Here’s Why Starwood Changed Their Terms to Distinguish Base and Bonus Points…

I noted several changes to Starwood Preferred Guest terms and conditions yesterday in addition to the change to make Platinum 50 night member Suite Night Awards an option (introducing other choices that a Platinum could pick instead if they prefer).

One of those changes was to distinguish between base and bonus points earned by elite members in the SPG Pro program.

I couldn’t figure out why the change in terms there, but as Chris Holdren from Starwood explained, it makes perfect sense.

A Starpoint is a Starpoint is a Starpoint. When we introduced SPG Pro last year, we simply wanted to clarify the terms and conditions to account for earning calculations based on “base points” in any potential future promotions.

If they run bonus promotions for SPG Pro, they want those point bonuses to clearly be on ‘base points’ rather than on full points earned including the higher earn rate for elites.

Simple question, easy answer, that should have been obvious to me at the time I asked!


About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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