Starwood Preferred Guest 2013 annual hotel award category reassignments are effective March 5, 2013. You can book hotels for 2013 dates using current rates through March 4, 2013.
218 hotels go up and 48 hotels go down. Starwood Hotels pdf link.
The end of this post contains Loyalty Traveler’s complete list of the Starwood Hotels changing award category ordered by hotel award number from category 1 to 7.
It is common for a few hotels to be added and some of the posted hotels to be removed from the changes list in the final changes.
The announcement and pdf link were posted by SPG representatives on FlyerTalk and MilePoint.
In a consumer-friendly pdf, SPG lists the hotels changing category with geographic descriptors so you can identify where the hotel changes are happening. Hilton and Marriott listed their hotel category changes by brand with no geographic information for country or city other than hotel name.
My contribution to the Starwood pdf is a list of the changes organized by category with State and Country list. I was too lazy to add the city. You can check the SPG pdf link for city names.
Starwood Hotels Going Down = 48 hotels.
Hotels Going Up = 218 Hotels.
Here are some Starwood Hotel reassignment facts and trends.
Several US states like California, Texas, Florida and Massachusetts have concentrated category reassignment to higher award cost.
- California gets hit hard in the category rising with 18 hotels going up.
- Florida has 10 hotels rising.
- Hawaii 4 hotels up with St. Regis Princeville, Kauai and The Westin Ka’anapali Ocean Resort Villas, Maui rising from category 6 to 7. The Westin Princeville Ocean Resort Villas near the Kauai St. Regis rise from category 5 to 6 meaning 12,000 to 20,000 points per night or 16,000 to 25,000 points in peak season. Rising from 48,000 to 80,000 points for a category 5 to category 6 rise is a hard hit on Hawaii award plans. Even more impact is Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa, Waikiki Beach, Oahu making the category 5 to 6 leap.
- Massachusetts 6 up.
- Michigan 5 up.
- New York 5 up.
- North Carolina 5 up.
- Pennsylvania 5 up.
- Tennessee 6 up.
- Texas 11 up.
- Virginia 5 up.
2 hotels make a two category jump.
- Aloft New York Brooklyn – Category 3 to 5
- Fiji Sheraton Denarau Villas – Category 4 to 6
International
Hotel Danieli, Venice, Italy rises to category 7. Another property that oscillates in and out of top tier.
International hotels rising in category are dispersed with no particular locations outside of China and Taiwan hit hard.
China 34 hotels up. 7 down.
India 8 down. Obviously a different economic climate for Starwood Hotels in India compared to China.
Athens, Greece 2 down.
Hot Asia: Taiwan 4 up. Korea 3 up. Malaysia 3 up. Thailand 3 up.
Fiji Sheraton Denarau Villas jumps two category levels from 4 to 6. That is a jump from 40,000 point for 5 nights to 80,000 points for 5 nights. Peak season rates are a 150% jump at 100,000 points for 5 nights.
That looks drastic until checking rates shows $355 to $465 per night. When 80,000 points saves $2,500 it is hard to say the increase is not justified.
Greece has two category 6 island resorts increasing to category 7 properties with Santa Marina Resort & Villas, Mykonos and Vedema Resort, Santorini.
Starwood at the top is over the top expensive
For me, the jump from category 5 to 6 and category 7 is the difference between affordable hotels for award stays and mostly unaffordable hotel awards.
Spending 48,000 Starpoints for five nights is a goal I can typically hit every couple years. Raise that to 80,000 points and the hotel is just too much to expect to save points. By the time I get to 80,000 points, the hotel might be 120,000 points. Better just to burn points each year and try to cut the cost of hotel stays each year. 80,000 points can still buy 16 hotel nights at category 4 hotels saving $200 per night using Cash & Points awards.
As always, compare the cost of an award stay to the published rates. There are still plenty of Starwood Hotel deals to be found, perhaps though, not at the Starwood Hotel you really wanted to stay.
218 Starwood Hotels are posted Going Up in SPG Award Category March 5, 2013
48 Starwood Hotels are posted Going Down in SPG Award Category March 5, 2013
Related posts on hotel award category reassignments for 2013
- Hilton HHonors major award devaluation March 28, 2013 (2-19-13)
- Wyndham Rewards changes to 8 award tiers March 14, 2013 (2-19-13)
- Ritz-Carlton Tier Changes May 16, 2013 mostly impact USA hotels (2-14-13)
- Marriott Rewards May 16, 2013 hotel category reassignment: An Overview (2-13-13)
- Priority Club realigns awards to 9 categories Jan 18, 2013 (1-10-13)
- 17 Hyatt hotels change category Feb 7, 2013 (12-22-13)
Ric Garrido, writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. Follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed.
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