Starwood Points, Upgrades, s/d

[sarahsmom73]

Thank you for your recent e-mail message concerning your Starwood Preferred Guest account. We welcome this opportunity to assist you.


Your account is registered at the "Preferred Plus" level. This level is specifically for Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card by American Express cardholders. It still entitles you to upgrades (based on availability) and 4pm late checkout (except at resorts). However, it is not the Gold Preferred level.


The main difference is that Gold Preferred members three Starpoints per eligible 1.00USD spent at the hotel as oppose to two Starpoints.


We appreciate your patronage of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

 

[GoofyDad_STL]

I have to share my experience. I have enjoyed reading this string and was feeling very low with the Corporate Preferred Guest (Many years ago I had been Gold but the downgraded me last year). So I finally called SPG up to upgrade me to AAA Preferred Plus and had the happy surprise to learn that at some point I was moved back to Gold level! So instead I got to ask them to send me a new Gold card

Of course this now complicates my planning for our trip in June/July. A question for everyone out there, have you used the teacher rate (my wife is a teacher) and the Gold level to get a comp upgrade (in the summer) and if so what were you upgraded too?

Question number two. I currently was planning something along the lines of arriving late on a Friday and staying at the Sheraton Safari for free with points, then moving to the GF for two nights and then to WL for five nights. Now I am thinking maybe we should just go to the Swan for three nights starting on the Friday and then move to WL. Then I would use points to upgrade to the Club Level. My question is how many points does it take to upgrade to Club Level.

Lots of questions, thanks for you help with this (isn't planning fun???)

 

[SandiH]

Originally posted by sarahsmom73
Thank you for your recent e-mail message concerning your Starwood Preferred Guest account. We welcome this opportunity to assist you.


Your account is registered at the "Preferred Plus" level. This level is specifically for Starwood Preferred Guest Credit Card by American Express cardholders. It still entitles you to upgrades (based on availability) and 4pm late checkout (except at resorts). However, it is not the Gold Preferred level.


The main difference is that Gold Preferred members three Starpoints per eligible 1.00USD spent at the hotel as oppose to two Starpoints.


We appreciate your patronage of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.

This is interesting because I was told when I called to upgrade to Gold based on my SPG AMEX Card, that I was entitled to the Preferred Plus. I either called back a week or so later or checked on line (memory is failing me) I found out that I was indeed Gold. I received a Gold card shortly there after in the mail.

 

[sarahsmom73]

That is the thing. I said both on the phone and in my email that I knew others who had gotten Gold.... I guess I'll just hang tight and keep my eyes and ears open!

 

[rgionet]

Are there AP discounts on the Swan/Dolphin rates and are they usually 50%? Also do SPG points expire? I had some points from about 2 years ago when I used to travel at a previous job and wondered if I could still use them for my trip in November. Is it common with a gold SPG card to be upgraded to club level?? If not how many points do you need to upgrade per night?? Thanks in advance if anyone has answers to these questions!

 

[Samsma]

I asked recently if Starpoints expire, and they told me that any activity, such as charging on the AmEX card, will keep them active. I think there are AP rates, but I don't know about 50%. Check at Mousesavers.com, or AllEarsnet.com? You might also want to subscribe to the newsletter at AllEars to watch for specials!

 

[Divamomto3]

Not sure if this was mentioned in this thread or not...but if you don't want the official "Starwood" Amex that has an interest rate attached, you can get a regular American Express Rewards card. It's a green Amex card attached to their rewards program. You earn points for every purchase and with this card your points can be used toward merchandise, gift certificates, thousands of things and one of them is Starwood points. So you don't necessarily have to have the special Starwood Amex, just apply or upgrade your existing regular Amex card to their Rewards program. Then you can use your points for Starwood points or for a camera or a B & N gift card, etc, etc, etc,

 

[SB in KY]

Yes, there are AP discounts at the Swan and Dolphin. They are announced for an entire year at a time and can be booked as soon as they are announced. They have no blackout dates for AP discounts, although availability may be limited. It is my understanding that the same AP rate applies year round and includes a 1 category free upgrade (i.e., pay for a standard, get a water view, etc). I don't know the exact date they come out, but I do know that they were out for 2004 by mid Sept of 2003 (and it may have been earlier,,, I just know they had them available when I called on 9/16)

You can reserve up to 3 rooms for each AP. They bill your credit card for 1 nights stay as a deposit. And you can cancel up to 5 days before arrival without a penalty.

 

[Samsma]

Divamomto3: True, but recently I converted my husbands regular AmEx reward to starpoints for an upcoming stay at the Dolphin. Each Starpoint costs 3 regular AmEx points. I converted 45,000 regular points to 15,000 starpoints. Probably not the best trade, but I'm desperate for a Disney stay!

 

[famcruisefun]

I want to let everyone know that we received our Starwood Amex two days ago, and this morning my husband called the SPG number and we are now Gold level. He hit #3 from the phone menu (special promotions) and just mentioned the platinum Starwood Amex and asked for gold and the woman took his SPG number and said we were all set. Checked online about 5 minutes later - and it says we're gold! Thank you to everyone - and good luck with your own calls.
Kelley

 

[hightown]

Samsa, regarding points expiring, be careful with what they tell you. If you read the terms and conditions, it does say that point earned anywhere but through activities at starwood properties do not count toward active membership (copied from web site):

You will be considered an "Active Member" so long as you have earned
Starpoints as a result of activities at participating Starwood Properties during
the previous twelve months. Starpoints resulting from transfers or earnings from
other programs do not count toward active status


7. In the event you do not remain an Active Member (as defined above) your
membership account will be closed and all Starpoints forfeited.


I've got 35, 000 points racked up so far and will make sure that I have at least one stay in each 12month period even if I book the cheapest Starwood property in town, check in, pay and then simply leave. I'm not a Starwood expert like many out there but I'm not going to risk loosing my points...

 

[sarahsmom73]

I called SPG tonight to try again and got gold!!! WHOO HOO! I got the nicest lady on the phone! She told me I would get a great upgrade in April too! She checked on my ressie and changed my status!

 

[maggiew]

hightown,
You can also just go to a cafe place in one of the Starwood properties and have lunch! That counts as an approved activity.

We just had lunch at the Chicago Westin River North and the Starwood CM told me that qualifies me to keep my points for the year.

Maggie

 

[faithfull]

I currently have a corporate preferred card. Would I increase my chances of an upgrade at check in if I got the American Express card and tried to get it changed to gold? Is gold higher than corporate preferred? Help!!! Thanks for any advice.

 

[hightown]

Maggie, Thanks for the tip! That's good to know. Last year I booked a room at local Sheraton and just left after check in. After I put that post in, I wrote to Starwood to check things out. My year is up in April and I have Dolphin ressie in May and have paid a one nights deposit. The person wrote back and said as a courtesy, they've extended my active status to 04/05!

So I'm all set but will keep your tip in mind for future!

 

[Fokus17]

Hey guys just got my American Express Starwood card and got upgraded to Gold. I hope i get a room upgrade. Everyone slig the pixie dust this way

 

[sarahsmom73]

Pixie dust to us all!

 

[keriannhoward]

How soon should I see the upgrade to Preferred Plus on the spg website? I just upgraded with my AAA membership but it still shows us as Preferred on the website. The customer service person did say that we would be getting a new card though.

 

[sarahsmom73]

My upgrade to gold showed up the same day..

 

[vhoffman]

Do these upgrades apply to the Swan as well as the Dolphin? How do the points work? That is, you need 1000 points plus $60 for a one night stay? So if you wanted to stay three nights it would cost $180 plus 3000 points? Is that correct? sounds like a good deal to me!