Purchase 80K SPG points for $1550, plus 4K bonus

[YYJMSP]

You get 2 stays and 5 night credit every year just for having the Starwood AmEx. That is in addition to whatever actual stays/nights you have.

So, if jarta has this card, then his 3 stays and 6 nights makes sense, as there is only the actual SPG stay at the Sheraton with the rest coming from the AMEX.

However, there is some other confusion in the system

I think that's likely an understatement.

I know that there is a lot of YMMV as far as stays/nights for things like multiple rooms, gifted rooms, etc.

 

[Ken555]

Do either of you get the annual "bonus" of a couple of nights/stays associated with the US-based SPG AMEX?

I recall receiving a bonus from AMEX for this year. The system, even at SPG (which is much better than SVN re online tracking), is confusing re which stays offered credit etc. I'm at six stays and twenty nights so far this year, but I believe my account has ten nights from a Westin hotel and that should be it... Though I did send family to WKORV on an II exchange (and somehow I got SPG credit for what they spent there), not sure I should have received any stay or night credit for an II exchange there, tho.

Hmm... I have two AMEX cards. Could they have credited me two stays and five nights for each?

 

[YYJMSP]

Hmm... I have two AMEX cards. Could they have credited me two stays and five nights for each?

I believe you will get the stay/night credit for each of your AMEX cards...

 

[Sea Six]

You're treating this like the AMEX card is creating the credits. Go to the SPG website and look up your stays. The timeshare StarOptions resorts stays are listed.

 

[Pedro]

So, what's the final veredict? Are timeshare stays and/or nights counting towards Platinum status or not? My first timeshare stay this year is coming up in two weeks, and it would certainly be nice to add 7 nights to my SPG night count.

 

[jarta]

YYJMSP, ... If clsmit is right, you are right. But, I just can't tell who is right - probably because I don't care much about maintaining Platinum SPG since I plan to maintain my 5 Star Elite and SPG Platinum is included with 5 Star Elite. ... eom

 

[YYJMSP]

You're treating this like the AMEX card is creating the credits. Go to the SPG website and look up your stays. The timeshare StarOptions resorts stays are listed.

The US-based AMEX cards supposedly do give those credits. I have no idea what that looks like in your SPG history, as I do not have one of those cards (I'm Canadian). I would bet it doesn't even make a line item, and just bumps up the stays/nights count.

I'm not disagreeing that there are entries in your SPG history for the SVO stays.

Every time you go to any Starwood property, including SVO timeshares, and you generate charges that are valid for SPG points, it shows up as a line item in the SPG history. That doesn't mean you got a stay/night credit for it.

I have entries in my SPG history where I just went to the local Westin for dinner, and presented my SPG card so I would get the points for it. The entries it creates looks exactly like a regular stay entry:

Earn +187 10/20/2011 The Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa, Victoria
                                  SPG ELITE 50% BONUS 
Earn +374 10/20/2011 The Westin Bear Mountain Golf Resort & Spa, Victoria
                                  10/01/2011 - 10/02/2011

If I didn't know better, I would think those were entries for a one night stay.

I think this whole question of whether or not SVO bookings count for stays/nights is unnecessarily complicated by trying to inprepret the output of Starwoods IT systems.

 

[YYJMSP]

So, what's the final veredict? Are timeshare stays and/or nights counting towards Platinum status or not? My first timeshare stay this year is coming up in two weeks, and it would certainly be nice to add 7 nights to my SPG night count.

I'm sure they're not, unless you booked them directly with Starwood (not SVO) using some combination of cash and Starpoints.

 

[bizaro86]

I'm sure they're not, unless you booked them directly with Starwood (not SVO) using some combination of cash and Starpoints.

They're not supposed to, but it wouldn't be the first time Starwood's IT messed something up. I've never gotten points/stay credit for a timeshare stay, but I did get stay credits on cash&points stays quite often in the past, when you weren't supposed to. I found charging something to the room made it more likely, since they have to post the points for the charge, as you mentioned above.

 

[Sea Six]

When I go to SPG.com and look at my stays, this is what I get:

The stays at WSJ and WKORV were StarOptions. I am not making this up.

Did you SEE the part where award stays COUNT! This change went into effect last October 1st.

I detailed my stays in post 18. Count slowly - there are THREE.

 

[YYJMSP]

When I go to SPG.com and look at my stays, this is what I get:

The stays at WSJ and WKORV were StarOptions. I am not making this up.

Did you SEE the part where award stays COUNT! This change went into effect last October 1st.

I detailed my stays in post 18. Count slowly - there are THREE.

Your WSJ stay is in 2011, so it doesn't go toward your current stays/nights count.

Your Westin Ka'anapali hotel stay counts as one stay, one night.

Your WKORV stay shouldn't count.

Do you have the US-based SPG AMEX? If so, that added 2 stays and 5 nights, which brings you to 3 stays and 6 nights for 2012.

The change last fall was for SPG Award Stays and cash+SPG Point stays counting. SVO bookings don't fall under either of those categories.

 

[Sea Six]

Don't you even wonder why this list comes up when I click on My Stays?

 

[clsmit]

To get back to the original topic...

We got 2 emails! One was the 80K for $1500 and the other was 80K + a bonus 4K for $1500. Don't think we'll use either one but it can be a good deal if you use your points for high-value activities -- like a hotel in Boston during college graduation weekend or to go to Europe.

 

[YYJMSP]

Back off-topic

Just finished a home resort stay at WDW. SPG shows points for the stay (for the $$'s spent on-site), but no stay/night credits. I had 0/0 before this activity, and 0/0 after this activity.

The points entries under "My Recent Activity" look like:

The Westin Desert Willow Villas, Palm Desert
03/17/2012 - 03/24/2012​

and

The Westin Desert Willow Villas, Palm Desert
SPG ELITE 50% BONUS​

which could be mistaken for a 7 night / 1 stay entry if one was trying to reconcile their balances against the activity list.

There is a corresponding entry under "My Stays":

Palm Desert
The Westin Desert Willow Villas, Palm Desert
03/17/2012 to 03/24/2012​

So, as expected, the stay did not count towards SPG activity, since it was not booked through Starwood using cash, Starpoints, or some combination thereof.

Of course, YMMV -- I've definitely gotten points/credit on hotel stays that I shouldn't have in theory (multiple rooms, gifted rooms, etc).