NEW-STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST-Questions/Answers

[Mouseteacher]

kapp ~ I have read of other posters who have received a comp continuation of what they used points for but didn't have enough for entire stay. The posters asked and received!

As far as room and location - ask over at dreamflight99's thread Swan/Dolphin... she is quite knowledgeable in all things S/D.

 

[Roxie A]

Originally posted by Kapp
I do not usually stay at Starwood hotels

Kapp

Neither do I, as much as I travel the only Starwood Properties that I have stayed at have been at MCO, Sheraton Bicayne Bay in Miami and the Sheraton Cancun.

 

[jgates]

I will apologize in advance - I lost track a little of who had what type of card & I didn't feel like re-reading. So if I am giving info you don't care about - sorry in advance!

If you would like to at least move from regular membership to Corporate Preferred you can do this with a stock purchase. Our request required no minimum number of shares and we purchased our shares through our Sharebuilder account. They don't really display the benefits for Corporate Preferred online, but I believe room upgrade was one of them. (I did post somewhere and it may be at the beginning of this thread - I'll check shortly). So, you might be able to get an upgrade thru that method - Get the Corporate Preferred for the room upgrade and then request CL thru comp or points. Or get the CP thru the stock purchase and then move up a level with the Amex promo.

I know what you guys mean about not staying frequently at Starwood - the conferences I am at are usually centered at a Hyatt facility and half the time by the time they decide to send us its booked so we are at the Holiday Inn down the street! When we travel on our own, its normally Fairfield Inn/ Comfort Inn/HI Express level - our destinations except Disney just don't really have Starwood properties!

And as a side comment (mods delete if you need to), I took no offense at the comments about the flyertalk boards. I have had this happen to me on other boards - I jump in & ask a question & 14 people are telling me that I was too stupid to search properly to begin with! I just took this remark as a protective warning to our fellow Dis'ers so they didn't end up in that boat & I thank you for it - I marked flyertalk on my favs last week and will know enough to be very thorough before I post a question now.

 

[prncess674]

Originally posted by jgates
And as a side comment (mods delete if you need to), I took no offense at the comments about the flyertalk boards. I have had this happen to me on other boards - I jump in & ask a question & 14 people are telling me that I was too stupid to search properly to begin with! I just took this remark as a protective warning to our fellow Dis'ers so they didn't end up in that boat & I thank you for it - I marked flyertalk on my favs last week and will know enough to be very thorough before I post a question now.

Finally a voice of reason. Thank goodness!!!! Frankly the people here on this thread have been extremely rude and jumped on me for giving them fair warning! I prefer not to have people be little lambs to the slaughter at the hands of the very frequent flyers. Most people on those boards know FF programs better than some of the customer service agents employed by the airlines/hotels just as DISer's know more Disney than many CM's. FlyerTalk can be an invaluable resource. I know that I learned how to triple my mileage accrual from that board. Last year alone I flew over 100K and actually earned over 400K on just one airline last year because of info I learned on FT, but FT is not a Disney Board it is a frequent flyer community. If I have a Disney specific question I ask on DIS but if I have a FF question I ask on FT. FlyerTalker's many times are rude to other veterans if they think the topic has been covered don't take it personally. They don't sit around singing "It's A Small World" and sign their post "Have a Magical Day" it is just a more all business forum.

 

[jgates]

Ok - this is what I found from the post I made on 12/16/02 or somewhere in there. Right now I can't find the pamphlet - if you could see my desk you would understand. Time to email spg and ask for a new one I guess!

Don't forget - if you are a stockholder (spg) you can receive Corporate status - its not as good as gold but does offer:

2 pts per $ spent
Personalized Check-in
Morning newspaper
4 pm checkout (subject to avail)
Upgrade to Preferred Room upon arrival (if available)

so.....no points for that upgraded room if they have it to hand out

NO!!!!674 - All I can hear now is It's a Small World! - Did you ever see that show that used to be filmed at Dis with Hulk Hogan & his friend where he was a single dad - something to do with a jet boat? They had an episode with that song and it wouldn't get out of their heads!!!!!!!!!! I think they filmed a bunch at the Grand Floridan even. From the advice I have heard I really do need to surf that site a little more thou in all seriousness!!

