SPG used to be a leader, but now they are not. What happened? How to fix it?

Like the OP (thx for the post Lihue David) and many others here, I'm a long-time SPG Plat who's been disappointed with the lack of improvements (in terms of BENEFITS) in their frequent stay program in recent years compared to other programs (e.g. Hyatt Diamond is smoking them in terms of benefits but still lacking in coverage). Thanks to certain SPG double stay credit and carryover promos in past periods, I didn't need as many stays to maintain Plat status and was thus able to experience other programs' properties, benefits and promos more to compare against SPG: Hilton MVP (Gold in 4 stays), Hyatt Diamond FFN promos, recent Priority Club Sweet Dilemma (truly sweet) and Crack the Case promos.

I won't go into all the comparisons and contrasts details I personally gathered, but what I figured out for myself is that I wouldn't miss SPG much unless I traveled exclusively to Asia and Europe. The benefits and award redemption rates (including suites) at a few of the others match and oftentimes blows away SPG.

But unlike several of you, I don't think SPG mgmt REALLY cares if they lose me and others as frequent guests. These observations and complaints have been voiced repeatedly on FT and followed by the Lurkers, but yet no noticeable improvement has been made in the last few years except maybe comp internet for Plats (but who hasn't?). Being a businessman, I understand management's perspective and don't see them improving the program anytime soon. Why? Have you seen the 2-year chart of HOT (ticker symbol for Starwood)? It's quite obvious that complacency in the SPG program has had no material impact on their perceived performance.
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=HOT Interactive#symbol=HOT;range=2y

But being a consumer, at least one that's somewhat informed, who seeks the highest return (value, benefits, awards) on spending, SPG Plat just isn't HOT anymore. Used to be, but it's just middle of the road now. But YMMV

Another issue with SPG is that many hotels are refusing to honor the idea of "if there is a standard room available, it can be booked on points". On the other forum there is one person that has had an issue booking a room in New Orleans and I am having an issue with booking a London hotel.

In my case, it is a very high demand time (2012 Olympics) but both the Park Lane and the W show availability for their standard rooms (Classic for the Park Lane and Wonderful for the W). However, no one can seem to make the award reservation. The response from the hotels are that there is a "system" problem and they need to get it fixed. Well, it has been over a week and they still show the same availability - so I have a hard time accepting that it is a system glitch. The W Reservations Manager even promised to get back to me and never did. I would just go ahead and make a paid reservation and ask they they convert it but the hotels want 100% payment now with no cancellation.

This just goes to show how SPG is not forcing their properties to "play by the rules".

We have been both SPG Platinum and HH Diamond for the past decade. Due to reduced travel in 2010 we let go of HH Diamond (this will take effect 4/11) in favor of SPG Platinum.

Basically we prefer SPG properties, love the free bottle of wine, and the 4:00 check outs. We have stayed in some truly amazing SPG suites all over the world and have received nothing but truly excellent service.

Maybe we are just lucky.

The program (like most others) has outs in the t&cs for special events like the Olympics. The room rates are probably ridiculously high during that period.

-David

I'm slowly making my way to Hilton. Most of my stays are outside of North America so sounds like I'll be good there.

Sadly the Surpass card is not available in Canada. There are many many cards for Americans but in the rest of the world the choices are much more limited.

I learned a few things during the Olympics in YVR. Chief among them is that when the Olympics are awarded to a city, the IOC basically takes all of the hotel rooms. In time the rooms are doled out to the various delegations who may not be staying at the Athlete's Village. Closer to the Olympics the rooms are released for general sale.

I was told, but I'm not sure if this is true, that the IOC actually buys 100% of the rooms in a hotel. Then if they don't need it, the room is released and re-sold to the public, usually at rack rate. So the hotel effectively can sell a room twice. Like I said, I don't know if this is true or not.

I do know for sure that when I stayed in YVR (at a Fairmont) it was one of only three hotel rooms that I was able to find. All rooms were very expensive and as near as I could tell, I did indeed pay rack rate for my room.

I have looked and SPG does not have that out. Agree that others. In fact I mentioned this to the SPG Lurkers over on FT and they did not disagree. That is the exact reason I tried to make reservations as soon as the nights came into the reservation window.

