Why SPG's recent awards changes works well for Indian hotel stays
Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) recently made some changes to their awards, which take effect for bookings made on or after 4 March 2014. But unlike the devaluation that Hilton did a few weeks back, SPG's changes are a mix of the good and the bad.
What SPG does (and did in this case too), is to change the category for its hotels, rather than change the number of points required for an award night in a category. In general, SPG's awards table looks something like this:
So if SPG changes a hotel's category rating, say from 3 to 4, that means you need to shell out 10k points for an award night, as opposed to 7k. The reverse is true for a category change from 4 to 3. This isn't great news if you're in the US, where a majority of moves are to a higher category. However, there are 139 hotels that move down in category.
And that's where the India connection comes in.
Starwood current operates 38 properties in India, with another 25 in the pipeline, making it a total of 63 properties - you can find the entire list here. These 38 existing properties are currently across categories 1, 2, 3 and 4, out of the possible 7 categories of SPG hotels. But with the recent change, what has happened, in fact, is that 21 hotels have been downgraded by one category, while the other 17 have been left untouched. This is great news!
Here's what the revised categories for India looks like - pay attention to the ones shaded in purple (yes, I decided to stick to SPG's colour scheme!).
This means, that for the ones where the category has been revised, you now save between 1,000 to 3,000 points a night, for an award stay, than you would've needed to.
Let's take an example: A base room at the ITC Grand Central in Mumbai would cost you close to Rs 8,000 a night (plus taxes, which we will ignore in this example). This used to to be worth 10,000 points as a category 4 hotel, ie each Starpoint had a value of Rs 0.80. With the change, you can now have this room at 7,000 points, so each Starpoint now has a value of Rs 1.14. In other words, in terms of Starpoints as a currency, they have become more valuable for these 21 properties - in the above example, That's close to a 30% increase in value for the above example! And haven't really lost any value on the other 17.
Now, isn't that a good reason to use some of those Starpoints you've been sitting on?
Of course, I must mention that at this point in time that the new categories are valid for bookings made on or after 4 March 2014. So if you do look up an SPG property for redemption before that, it will show you the old category and the corresponding redemption values, even if your stays are planned for on or after 4 March 2014. So do be cautious of that.
What SPG does (and did in this case too), is to change the category for its hotels, rather than change the number of points required for an award night in a category. In general, SPG's awards table looks something like this:
So if SPG changes a hotel's category rating, say from 3 to 4, that means you need to shell out 10k points for an award night, as opposed to 7k. The reverse is true for a category change from 4 to 3. This isn't great news if you're in the US, where a majority of moves are to a higher category. However, there are 139 hotels that move down in category.
And that's where the India connection comes in.
Starwood current operates 38 properties in India, with another 25 in the pipeline, making it a total of 63 properties - you can find the entire list here. These 38 existing properties are currently across categories 1, 2, 3 and 4, out of the possible 7 categories of SPG hotels. But with the recent change, what has happened, in fact, is that 21 hotels have been downgraded by one category, while the other 17 have been left untouched. This is great news!
Here's what the revised categories for India looks like - pay attention to the ones shaded in purple (yes, I decided to stick to SPG's colour scheme!).
This means, that for the ones where the category has been revised, you now save between 1,000 to 3,000 points a night, for an award stay, than you would've needed to.
Let's take an example: A base room at the ITC Grand Central in Mumbai would cost you close to Rs 8,000 a night (plus taxes, which we will ignore in this example). This used to to be worth 10,000 points as a category 4 hotel, ie each Starpoint had a value of Rs 0.80. With the change, you can now have this room at 7,000 points, so each Starpoint now has a value of Rs 1.14. In other words, in terms of Starpoints as a currency, they have become more valuable for these 21 properties - in the above example, That's close to a 30% increase in value for the above example! And haven't really lost any value on the other 17.
Now, isn't that a good reason to use some of those Starpoints you've been sitting on?
Of course, I must mention that at this point in time that the new categories are valid for bookings made on or after 4 March 2014. So if you do look up an SPG property for redemption before that, it will show you the old category and the corresponding redemption values, even if your stays are planned for on or after 4 March 2014. So do be cautious of that.
hi dEvil...I do plan to write on that, and maintaining loyalty in general, pretty soon. do look out for that. but to answer your qn quickly - if you're in the US, you can look at signing up for certain credit cards that will get you starpoints. in india, it isn't all that easy outside of stays.
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