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SPG 2015 Category Changes

NNerland

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Well I hope what I heard is wrong -- I was simply trying to help by passing along what I heard when I was there in an Owners Review. I am hoping it is 100% sales pitch to buy - but think about it from Starwood prospective.

Yes a big family burn of points is nice for them....but they have these nice shiny Vacation Ownership Units to sell. They now only have 84 hotel rooms - which they can really charge a premium for with the loss of the 3 buildings of rooms.

They can pitch to Mr. and Mrs. East Coaster -- do you know you are paying $8000 for your week in a hotel room -- wouldn't you like the opportunity to "invest" :rofl::hysterical: in these new beautiful 2 bedroom Villas. MF's will only be $2500-$2700/year saving you thousands and you have 2 rooms. Yes there is an upfront cost of $50,000-$75,000 but the hotel rooms are going away for free and you will want to buy in now.

I am saying it could just be a pitch - but it isn't that far fetched.

I will keep my future educations to myself as to not annoy everyone on the board -- because we all know how even the opinions are on this board.
 

DavidnRobin

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Nobody minds opinions or speculation (it can be fun), but it depends on how based in reality they are.
misinformation however...
WSJ is Cat 5

btw - SVO-WSJ owns about 10% of WSJ VOIs (depending…)

Do not let the straight-forward nature of TUG be interpreted as anything else.
It is the Internet after all...
 

NNerland

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Sorry about misinformation of Category 5 - I always forget that as most times other than Pres Week or Christmas the rooms are 12k per night (vs 16k that is available in Cat 5 range)

So if they went to 6 would be a big jump but better than losing point access

But I digress.....horse beaten enough....
 

tante

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@NNerland

So it don't see any open dates at WSJ on the spg website. It says call the 888 number to redeem points.
 

NNerland

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Not available - I tried calling; which added to my paranoia about what I had heard.

Maybe it will change - time will tell...but as of now they aren't opening up Point Options Rooms for Redemption past Jan 3, 2016
 

jnsywg

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WKORV SPG points redemption usually opens up on or after March 1 for the following January and February. My guess is this year it will be after March 10 due to category changes.

Not available - I tried calling; which added to my paranoia about what I had heard.

Maybe it will change - time will tell...but as of now they aren't opening up Point Options Rooms for Redemption past Jan 3, 2016
 

YYJMSP

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It's worth noting that not one hotel in Europe increased to a higher category this year, while a number of nice European hotels are moving to a lower category instead.

I think pretty much every property we just stayed at last summer went down. So if we'd done our month in Europe this year instead of last year, probably would have saved 60K+ points from the looks of it...
 

YYJMSP

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If by relatively new - you mean 5 years ago… ;)
It will be interesting to see it post-EQ, we visited a few weeks before the quake.

I get what you are saying - popular destination, high-cost area, and a great use of SPs considering basic rooms run for >$450/night…

Ick -- we really liked the Westin Verasa, were there for 5 days over New Year's I think 2 years ago, and were thinking of going there again this/next year, but I seem to recall it cost us 100K for a room big enough to handle 3 of us last time, so I'm not sure if I'm willing to splurge say 150K+ for the same room after the category change.

but alas… no Roatan this year… what happened to W5*?

Probably too busy at his private swim-up bar to associate those of us who have to drink out-of-the-water...
 
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