Triangle Trip

While I rarely fill out surveys, I recently completed one for Starwood Preferred Guests; it asked many leading questions that strongly implied:

1.  SPG will be implementing rollover nights – if you’ve already achieved status this calendar year, the extra stays/nights will be applied toward next year’s status. This is in response to Marriott’s Elite Rollover Nights program. SPG will probably roll this out in October.

2.  If SPG doesn’t implement Rollover Nights, they will definitely be implementing some kind of point acceleration program, again sometime in October. They typically do this every year.

3.  SPG may remove the 500 point bonus reward for Platinum members. Currently, when SPG Platinum members check in, they can choose one of three rewards: an extra 500 points added to their account, a $10 credit for the minibar, or a free movie. The leading questions on the survey led me to believe they may take away the 500 bonus points.

Without the 500 point bonus reward program, there is no real incentive to be, or become a Platinum status SPG. Platinum and Gold members accrue the same amount of bonus points and get access to the SPG Club Lounges where available. The 500 bonus points you get at check-in as a Platinum member gives you 1/6 of the way to earning a free night at a category 1 hotel (3000 points per night for week days and 2000 points for weekends). I really hope SPG doesn’t take away the 500 bonus point reward program; otherwise, or I’ll have to consider another chain.

Similar to the airline offers, Marriott launched a fast track to Elite status program that goes from May 11, 2009 to June 26, 2009. You will receive double credit for each night at a Marriott. Here’s the link to register. It is hard to get Elite status at Marriott because Marriott Rewards do not count stays + nights. You can only achieve Elite status with actual nights – so checking in and out of Marriott hotels throughout the week will not get you Elite status faster.

To earn Marriott Platinum status, you will need to have 75 nights. Marriott’s current fast track to Elite status offer goes on for 7 weeks. If you are a weekly traveler with 4 nights per week, you will get 28 to 30 nights during this promotion period. With double nights, you will have 60 Marriott Reward nights — that will leave you 15 short of Platinum status. I don’t think this fast track to Elite status is worth it unless you have already been staying at a Marriott or are committed to staying at Marriott for the rest of the year.

From the promotion link, I also noticed Marriott has implemented Elite Rollover Nights. If I understand the term correctly, every additional night after the 75th night will count toward next year’s status. This would be a huge differentiator against SPG, Hilton and Hyatt. The hardest part is still getting 75 actual nights.