Starwood raising the bar : Lifetime (and Breakfast!) for Plats, Suite Upgrades...

[MAN Flyer]

Gold and Platinum members, take your pick. We’re introducing new welcome gifts at check-in to thank you for all the time you spend with us. You’re our best members — and we want you to know it every time you stay.

New! Starting March 1

Gold Welcome Gift

Check in, and check out your new Gold welcome gift options. Choose one with each stay — you’ve earned it.

Bonus Starpoints. Get to the points. Receive 250 bonus Starpoints® per eligible stay at St. Regis®, Luxury Collection®, W®, Le Méridien®, Westin® and Sheraton® and 125 Starpoints per stay at AloftSM, ElementSM and Four Points® by Sheraton.

In-Room Internet Access. Online. On us. Surf, stream and stay connected in the convenience of your guest room with free
in-room Internet access for your entire stay.

Complimentary Beverage. Cheers. Sit back and relax with your favorite cocktail in the hotel’s restaurant or bar.

New! Starting March 1

Platinum Continental Breakfast

Enjoy continental breakfast, bonus Starpoints or local amenities as your Platinum welcome gift. You and a guest staying on your reservation can start each day with juice, coffee, pastries, cereal, yogurt and more when you choose continental breakfast — along with our thanks for being one of our best members.

It’s the ultimate recognition for the ultimate member. We’re rewarding our very best members with SPG® elite status for life. No more counting stays, no more qualifying. Just the privileges of Gold or Platinum status every time stay with us — for as long as you stay with us and maintain active membership status. You’ll call it peace of mind. We call it SPG Lifetime™.

New! Starting March 1

SPG Lifetime Gold

You’re golden. Enjoy Gold membership status for life when you achieve 250 eligible nights total and any five years of elite SPG status since joining the program. If you’re currently Platinum, don’t worry — your Platinum benefits are still intact. Likewise, as an SPG Lifetime Gold member, you can still earn Platinum status each year. Just enjoy the comfort of knowing that the benefits of Gold status are yours, even if you have a light travel year.

New! Starting March 1
SPG Lifetime Platinum

It doesn’t get any better than this. Enjoy Platinum membership status for life when you achieve 500 eligible nights total and any 10 years of Platinum SPG status since joining the program. Yes, it’s quite an accomplishment — and one that deserves to be recognized for life.

http://www.spgpromos.com/morepowerto..._ENG_PROMOTION

Coming hot on the heels of a very lame Hyatt promo it's rathe rtimely.

[Kyo]

Bah on the Continental B'fast. Give it full, otherwise Asian properties will have an excuse to ask for money to 'upgrade' to the full brekkie, I say!

But yes, SPG has raised the bar significantly for me to wish I had not divvied up my stays between HH/SPG almost equally last year (it's retrospective). I'd have done the 75 nights they'd requested if it was all in one program. I see you haven't included that section in about the 10 Suite Nights / SPG50 / SPG75 / Your24 Plat perks in that blurb also...

So, Lifetime Platinum yet, MAN Flyer?

I'm only halfway to Lifetime Gold.

[jhm]

Actually, I'm underwhelemed but glad they haven't watered down the benefits for pleb plats.

Lifetime Gold is boring because I get it so long as I hold an Amex plat chargecard (whcih has an annual fee but for me it's worthwhile for its various benefits).

Lifetime Plat is a nice to have but not anything I'm going to kill myself to go for (I'm so far away that it's not a short or medium term target).

Your24 doesn't seem that useful given that everyone already gets checkout up till 4pm (meaning that I can get to the airport for a flight in the early evening). It's not often that I have a very late evening flight but in that case, I'll be having dinner and will have checked-in my luggage (in-town check-in in HKG) or stored it somewhere.

SPG50 and SPG75 are nice things to have but if I qualified for them (which I don't), it would have been better to have higher priority officially over other plats for upgrades.

I don't care for the free continental breakfast - even in places like Europe. I'd rather take the 500 points and get a cheaper (and better) breakfast outside the hotel.

[Kyo]

Holding a SIN plat charge card gives crap all so Lifetime Gold is a nice cushion.

