Discussion: 10 Suite Night Awards for Plats with 50 nights in calendar year

Dear members,

Platinum members who reach 50 nights in calendar year will receive 10 Suite Night Awards to upgrade to a suite or premium room. This benefit is in addition to our existing benefit of offering upgrades at check-in to best available room, including standard suites.

The following can be found on our official website: spg.com/morepower

New! Starting March 1

SPG® 50 Nights Benefit

Suite life. Stay with us at least 50 eligible nights in a calendar year and receive 10 Suite Night Awards™ to be used for confirmable room upgrades to a suite or premium room. Use them for the times that matter most — from a honeymoon in Bali to a family vacation in Florida. The choice is yours.

This thread is created for further discussions.

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

FAQ at your convenience.

1.What is an SPG Suite Night Award?

It is a one-night confirmable upgrade to a standard suite or select premium room, depending on the hotel’s room designation and availability. Please note that hotels without Standard Suites or upgraded room types will not be available for Suite Night Awards, nor are Suite Night Awards available at vacation ownership or residential properties. Specialty Suites, including but not limited to presidential, honeymoon or multiple bedroom suites, may not be eligible for Suite Night Awards.

2.Is the existing upgrade at check-in benefit policy for all Platinum's going away or changing due to the launch of Suite Night Awards?

There are no plans to change the current Platinum upgrade at check-in policy. The launch of Suite Night Awards for SPG members with 50 or more nights annually, are in addition to all existing Platinum benefits.

3.What types of reservations are eligible?

Members can request a Suite Night Award upgrade when they are staying on any SPG Eligible Rate or utilizing an SPG Free Night Award (including Cash & Points). Reservations booked through third parties (Expedia, Orbitz, etc.) or at Starpoints-ineligible rates are not eligible for Suite Night Award upgrades.

4.How does a member earn Suite Night Awards?

Members who stay 50 eligible nights in a calendar year receive 10 Suite Night Awards. Suite Night Awards may sometimes be offered as a reward in certain promotions.

5.Do Suite Night Awards expire?

Yes, members should check their Suite Night Awards activity page to confirm expiration dates. You will have at least a year to use your Suite Night Awards.

6.If a member completed 50 or more Eligible Nights in 2011, will they earn 10 Suite Night Awards?

Yes. SPG members who completed 50 or more eligible nights in 2011 will receive 10 Suite Night Awards in their account on March 1, 2012. Those Suite Night Awards will expire on December 31, 2013. If a SPG member has 50 or more Eligible Nights during calendar year 2012, they will earn 10 Suite Night Awards that will also expire on December 31, 2013.

7.How close to my arrival date can I make a Suite Night Award upgrade request?

Members may request an upgrade using a Suite Night Award until 2:00 p.m. local hotel time the day before arrival.

8.When will I find out if my Suite Night Award upgrade request is confirmed?

Beginning five days before your scheduled arrival, SPG will check to see if a Suite Night Award upgrade is available. If an upgrade is available, you will receive a confirmation email at the email address on your SPG profile as soon as possible.

9.What if a Suite Night Award upgrade isn’t available?

If a Suite Night Award upgrade is not available five days before you arrive, SPG will email you an update and keep checking availability. If your request can’t be confirmed by 2 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, SPG will notify you via email and credit the Suite Night Award(s) back to your account.

10.If a Suite Night Award upgrade is not confirmed prior to my arrival, is my Suite Night Award returned to my account?

Yes. If your Suite Night Award upgrade is not confirmed by 2 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, SPG will notify you via email and return the Suite Night Award(s) to your account.

11.Can I cancel a Suite Night Award upgrade request?

Yes. You can cancel a Suite Night Award upgrade request until 2 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, as long as the Suite Night Award upgrade has not already been confirmed.

12.Can I cancel a Suite Night Award upgrade after it has been confirmed?

Yes. You may cancel a confirmed Suite Night Award up until 3 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive only if you cancel your entire reservation. Once your Suite Night Award(s) have been confirmed, you must cancel the entire reservation to have all the Suite Night Award(s) returned to your account.

After 3 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, a reservation cancellation will result in the forfeiture of all Suite Night Awards applied to the entire reservation. This is in addition to any other cancellation penalties applicable to the reservation itself.

13.What happens if I cancel my reservation after my Suite Night Award upgrade has been confirmed?

If you cancel your entire reservation prior to 3 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, Starwood will credit your Suite Night Award(s) back to your account. After 3 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, a reservation cancellation will result in the forfeiture of all Suite Night Award(s) applied to the entire reservation. This is in addition to any other cancellation penalties applicable to the reservation itself.

14.Can I request a Suite Night Award upgrade to any room in the hotel?

Rooms that are eligible for a Suite Night Award upgrade vary by property. In general, a Standard Suite or select premium room as designated by the hotel and shown when you request an upgrade is eligible depending on availability. Specialty suites, such as presidential, honeymoon or multiple bedroom suites, may not be eligible for Suite Night Awards. Suite Night Awards may not be redeemed at vacation ownership or residential properties.

