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139 down, 111 up in SPG 2014 hotel award category reassignment March 4

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  • February 20, 2014
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The annual Starwood Hotels SPG hotel award category reassignment has been announced with 139 hotels dropping in hotel award category and 111 going up in category effective March 4, 2014. This is about 20% of Starwood Hotels globally changing award category with 56% hotels moving down and 44%  moving up.

Click here to view the list of SPG hotel award category changes.

Asia is the region with most hotels going down and the USA and Europe are regions where hotels are mostly rising.

I’ll write up a deeper analysis of the changes. This is simply a heads-up for readers to check hotels for places you might want to book before they increase March 4.

Sure is nice to see more hotels going down than going up.

The economy in Asia is hurting hotel revenue in that region, while the USA and Europe are pushing on strong in the general trend of these economies for hotel travelers.

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2 Comments

  • Martin February 23, 2014

    Hi Ric,
    interesting overview…

    When you’re writing your “deeper analysis” could you also focus on the real classification (star rating) of a hotel?

    I’m wondering if the SPG category is not necessarily related with the luxury of a hotel?

    Example: Why will the Fourpoints Miami, FL become Cat. 5? When I was there in 2012, I thought even Cat. 4 was too much! … There are Cat. 3 Hotels in Germany, which make a better impression and provide a more comfortable feeling while staying there, than in Miami!

    So, what are the factors according to which a SPG hotel receives its category?

  • Ric Garrido February 23, 2014

    @Martin – Gary Leff at View from the Wing has frequently stated the correlation of SPG category to average rates and occupancy at a hotel for the annual adjustments.

    New York, San Francisco and Miami are the top three cities for room rates in the U.S. in the past couple of years. These cities have regular events that drive rates high and makes these places where the SPG category is going to climb, regardless of the objective or subjective ranking of the hotel in terms of AAA stars or other hotel classification.

    The internal methodology for changing a specific hotel’s award category is not something I care to speculate about in my analysis. The consumer has no control over the category placement. I am more interested in the trends of places where hotels are rising or going down in SPG award category to help gauge the cost of hotl travel to those locations.

    For example, over the past few years Virginia Beach, Virginia is an area where hotels in several chains skyrocketed in award cost. That signifies a popular tourist location where rates have been climbing and deals may be harder to find in the peak tourist season.

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