site daily---hoping for an upgrade, but it still says :

Room Features: Traditional Non-Smoking, Safety Bars In Bath, Lowered Door Viewer, Wheelchair Access Bathrm, Raised Toilet W/Grab Bars, Accessible Room With Limited Non-Designated View.

Has anyone ever had a comp upgrade when they had an accessible room? I know that for most of you the upgrade has appeared 2 weeks before your trip--so there is still hope. Actually, there is hope right up until I get through with check-in!

Does anyone know of an accessible room with a great view (and a balcony) that I could ask for?

Thanks for being there to "talk" to.....My friends at work just don't get how I can be excited about going to a "theme park" by myself!

 

[disnurse]

Piper We have always gotten a comp upgrade of at least a better view and this has never shown up prior to our arrival. This past stay we had an awesome view on the 18th floor and it never showed up online, basic trad room, non-designated view showed

 

[Piper]

One can only hope! I just don't know what type of accessible rooms they have----many hotels use the worst views for accessible rooms--I hope the Dolphin doesn't!

 

[opal]

Signed up in Feb for the SPG Amex card with the promo for the $5000 bonus points for the first purchase on card. After six weeks SPG told me that it could take 10-12 weeks and if I did not receive them, contact Amex......so I waited. After 12 weeks I e-mailed Amex and within 48 hours, my bonus points were posted to my account!

If you are still waiting, keep trying!!!

 

[Kapp]

and complained about the same offer. I joined in January and as of 2 weeks ago, did not have any of my bonus points show up. Starwood said it was a AMEX problem and AMEX said it was a (you guessed it!) a Starwood problem. I finally got a supervisor with AMEX who still blamed Starwood but said he would take care of it. The next day, not only did I have my 5,000 points they also gave me an additional 1,000 for all of my trouble. Nice move!

 

[chrissyk]

Originally posted by Kapp
and complained about the same offer. I joined in January and as of 2 weeks ago, did not have any of my bonus points show up. Starwood said it was a AMEX problem and AMEX said it was a (you guessed it!) a Starwood problem. I finally got a supervisor with AMEX who still blamed Starwood but said he would take care of it. The next day, not only did I have my 5,000 points they also gave me an additional 1,000 for all of my trouble. Nice move!

I'm going to try doing this again. I've already spoken to a supervisor at AMEX, and our bonus points STILL haven't been credited We're really ticked at this point. Our trip to the Swan ended on Sun., and we were really counting on using those bonus points for our Club Level upgrade. Luckily we had just enough points to upgrade w/o the bonus points. I don't appreciate that they made a bonus-points offer that it appears that they had no intention of honoring, though. I hope that another call to AMEX will get this matter solved for us also. If not, I guess we'll probably end up cancelling their credit card!

 

[Kapp]

that if they didn't credit my points within the week, that I was going to cancel my AMEX card and reservations. Had them the next day! Good luck!

Kapp

 

[kpgclark]

OK guys, I gave it the old college try by looking through the old posts but I'm swamped! I realized I was looking at posts that were a year old!

Please advise. I have ressies for Thanksgiving week at the Dolphin for 8 nights. I got a rate (pre tax) of $145 using my Entertainment card. I have a regular Starwood card with about 2300 meager little points. What shoud I do? Are they still offering that AMEX deal so I can get a gold card? Will there be upgradeable rooms over Thanksgiving? What sort of upgrade should I expect? Should I accumulate points (I think I can move some frequent flyer miles over there) and use points to ugrade to concierge? What would you do? I need serious help!

 

[jaygatz]

AMEX is offering up to 6000 bonus pts in their latest offer with the Starwood card. Though many have gotten gold with this card (including me), it is only supposed to afford you a one tier bump: from SPG to SPG Preferred (corporate level), SPG Preferred to SPG Gold. If you like the AMEX, it is a great way to build points. I would advise using points to upgrade to a jr. suite--1500/night and hope to be comped CL--JMHO. A good place to learn about SPG privileges is at www.flyertalk.com then look for the Starwood thread. There is a customer service guy/manager on that thread that answers questions.