Starwood Preferred Guest Nice Choice promotion from May 1 – September 30 lets members choose from three promotion periods and 11 earning options. My previous post “SPG Nice Choice – My advice is don’t choose yet” shared my assessment of the four bonus points options and two reward redemption choices for the promotion.
No changes are allowed to your 3-month promotion period or your earning choice after you register. Take your time and evaluate the choices for the one that best fits your travel plans.
You have until June 30, 2012 to register for this promotion and all your eligible paid Starwood Hotel stays from May 1 until promotion registration date count.
Consider the options carefully.
Here are the 11 SPG Nice Choice earning options:
- Double Starpoints beginning with 2nd stay. Good offer if you are a high spender and will not stay 15 nights for Triple Points.
- 3,000 Bonus Starpoints every 6 nights. Maximum 9,000 bonus points after 18 nights.
- Triple Starpoints after 15 nights for all stays during three months you choose for this promotion. 3x points applied retroactively to all stays. Best deal for high spenders with 15 nights.
- 500 Starpoints for every paid night stayed at Sheraton.
- Free Weekend Night at Category 1-5 Hotel earned every ten (10) paid nights. Maximum is two certificates after 20 nights. This choice has leverage potential for a low spender. Potential to earn $350 free night for about $800 to $1,000 in hotel spend. The certificate expires December 23, 2012.
- 25% off Starpoints Redemption Award after 20 nights valid for category 1-5 hotels. Maximum earning is two certificates. I do not think this is a good value award offer since it is restricted to category 5 hotels, stays of up to five nights, and is not applicable for a discount on the regular 5th Night Free award pricing. This means the highest value for this certificate is a category 5 peak season stay of 3 or 4 nights. Category 5 in low season is 12,000 points per night or 16,000 points in peak season. The best savings with the 25% off award certificate is a 12,000 to 16,000 points savings on a Category 5 hotel stay of four nights. Use the 25% discount certificate for five nights and 25% off is a marginal discount compared to the normally available 5th Night Free 20% off reward. Category 5 hotel for 5 nights is 45,000 (low) to 60,000 (peak) Starpoints with this 25% discount. The same hotel would be slightly higher at 48,000 (low) or 64,000 (peak) using a 5th night free award. The 25% off certificate expires December 23, 2012.
- US $50 SPG Award Certificate after 4 nights. Maximum 3 certificates after 12 nights.
- US$50 or €50 Westin Home Collection Discount Code after 4 nights. Maximum 3 certificates after 12 nights.
- US$50 or €50 Sheraton At Home Discount Code after 4 nights. Maximum 3 certificates after 12 nights.
- Elite Qualifying Night every 5 nights. Maximum 3 elite qualifying nights. Note: These only count as one elite night and do not count as one elite stay.
- Three Elite Qualifying Nights every 10 nights. Maximum 9 elite qualifying nights.
This Loyalty Traveler post looks at the remaining five Nice Choices for Elite Status Credit and Merchandise Award options. All these choices are based on paid hotel stays. SPG Award stays and SPG Cash & Points stays do not count for earning these bonuses.
Nice Choice #7 – US $50 SPG Award Certificate after 4 nights. Maximum 3 certificates after 12 nights.
SPG Terms: Members may choose to register to earn (1) US$50 SPG Award Certificate with four (4) eligible paid nights, up to a maximum of three (3) US$50 Awards after twelve (12) eligible paid nights. Nights do not have to be consecutive and can be accumulated across multiple stays. Eligible paid nights must be at SPG participating properties during the three-month promotion earning period as selected by the member (see “all offer terms” for a list of earning period options). Non-participating properties can be found at spg.com/t&c, section 1.2. SPG Award Certificate(s) earned will arrive 4–6 weeks after the promotion earning period has ended as selected by the member. SPG Award Certificate(s) will be sent to the member’s mailing address on file. To update your mailing address, go to spg.com. Members living in China will be asked to enter the address they want the certificate shipped to during registration. SPG Award Certificate(s) may be used toward any goods and services that are charged to your folio at a Starwood Preferred Guest participating hotel by the expiration date; this excludes alcoholic beverages. SPG Award Certificate(s) must be redeemed by December 31, 2012. Upon checkout, the face value of the certificate will be applied to your folio. SPG Award Certificates are not redeemable for cash. No cash or credit will be given for any unused portion of any certificate surrendered. When the SPG Award Certificate is redeemed outside of the United States, currency conversion rates of the day will be utilized and confirmed by the hotel. Certificate must be surrendered to the hotel at time of use. SPG Award Certificates may not be duplicated, may not be accepted if altered in any way, and may not be replaced if lost, stolen or expired. See “All Offers” below for additional terms and conditions.
