Starwood Asia-Pacific $20 upgrades: book by 3/31/12

Starwood Hotels in Asia-Pacific have a special Upgrade Offer rate for $20 at more than 150 hotels for stays through December 31, 2012. These rates must be booked by March 31, 2012.

The $20 upgrade rate is based on upgrade to Club Room, but hotels I checked show a variety of upgraded rooms available for Upgrade Offer rate discount. The promotion terms state these rates are prepaid and nonrefundable, yet the terms for one hotel I checked, Westin Melbourne, show a cancel by date with no penalty.

This is a promotion where there are good deals and not good rates for upgraded room types. I’ll show the results of rate checks at two hotels. They reveal widely different results using this Starwood Upgrade Offer rate.

Starwood Hotels Asia-Pacific Upgrade Offer Terms & Conditions.

Rate Analysis #1: The Westin Melbourne, Australia

I stayed in this hotel in 2003 and it was the most unnerving experience with the pull down shades in the bathroom that were sort of see through from the inside. I wasn’t quite convinced that the hotel wasn’t providing a tourist exhibitionist show for the local office workers across the street. The bathroom was huge and we spent a good deal of our time in there. Lovely property.

I see from the website photos that our room then is what the hotel now calls a Westin Spa Studio bathroom. This is exactly how our bathroom looked in 2003.

The Deluxe Room is the second category level for this hotel with a Best Available Rate (BAR) of $395AUD for April 24, 2012.

That is more than twice the rate I paid in 2003 and I received a complimentary upgrade as SPG Platinum elite to the Spa Studio room category. The Australian Dollar (AUD) is worth USD $1.05. Rates include tax so all rates shown below are 5% more in US dollars. And the hotel charges an extra 1.5% for credit card purchases.

My cousin is touring Australia and New Zealand right now. I am glad my wife and I went to Australia in 2003 when the USD was worth $1.50AUD.

The Starwood “Upgrade Offer” rate for a Westin Spa Studio is $20 more than the $395AUD BAR rate for a Deluxe Room.

The full-size Regent Suite is also on sale with the upgrade offer and $525AUD less than $1,500AUD BAR, but an Easter Sale special offer for $1,020AUD includes breakfast and is a better deal in my opinion. Just dreaming though since that is way out of my price league.

The cancellation policy for the “Upgrade Offer” rate states 3 days before arrival noon time has no penalty. This contradicts the Prepaid, nonrefundable terms of the Upgrade Offer.

“Upgrade Offer” rate is a $110AUD savings on the BAR room rate. Easter Escape includes breakfast and is $80AUD more than the upgrade rate. The prepaid rate higher than BAR indicates some odd rate pricing.

The Upgrade Offer rate is a good deal at The Westin Melbourne.

Rate Analysis #2: The Andaman, Langkawi, Malaysia

Live from a Lounge, Boarding Area blogger, posted this Upgrade offer two days ago and he was unable to find a good deal using the $20 upgrade offer in seven hotel searches. I guess I had beginner’s luck picking the Westin Melbourne.

The second example is more in line with the findings of Live from a Lounge.

April 24, 2012 rates:

The $20 rate does not seem to apply here since the room categories jump from Deluxe rooms at 43 square meters to Executive Suites at double size.

The Upgrade Offer is the lowest rate for The Andaman Executive Suite, but the Resort Offer includes breakfast for two at only USD$4.22 cents more.

I’ll take breakfast please.

Your results may vary if looking for a deal with this Asia Pacific sale. The Westin Melbourne is a good deal, and maybe there are other deals to find with this Starwood Hotels Asia-Pacific Upgrade offer.

Starwood Hotels Asia-Pacific Upgrade Offer link.

Participating Hotels:

sheraton

whotels

stregis

lemeridien

luxury

fourpoints

alofthotels

2 Comments

SPG reneges on the $20 upgrade offer in Asia-Pacific. - Live From A Lounge March 27, 2012

[…] Subscribe by Email Email address: Recent CommentsStarwood Asia-Pacific $20 upgrades-book by 3/31/12. – Loyalty Traveler on $20 upgrades at SPG properties across AsiaPac (Book by 3/31, use by 12/31)–Works or […]
Kalboz March 28, 2012

Same disappointing results here … using the above link, I tried several variations of dates for Bangkok SPG properties, and the “Lowest Standard Rate” for the same suites by far was the better rate. And I don’t think YMMV applies here!

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