15.What if my stay is longer than the number of Suite Night Awards I’ve earned?

The number of Suite Night Awards must match the length of your entire stay. So, if your stay is five nights long and you only have three Suite Night Awards, you can’t request a Suite Night Award upgrade for any nights during your stay.

16.What if I book a promotional rate that includes a free night?

If you book a "Buy 2 Nights, Get 1 Free" offer, for example, you would redeem three Suite Night Awards for your entire stay. The same would be the case with SPG Free Night Awards. If you redeem five nights, and get the fifth night free, you’ll need to redeem five Suite Night Awards. The number of Suite Night Awards must match the length of your entire stay even if some night(s) of your stay are free.

17.Can I buy Suite Night Awards?

No. SPG members cannot buy Suite Night Awards.

18.Can I give Suite Night Awards as a gift or transfer them to someone else?

Your Suite Night Awards are for your use only. You may not sell, gift or transfer them. However, if you’re traveling with family and require two rooms, you may request a Suite Night Award upgrade for both rooms as long as you have enough Suite Night Awards to cover all nights for each room. Please note that both rooms must be confirmed under the name of the recipient of the Suite Night Award, and the recipient must stay in one of the rooms.

19.Can I request a Suite Night Award upgrade for more than one room at a time?

Yes, if the additional rooms are part of your reservation, you can request an upgrade as long as you have enough Suite Night Awards to cover the entire length of your stay for each room. One Suite Night Award is required per room, per night.

20.Can I request a Suite Night Award upgrade for more than one room at a time online?

At this time, you cannot request a Suite Night Award upgrade for multiple-room reservations online. However, you can do so by calling SPG customer support.

21.What is the complete Suite Night Award cancellation policy for both Suite Night Award requests and Suite Night Awards that have been confirmed?

Suite Night Award(s) upgrade requests may be canceled until 2 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, as long as the Suite Night Award(s) have not already been confirmed for use on a reservation. Once your Suite Night Award(s) have been confirmed, you must cancel the entire reservation no later than 3 p.m. local hotel time the day before arrival to have all of the Suite Night Award(s) returned to your account. If you cancel a reservation and Suite Night Award confirmation after 3 p.m. local hotel time the day before you arrive, a cancellation will result in the forfeiture of all Suite Night Awards applied to the entire reservation. This is in addition to any other cancellation penalties applicable to the reservation itself.

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

Nice. I'm never going to hit Platinum, but I'm very glad to see that these upgrades apply to Points and Cash & Points stays.

I really hate those programs that penalize you for using points.

This is nice. I have been balancing stays with no attention to nights per-se between SPG and Hilton the past few years to make Platinum and Diamond, but, this is a nice incentive to skew the nights towards SPG. Thanks!

Since award nights now count towards stay credits, can it be assumed that they also count towards all of these 50 / 75 / 100 night incentives?

Yes. As of October 1, 2011 anyway.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

I know these are new benefits, so will be interested in hearing from members how often these upgrades are confirmed at premium properties. I stayed mostly at Marriott properties last year but with these new promotions I have moved all my stays this year to Starwood. Am at 25 nights already this year, so will hopefully get to the 50 nights within a few more months and am excited about the new benefits.

If I hit the 50 nights by lets say June, will the suite nights be added to my account right away, or do I need to wait until Jan 2013 for them to be available? Any idea?

They would be added a few days after the 50-night threshold is met.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

Regarding the new Suite Night Awards benefit, SPG is ensuring that we have maximized the available upgraded room types eligible for request at hotels and resorts around the world to best serve our members. We are continuing to add upgraded room types to the system, so over the next few days you could see an increase in room types when requesting to use your Suite Night Awards for a particular hotel.

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com
Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd

I tried to wade through the thread at TOBB, but got fed up and fled here.

Do the nights earned for holding a SPG AmEx count towards these thresholds?

Yes

Thanks Gleff!

"6.If a member completed 50 or more Eligible Nights in 2011, will they earn 10 Suite Night Awards?

----. If a SPG member has 50 or more Eligible Nights during calendar year 2012, they will earn 10 Suite Night Awards that will also expire on December 31, 2013."

When will they be accounted? As soon as achieved?

regards

In a sweep a week to 10 days after the threshold has been met.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

Haven't been able to apply any of mine to a reservation yet, but I'd be curious how helpful they would be. They can only be confirmed 5-1 day before arrival, which kind of makes them not so useful as it eliminates all predictability (unlike GP confirmed suite upgrades).

It looks like they are adding a lot more suites (and also types of suites) to the upgrade inventory, though, so the upgrades might be better.

I wonder if those suites will also be available for the regular upgrades or is it just for the confirmed ones?

How do I know the Suite I redeem is not one I would have gotten anyway as a Platinum upgrade?