Yes they are charging full rack rate plus requiring a non-refundable "deposit" of 100% of the room cost for the entire reservation period.

Yeah I'm not seeing the out in the t&cs either. I thought it was there.

You can't get anybody to make that rez for you by calling Starwood directly?

-David

Please take a look at the Hilton MVP site where you can register for a promo to earn Hilton Gold after 4 stays or 9 nights within 90 days. http://www.hiltonfamilymvp.com

Although the MVP discounts are for the US, the Gold promo should work worldwide. Hilton's best properties are most often found in international locations. The Executive lounges, free internet, and room upgrades are great benefits that come with Gold & Diamond status.

According to William, the problem is that Starwood will load paid reservations in their system much earlier than points reservations. So basically, for the time being, no one can book a points reservation but they can book a paid reservation. He is working to see if he can get someone to fix the situation.

In my mind, the bigger issue is that the hotel is saying they are booked when, in fact, you can make paid reservations on line. However, if you make a paid reservation, you need to pay NOW and not have the opportunity to cancel. I can understand the hotel not wanting to make award reservations but rules are rules.

Cool. Thanks for the link! I'll check it out.

I can't. Why shouldn't the hotel want to fulfill award requests when they are expecting to be sold out? They get a premium reimbursement for awards when they are sold out.

Pretty close to correct.

The hotels for a bid city agree to commit their inventory to the IOC who then allocates it together with their approved tour operators, Protocol Offices (in Canada), Ministry of ..., etc. If there is not full uptake on the blocks, then the hotel MAY have the ability to resell. My understanding was that also some people were able to get rooms on SPG points during the Vancouver Winter Olympics for example.

Yes but Gold is so worthless so what are you worrying about?

That is the point- SPG is essentially only useful for Platinum.

I am pretty sure most of you are from the US and if you lived in Asia you would love SPG.

And Europe?

1. I am Platinum and have been for 11 years.
2. I live in both Hong Kong and Phuket.

3. I disagree.

That in a nut shell is the issue. Starwood doesn't care about the frequent stayer, they only want to create bookings.
And despite the Lurkers saying over and over hotels are penalized for not following procedure, I don't believe it. Cause the majority of them don't care.

Unfortunately, there does seem to be a greater emphasis on only revenue generation than consistency/sustainability (of customer that is).

In the end Westin Whistler had plenty of rooms. Too bad most made other plans

Agreed- Shangri-La is very impressive in most of Asia for example.

This thread is drifting a bit. To get back to SPG, I think one of the main problems is lack of consistency. As SPG Gold or even Platinum, one is never quite sure what one will get until you actually check in and get to the room. Contrast this with an airline where I know I will get lounge access, priority boarding, extra luggage allowance etc. Even when I fly a partner airline (within *A in my case) I know that I'll be getting pretty much the same thing.

At its core, I think the primary issue is that participation in SPG appears to be optional. I think SPG should be made mandatory within Starwood. Then the program can be standardized across the brands. A senior exec at LH once commented to a group of us that in order to have a strong airline, it is necessary to have a strong loyalty program. I think the same is true of hotel chains.

The lack of consistency (and the lack of hotels in Australia) are my two big pet peeves. All in all, I'm pretty happy with the rest of the program.

There are two consistency issues. First, very little product standardization within brands (i.e. Four Points, Sheraton) despite recent efforts. Second, as noted above, elite benefits inconsistent throughout.

Getting back onto the what can starwood do:
- I find it very difficult to find rates on a day by day basis for a room. Say you have flexibility in booking a 3 day stay, whereby some days are probably more expensive than others. you might want to use points for some of the days which are expensive, and pay for the days which are relatively cheaper. it's extremely onerous to search within a property for different rates.

- in terms of inconsistency, the rates such as buy one get one 50% or 40% off or buy 2 get 1 free, etc etc are really inconsistently offered across the hotels. They always have the "at participating locations" note - but really, wouldn't it make brand sense to have all the hotels offer all promotions (at least for a set number of rooms?). Creating inconsistencies just irks me. if a hotel wants to be in starwood management, then they should have to follow similar guidelines.