Starwood integrates most Design Hotels in India into the SPG portfolio

We wrote about Starwood’s acquisition of Design Hotels in November last year. At that point in time, hotels from the Design Hotels Portfolio weren’t integrated into the main Starwood system. Since then, a few hotels outside India belonging to the Design Hotels' portfolio have begun to be integrated into Starwood's systems.However, when I was searching earlier today for some upcoming stays, I noticed that some of The Park's hotels, who are part of the Design Hotels' portfolio, were included in the search results! In effect, these hotels are now part of Starwood's portfolio as well. Read on...



This is super stuff! This means that they can be booked through SPG, they earn SPG Starpoints, and are available for award nights by redemption of SPG Starpoints. In fact, the integration seems to have happened right across the system with some sample searches in metro cities across Asia Pacific all showing the addition of the Design Hotels in the search results. 

This makes an interesting addition to the Starwood family and offers a competitive price point for the traveler as well. To illustrate, here are the prices for random dates (20-21 April 2016):


However, the Goa hotels (Alila Diwa Goa and The Park Calangute) don't feature in SPG's search results. 

Each of the hotels included have also been assigned hotel category ratings, as follows:
  • Bangalore: The Park Bangalore, Category 2 (4,000 Starpoints a night)
  • Chennai: The Park Chennai, Category 1 (3,000 Starpoints a night)
  • Gurgaon: Anya Hotel, Category 2 (4,000 Starpoints a night)
  • Hyderabad: The Park Hyderabad, Category 1 (3,000 Starpoints a night)
  • Kolkata: The Park Kolkata, Category 2 (4,000 Starpoints a night)
  • Delhi: The Park Delhi, Category 2 (4,000 Starpoints a night)

It appears that only select SPG benefits will be applicable in the case of booking hotels from the Design network, at this stage. For direct bookings on SPG or SPG Design hotels websites, the following benefts are available:

  • Starpoints®, including an elite member bonus and welcome gift
  • Eligible nights toward elite status
  • Complimentary in-room Internet access and bottled water

However, these cannot be guaranteed on bookings through third parties.

Interestingly, there is absolutely no mention of Starwood or SPG on The Park Hotels' website. So it might be difficult in the early days, to have The Park hotels' staff understanding SPG related issues and queries, and resolving them. Having said that, their illustrative search guidance itself is quite amusing!


Blue Smurf!!!!!!!!!!!

Conclusion

The addition of The Park hotels in India to the SPG portfolio is a significant plus point. I'm not sure how it will affect our valuation of SPG Starpoints, but ASan is planning to come out with a valuation pretty soon, which should reflect this. However, as mentioned earlier, this does give an additional, cost-effective option for travelers. Also, in locations such as Kolkata (and Goa, if and when The Park Goa hotels are added to the SPG portfolio), this is an SPG option where none existed before.

Equally important, this provides a great opportunity to earn points, possibly even burn them, and for mattress runs within India. I'm looking forward to my next stay at one of Design Hotels in India, to try out the SPG benefits. Will report back soon!

Readers: What do you think of the addition of Design Hotels in India to SPG's portfolio? Good? Bad?

- Vinay.

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