 

[disnurse]

Just an FYi, a few us us have recently returned and CL was 1250 at both the swan and dolphin for reg rooms. I had this double checked with starwoods at check-in and then with the front desk on a different day. Also was not able to waive the 10 resort fee even though i was originally told that cl included this fee. Good news is I have been back 3+ weeks and so far have not been charged for the points for cl upgrade.

Also was wondering does flyertalk use vulgar language my access is denied at work and this block is usually for profanity or nudity.

 

[prncess674]

Originally posted by disnurse
Also was wondering does flyertalk use vulgar language my access is denied at work and this block is usually for profanity or nudity.

No profanity is against the Terms of Service. There are no pictures on FlyerTalk so no nudity. Many sites can be hard blocked through filtering software because they know it is a bulletin board and is not work related.

 

[marymrg]

Just an FYI.........Make sure you print a copy of the link page and save it in a safe place! If you are not awarded your bonus points, you may end up having to fax a copy of the bonus point offer. I was also one who signed up in January for 4000 points. They were finally awarded 12 weeks to the day from my first purchase and only after a fax was sent. I then received a follow-up letter from AMEX stating that they were awarded.

p.s. Kapp..........do you have platinum status for a different hotel chain? I have read on here that sometimes Starwood will match your status.

 

[Kapp]

[a few us us have recently returned and CL was 1250 at both the swan and dolphin for reg rooms. I had this double checked with starwoods at check-in and then with the front desk on a different day. ]

This is making me nervous! I called and emailed the main SPG customer service site twice over the last month and they are still saying 1,000 for CL/Spec 1 upgrade. Any idea what the Spec 2 upgrade costs now in SPG points?

Kapp

 

[magicaddict]

What were the details of the January offer? We applied for the AMEX in Jan but didn't receive any bonus point offer. Thanks for any help you can give.

 

[Kapp]

Here is the site with the January offer.


http://www.starwood.com/promotions/terms_conditions.html?promoCode=AMEX10000&back=-1

Good luck as it took me 4 months to get it credited to my SPG account! But, it can be done!

Kapp

 

[marymrg]

Magicaddict, I applied around the 21st of January through the spg website/AMEX link. This special offer was for up to 10,000 bonus points for the first year:

4000 for the first purchase
1000 for the first Starwood stay
500 for up to 10 more stays
First year fee free
50% off leisure certificate.

Try calling the AMEX number on your card. In my case, calling Starwood did nothing. They insisted it had to come from AMEX. It took several weeks and several phone calls until finally I talked to someone who gave me a reference number and asked me to fax the info.

 

[marymrg]

Kapp - I like your offer better than mine I am expecting to have to fight for my first visit bonus points. My regular points have credited already (stayed Saturday night 5/10). Any idea how long it might take for those to appear?

 

[Kapp]

I would think within a month but with these points....you never know!

Good luck!

 

[cherylp3]

Can anyone tell me how you can determine your status??

Cheryl

 

[Mouseteacher]

cheryl ~ log on to www.spg.com with your user name and password. Then click on "My Account".

 

[cherylp3]

I did but it doesn't show my preferred status - Should it?

 

[Mouseteacher]

cheryl ~ Hmmmmmmmmm - when I log in it says "Gold Member". I believe it should say for you "Preferred Member". I'm not sure why it doesn't.

 

[Kapp]

that before I got upgraded to GOLD, that mine didn't say preferred either (even though I was).

Kapp

 

[cherylp3]

Yep I called an I am preferred .. woo hoo 4pm checkout and possible upgrade!!

Cheryl