Starwood has a great award night redemption promotion, registration required by November 30.
For award stays at specific hotels between October 21 and December 20, you’ll receive a rebate of 30% to 50% of the points you redeem. (That means you do need the full amount of points in your account to begin with, and will get a portion of those points back later).
Participating hotels at the 50% rebate level:
- St. Regis Aspen
- St. Regis Bahia Beach Resort, Puerto Rico
- St. Regis Bal Harbor Resort, Miami Beach
- St. Regis Monarch Beach, Dana Point
- The Phoenician, Scottsdale
- W South Beach
- Westin Diplomat
Participating hotels at the 40% rebate level:
- W Retreat & Spa — Vieques
- Westin Trillium House, Ontario
- Westin St. John Resort
- Westin Mission Hills Resort, Rancho Mirage
- Westin Grand Cayman
- Westin Resort Aruba
- Sheraton Nassau Bahamas
Participating hotels at the 30% rebate level:
- Sheraton Steamboat Resort, Steamboat Springs
- Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, Chandler Arizona
- St. Regis Deer Valley, Park City
- Westin Kierland Resort, Scottsdale
- Westin La Cantera, San Antonio
- Westin Savannah Harbor
- Westin Whistler, British Columbia
This deal makes award night redemptions better than cash and points offerings during the promo period. And really surprisingly, these are not low season discounts when hotels are empty. There are some great hotels included and at times that people want to go visit these places. Perhaps not always in the peak of peak season, but a nice December getaway when it’s cold in the Northeast.
As long as one night of an award stay falls within the promo period, you’ll get back the rebate on starpoints for the entire stay — despite that stay starting before October 21 or ending after December 20. So really generous terms and conditions. Awards booked prior to the announcement count, no need to cancel and rebook. And 5th night free, as is normal with Starwood awards, continues to apply.
The rebate is available only on standard award redemptions, not cash and points or upgraded room awards. Points will be rebated back 4 to 6 weeks after the award stay.
(HT: Ben)
Amusing promotion
I find that for a property like W South Beach with the rebate its closer to what its actually worth or what I would consider redeeming for.In other words the reason why I would never redeem is simply 30,000 points a night is way to much for a single night that I can redeem easily for less than half that in any other program.
SPG is way over priced on redemption in many markets.I’ve cut my business in half with them over the last few years.I’m glad I enjoyed the program when it was far more sensibly valued .On a rainy day still enjoy their hotels
And of course what good is a promotion when there is no availability.The St Regis Bal Harbor is sold out for my dates.Oh well nice promo anyway
Don, I agree with you that, for some of these properties (like W and St. Regis) the reduced rate just makes for a “plausible” redemption and not a great deal. For some of the other properties, this is a real deal, though.
More importantly, I really like this promo. Let’s face it, the best thing about SPG is that the company has some great “aspirational” properties. This puts more of them within reach. I hope they continue with this type of “reduced points” promo. It’s the kind of thing that increases customer interest in SPG while, at the same time, fills rooms during non-peak periods. A win-win, I would say.