Am seriously contemplating Lifetime Plat in the long run (once I obtain that, however, it'd be tempting to stray once again if I wasn't Plat50/75). I'd have killed for Your24 in some circumstances in the past 365 days - would've been very useful for my travel patterns. Then again, I'm aware most people don't arrive/check-in/out at midnight... it will suit some biz patterns, for sure

Agreed on the official higher priority on 50/75. They allude to it however as an almost unpublished perk, as there is a category for SPG100 also whereby they get a dedicated Ambassador assistant assigned automatically. Search under WSJ for 'Starwood Perks Up Loyalty Program' in Google News. Some interesting leakage about HHonors Diamond benefits to come also (nothing near as great as SPG's however).

[KeithMEL]

SPG Gold is also an AMEX Plat benefit down here in AU. As I won't be keeping SPG Plat after March unless comped, the free internet for Gold (easily worth about $300 per year on my current travel patterns) makes the AMEX annual fee even easier to justify, on top of all the other 'free' stuff.

[Lobster]

Yet more reasons for me to turn my back on HH. Well unless they offer lifetime to match as well,then that would make it a tough choice.

[SQflyergirl]

Great news. Assuming they count since day one - I'm already lifetime gold and 3/4 of the way to lifetime plat I think. Who knew the 300 nights I spent at the Sheraton towers southbank Melbourne would come in handy one day?

[MSPeconomist]

Before anyone gets too excited about the SPG Plat75 version of 24 hour check in privileges, look at the T&C carefully. This is only confirmable 48 hours before arrival and must be requested before then. So you cannot count on the benefit at all (and very early check in means that you lose the guaranteed 4 pm check out) and you also cannot use it last minute, for instance if you're stranded in IROPs. In fact, one could envision being caught by late cancellation or early check out penalties if one were to make the hotel reservtion for dates so as to guarantee that one could access a room early or keep it late.

The times that I've used 24 hour check in at other hotels, it was always confirmed when I made the reservation, which made it very valuable for me. The SPG version leaves me unimpressed.

[HUGE AL]

Quoting the URL now gives us the entire text? How did that happen?

Coming hot on the heels of a very lame Hyatt promo it's rathe rtimely.

Perhaps SPG FINALLY stepping up is what we need to get our FFNs back!

Bah on the Continental B'fast. Give it full, otherwise Asian properties will have an excuse to ask for money to 'upgrade' to the full brekkie, I say!

Actually, I'm underwhelemed but glad they haven't watered down the benefits for pleb plats.

Lifetime Gold is boring because I get it so long as I hold an Amex plat chargecard (whcih has an annual fee but for me it's worthwhile for its various benefits).

Lifetime Plat is a nice to have but not anything I'm going to kill myself to go for (I'm so far away that it's not a short or medium term target).

Your24 doesn't seem that useful given that everyone already gets checkout up till 4pm (meaning that I can get to the airport for a flight in the early evening). It's not often that I have a very late evening flight but in that case, I'll be having dinner and will have checked-in my luggage (in-town check-in in HKG) or stored it somewhere.

SPG50 and SPG75 are nice things to have but if I qualified for them (which I don't), it would have been better to have higher priority officially over other plats for upgrades.

I don't care for the free continental breakfast - even in places like Europe. I'd rather take the 500 points and get a cheaper (and better) breakfast outside the hotel.

The SPG version leaves me unimpressed.

[MAN Flyer]

Perhaps SPG FINALLY stepping up is what we need to get our FFNs back!

Spot the Hyatt fan.

I am afraid these changes have probably put paid to me renewing Hyatt Diamond this year, unless they pull something big out of the bag later in the year. Let's hope it does indeed spur some FFN's, because they will have to do something.

[HUGE AL]

hahahahaha I think we've all taken a break from SPG when the promos were better elsewhere. Not to mention their much higher redemption pricing.

Let's hope it does indeed spur some FFN's, because they will have to do something.

Agreed!

[hjerapa]

Anyone knows if qualification for lifetime is when the year starts or when you qualify for the next year ?

[HUGE AL]

Anyone knows if qualification for lifetime is when the year starts or when you qualify for the next year ?

It's when you hit the 500.

[hjerapa]

It's when you hit the 500.

how about in terms of years qualified ? like if i qualify now for next year ? or do i have to wait till next year even though i got enough stays this year ?

[HUGE AL]

how about in terms of years qualified ? like if i qualify now for next year ? or do i have to wait till next year even though i got enough stays this year ?

IIRC, you don't need to be Plat consecutive years -- just a total of 10. That said, if you are hitting your tenth year, I'm not sure.

Ping A FEW Platinum Concierges. I'm sure one of them will give you the answer you're looking for.