Starwood Preferred Guest Unveils Their Second Promo Of 2016

Starwood Preferred Guest has announced their second promotion of 2015, SPG Triple Up.  It’s not as good as their first quarter promo, but before we score the promo, let’s go through the details:

The promotion will run from May 3rd until July 31, 2016.  That’s right after their 1st quarter promotion ends, which is a positive for SPG loyalists.

The promotion focuses on stays of 2 nights or more and bonuses members in 3 ways:

• Earn triple Starpoints for stays at Sheraton hotels.  ***This is just the Sheraton brand, not Four Points.
• Earn double Starpoints at all other SPG brands
• Earn an extra 1,000 for 2-night stays that include a Friday or Saturday night (Thursday or Friday in the Middle East)

The list of excluded properties is smaller than normal, which is to say that you’ve got a pretty good shot your target property is on the list.  SPG has a full list of participating properties on their website.

I can’t say I’m terribly surprised that this promotion isn’t very generous.  The summer is a time when hotel rooms are more in demand for luxury travel, leading to higher occupancy overall.  But, for anyone who doesn’t generally stay 2 nights or more (about half of my hotel stays), this promo leaves you no opportunity to earn anything in the second quarter.

When we compare this to Hyatt’s current promotion, anyone staying at least 5 nights in the promotion period has a chance to earn points.  Even SPG’s previous promotion (SPG Take Two) included a bonus for staying a total of 15 or 25 nights in the promo period, though they added this as an after-thought.  Maybe there’s hope they’ll do the same here?  I wouldn’t hold my breath.

I’ve already re-qualified for Platinum status this year (more on that in another e-mail) so I don’t plan on choosing SPG over Hyatt when given the choice.  Given that many of my stays are only 1 night, I wouldn’t be earning a bonus anyways.

It still makes sense to register for this promo when SPG opens up registration, as it always does with such promotions.  It’s free, and I recently almost cost myself thousands of bonus HHonors points when I had a couple of pop-up Hilton stays but failed to register for their promo.  Thankfully, I remembered that day and was able to register, but no sense in leaving such things to memory.  Mine is feeble enough that I try to remember to register as soon as the opportunity presents itself.

When Hyatt introduced their first promo of the year, I asked the open question whether their increase in generosity would be a trend their competition followed them on.  At this point, SPG is telling us no.

The wishing Silver Lining?  Take Two was followed by Triple Up.  Maybe next is Quadruple or a Home Run promo?

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