Lottery vs Guarantee?

It very well could be in most instances.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

OK, I've tried to upgrade every single stay I've had lately and here's my experience this far:

St. Regis San Francisco: The only successful upgrade. Got the Astor Suite 5 days out.
St. Regis Osaka: Don't offer any upgrades. Booked a Deluxe room and got a Grand Deluxe. They also have a corner room with a cool bathroom, a Premium Grand Deluxe, but those rooms only have single beds, no kings. Plats with King requirements will only get the Grand Deluxe, they don't upgrade to suites unless they're full.

Sheraton Hiroshima -- Requested a Club suite on SPG.com

Club suite: King Bed

• 753 sq. ft. / 70 m²
• Club lounge benefits
• Breakfast in lounge

• Bose sound system
• Available in all rooms in the hotel:
• Sweet Sleeper Bed

• Upgrade with 1 Suite Night Award(s)
• + The cost of your original room (JPY 12,600.00) plus any applicable taxes and charges.

It didn't confirm. When I got to the hotel, occupancy was very low and the suite was available, but the front desk said the Club Suites were not standard suites and they don't upgrade at all to suites at the property. I showed the lady the suite upgrade request and asked why it's offered on SPG.com, she said they offer it, but won't confirm it.
After calling SPG, the suites still are available to request, but according to Platinum desk, the hotel have the right to offer and refuse the upgrades, even if offered on spg.com. Didn't make any sense at all. Nice brand new property with awesome club, but the hog wash I was served puts the property on my nono list.

Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina. Suite didn't clear, but was offered another suite at check in, but as I already knew the category was situated right next to the elevator, I refused the upgrade and got a lanai condo/suite. Boy, those suites are already showing their age after only a few years since the redo. The dark blue color was not a good idea to have on cheap furniture. It really looks bad.

So there you have it: 1 success, 3 fail

So this is really interesting, and an odd problem.

Advance upgrades aren't actually supposed to be confirmed BY THE PROPERTY, but out of available inventory by Starwood. At least as it was explained to me, and that's what seemed most revolutionary, upgrades at checkin were still handled by the property but advance upgrades are supposed to be managed centrally based on inventory the hotel loads and it's not even supposed to be some sort of capacity controlled sub-inventory.

So if rooms that are specifically listed for upgrade are actually available they're supposed to confirm.

Something seems wrong here. But I don't think it's the explanation you got, that the hotel offers the rooms for upgrades and then just doesn't confirm them

Definitely. And, that's why we are looking into tommy777's experience with the Sheraton Hiroshima with some major interest with an eye towards better informing the hotel, Platinum Concierge, and what may have prevented the SNA from going through as he expected.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

I had 20 suite nights on May 1 (10 from 2011 and 10 from 2012 - reached 50 nights in April)
So I've used the benefit a few times in May.

I have used the benefit 3 times and all times were successful.
-Two nights at the St Regis Bangkok for an upgrade to the Metropolitan Suite.
-Three nights at the LM Koh Samui for an upgrade to a Pool Access Suite. However, it's not a suite - they consider the deck leading into the pool to be a living room. I had many issues with the room and so the hotel moved me into the original room type I booked and promised to re-instate the suite night into my account...10 days later and that still hasn't occurred. I wouldn't use Suite Upgrades at this hotel again because they don't allow them to be used for anything other than the pool access suite and it's not worth it!
-One night at the Westin Sydney to an Executive Suite

100% batting average for me.

Hi Billy Bob.

Sent you a PM with my confirmation #. Made a dummy booking a couple of days ago and the Club suite they refused to upgrade me to was still possible to request as a confirmed upgrade.

Gimme a shout if you need any more help

Cheers

Thanks. Clearly, both the hotel and the Platinum Concierge were wrong. The SPG Hotel Coordinators will be following up with the hotel and the supervisor for the PC you spoke with will do the same with the associate.

SPG Tech is still looking into the technical issue that prevented you from using the SNA. When I have an update on that, I'll get back with you via PM.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com

Ok, here's a question I unfortunately have to ask. I won't be able to requalify for Platinum this year (travel is way down). Due to some unsuccessful attempts to use them this year, I still have 9 suite night awards left in my bank, all with 12/31/2013 expiration dates.

I cannot find my situation anywhere in the T&C's... The only thing that comes close is a phrase like "SNA's may have different expiration dates than other SPG benefits, please monitor them accordingly."

So, the question is: Will I be able to redeem my SNA's throughout 2013 as a Gold elite, not Platinum, since they don't expire for another 14 months?

theBOAT

Yes. You were given them based upon your account activity for 2011. They aren't going away until they expire on 12/31/2013, no matter if you re-qualify as Platinum or not.

Any others that were earned in 2012 and beyond will not have this unique circumstance. Only those that were grandfathered in from 2011 account activity.

Best regards,

William R. Sanders
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com