Starwood cash and points awards are a great way to stretch points, especially at the category 3, 4, and 5 levels. You spend part cash, part points or put another way you buy back points at a discount.
A category 4 hotel costs 10,000 points for a regular award night, or $60 and 4000 points. So you’re effectively buying 6000 of the points you need for the night for $60, or 1 cent per point.
Up until now, Starwood’s top redemption category 7 didn’t include a cash and points option.
However they announced today that some category 7 hotels would begin offering cash and points award nights.
During ‘low’ or regular season a category 7 room is 30,000 points. Cash and points runs 15,000 points plus $275. So you’re buying the remaining 15,000 points you would have spent on the room night for $275 or 1.83 cents per point. Not nearly the deal that cash and points offers at the middle category levels. But still a nice new option to have.
Thirteen of the twenty four current category 7 hotels are participating:
Cervo Hotel, Costa Smeralda Resort
The Chatwal, New York City
The Gritti Palace, Venice
Hotel President Wilson Geneva
The St. Regis Aspen Resort
The St. Regis Bahia Beach, Puerto Rico
The St. Regis Bal Harbour Resort
The St. Regis Bali Resort
The St. Regis Florence
The St. Regis Mardavall Mallorca Resort
The St. Regis New York
W South Beach
W Paris- Opera
None of the ‘all suite’ category 7 properties — which normally require double points (60,000 in low season per night) are participating. So neither of the Bora Bora properties, nor the W Maldives are included (or the Sunset Key Cottages or the Sheraton Steamboat Resort Villas). Nor three of the four Sardinia properties. Or Mystique on Santorini. I was surprised not to see the Westin Playa Conchal on the list.
Still, additional options are better and some will feel more comfortable coming out of pocket 15,000 points and $275 rather than, perhaps, $600 for a room night.
Some of these properties will go for North of $1000 a night, although presumably that’s when cash and points — which are capacity controlled — are far less likely to be available.
At least it’s something. But compared to top tier properties at Hyatt for 22k or Hilton at 32k with axon, SPG just makes top tier redemptions not feel worth it to me.
On the other hand SPG gets me great value at low to mid category properties.
I can’t imagine they’ll sell many Cat. 7 C&P rooms at these prices. Honestly, I wouldn’t pay $275/night for any of them, much less pony up another 15K SPG points.
Been to the St. Regis Bahia Beach in Puerto Rico – it’s not worth it, even with the cash and points
anyone else having problems finding inventory for C+P? i’m trying to look at hotels in key west which have a westin and a sheraton, and their availability is completely unavailable for an entire year.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention the resort fee, which I assume isn’t waived using cash and points – so $275/night is more like $335/night and up . . . ?
Mystique would have been a deal in season, out of season it can be booked for around $350 – 400 a night.
one thing in the value proposition that you didn’t mention is that occupancy taxes and fees are typically based on the rate, which if free is correspondingly 0, but as a portion of $60 or whatever is charged on that portion.
I went to The St. Regis Bali Resort WEB site and that place looks like an all suite location and they are participating.