Tag Archives for starwood.
In 2016 I spent almost half the year in hotels. I earned Hyatt’s top tier status and I earned 100 night Starwood Platinum status.
said at the time that I wouldn’t hit 100 nights with Starwood again. I just wasn’t going to travel as much, and I still wanted to earn top tier with Hyatt too. I also knew that I could keep Starwood Platinum by signing up for the Ritz-Carlton credit card and spending $75,000 on it.
Hyatt explicitly lets members gift their elite status to friends when they book awards in someone else’s name.
But booking a paid reservation for someone else using your own account is verboten. Frequently some members will book a stay in their own name and add a friend as a second guest on the reservation.
In September Hyatt named Mark Vondrasek as their new head of loyalty ‘and business platforms’. Tellingly at the time he reported directly to the chain’s CEO — and not to the Chief Marketing Officer, who was most responsible for Hyatt’s loyalty program revamp that launched last year. That CMO has since been departed.
Starwood lets you transfer points free to someone else’s account but your account and theirs must be registered with the same home mailing address. It’s actually even easier with Hilton and Hyatt.
That means you can get friends and family to sign up for cards and give the points to you. In fact they can sign up for cards you may not be able to get yourself.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
Devaluation just seems to be in their bones on the Marriott side, and the Starwood merger and Starwood Preferred Guest leadership appear not to have changed that. While they announced a reasonable set of category changes for Starwood the changes at Marriott are absolutely brutal: 21% of hotels are going up in category while just 5% are going down in category. The number of points required to redeem for a free Marriott hotel night is going up at over 1000 hotels effective March 6th.
Starwood is reducing the booking window — how far out you can make reservations — on February 11.
You’ll only be able to make reservations 350 days in advance instead of 550 (not all hotels loaded inventory 550 days out previously).
In addition Starwood has announced award category changes for 2018 which will go into effect March 6th.
A roundup of the most important stories of the day. I keep you up to date on the most interesting writings I find on other sites – the latest news and tips.
I’ve shared with you what’s in my wallet and why.
This is your opportunity to take shots at my strategy, or to offer your own an explain why it makes sense for you. What cards are you using for the most spend?
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 »
