SPG category changes for 2015 and how it affects you

Once again, SPG has made changes to its hotel categories, as part of its annual reviews and revisions of the program. The last time this happened was last February, and that worked rather well for Indian properties.




This time, about 22% of all SPG hotels are changing category in all. Of these, 10.5% are moving up and 11.8% are moving down. This time too, there's good news from an Indian perspective. But first, let's get done with the relative bad news!
  • Four Points by Sheraton Dehradun - from cat 1 to cat 2 
  • Four Points by Sheraton New Delhi - from cat 1 to cat 2 
  • Le Méridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa  - from cat 3 to cat 4
  • The Westin Pune Koregaon Park  - from cat 2 to cat 3

And if I recall correctly, AJ (Live from a Lounge) had written about the Le Meridien Mahabaleshwar actually deferring its opening! So much for the vagaries!

Now for the good stuff. In all, 12 hotels are changing categories. They are:

Hotel From Cat To Cat
ITC Grand Bharat, a Luxury Collection Resort, Gurgaon, New Delhi 6 5
ITC Gardenia, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bengaluru 4 3
ITC Maurya, a Luxury Collection Hotel, New Delhi 4 3
Four Points by Sheraton Navi Mumbai, Vashi 3 2
ITC Grand Chola, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Chennai 3 2
ITC Sonar, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Kolkata 3 2
ITC Windsor, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Bengaluru 3 2
Le Méridien Bangalore 3 2
Sheraton New Delhi Hotel, Delhi 3 2
ITC Rajputana, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Jaipur 2 1
Le Méridien Coimbatore 2 1
Le Royal Méridien Chennai 2 1

I haven't stayed at all of these hotels, but I have had at least one night in many of these hotels (even if I've not written about them). And I can tell you that in general, the ones I've highlighted in blue offer some excellent value at the new category rates. Remember, a category 3 hotel requires 7,000 starpoints for an award night, and a category 2 hotel, only 3,000 starpoints! And at those prices, the Chennai, Kolkata and Windsor Bangalore properties a steal, if you ask me!

The one's I'd like to have seen here are the ITC Grand Central and ITC Maratha (both in Mumbai). But such is luck, and this is like the proverbial gift horse, so I won't say any more!

A quick note. These new categories don't take effect until 10 March 2015 (booking date, and also stay date) so do factor that into your bookings and the timing of those bookings. Also, some of these changes don't appear to have been updated on the SPG website yet.

If you want to have a look at the entire set of the 2015 changes, you can do that here.

What's your take? Do you think you'll benefit by these category revisions? Are you likely to use them soon?

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