My Take: This is a decent offer if you happen to have a single four night stay planned at a Starwood Hotel brand other than Sheraton. You might want to go for the 500 points per night at Sheraton deal if you will be staying there and get 2,000 bonus points. This option seems best for a one time stay person who will not have enough nights or stays to get better value through another choice.
Nice Choice #8 – US$50 or €50 Westin Home Collection Discount Code after 4 nights. Maximum 3 certificates after 12 nights.
SPG Terms: Members may choose to register to earn one (1) US$50 or €50 Westin Home Collection discount code with four (4) eligible paid nights, up to a maximum of three (3) discount codes after twelve (12) eligible paid nights. Nights do not have to be consecutive and can be accumulated across multiple stays. Eligible paid nights must be at SPG participating properties during the three-month promotion earning period as selected by the member (see “all offer terms” for a list of earning period options). Non-participating properties can be found at spg.com/t&c, section 1.2. Westin Home Collection discount code(s) will be sent within 4 weeks after the promotion earning period ends, as selected by the member. Codes will be sent via email to the email address provided by the member during registration. Discount codes are in U.S. dollars or Euros, as selected by the member during registration. Codes in U.S. dollars may only be used at westin-hotelsathome.com, while discount codes in Euros may be used at europe.westin-hotelsathome.com. Code(s) must be used no later than December 31, 2012. Each code can be applied to one maximum order. Unused portions of the discount code are forfeited. Members may combine up to three (3) discount codes to be used for one purchase, but codes earned through this promotion are not combinable with any other Westin Home Collection offers or promotions. Codes may be applied to shipping and tax charges. Shipping charges will vary by country. Westin Home Collection does not ship to Russia. International charges could apply on merchandise purchase. See westin-hotelsathome.com for details. All questions regarding Westin Home Collection should be directed to (877) 777-5418 in the U.S. or +33 1 41 51 5155 outside the U.S. See “All Offers” below for additional terms and conditions.
My Take: This is a decent offer if you happen to have a single four night stay planned at a Starwood Hotel brand other than Sheraton. This option seems best for a one or two stay person who will not have enough nights or stays to get better value through another choice. I would go for the $50 Starwood credit over these merchandise certificates since the terms indicate they may not be combined with other discounts. Seems like that would prohibit their use when the Westin store runs one of their promotional discount codes.
Nice Choice #9 – US$50 or €50 Sheraton At Home Discount code after 4 nights. Maximum 3 certificates after 12 nights.
My Take: Same take as for the Westin Store.
Nice Choice #10 – One Elite Qualifying Night every 5 nights. Maximum earning is 3 elite credit nights after 15 nights.
SPG Terms: Members may choose to register to earn one (1) bonus Elite Qualifying Night toward elite status after every five (5) eligible paid nights, up to a maximum of three (3) bonus Elite Qualifying Nights after fifteen (15) eligible paid nights. Nights do not have to be consecutive and can be accumulated across multiple stays. Eligible paid nights must be at SPG participating properties during the three-month promotion earning period as selected by the member (see “all offer terms” for a list of earning period options). Non-participating properties can be found at spg.com/t&c, section 1.2. Bonus Elite Qualifying Nights will be credited to the member’s account in October 2012, after the end of all promotional earning periods, regardless of the promotion earning period selected by the member. Bonus Elite Qualifying Nights given as part of this promotion do not count toward SPG Lifetime™ nights qualification. Bonus Elite Qualifying Nights do count toward annual elite qualification earnings and toward achieving nights based benefits at 50, 75, and 100 nights annually. No bonus elite stay credit is given as part of this promotion. See “All Offers” below for additional terms and conditions.
My Take: The important detail to note here is this offer is for one (1) elite night which is not the same, or as good as, one elite stay. I have never qualified for SPG Platinum on 50 nights. I always made it on 25 stays, and several years those were using Stays Count Double promotions.
SPG Gold takes 10 stays or 25 nights.
SPG Platinum takes 25 stays or 50 nights.
SPG Platinum extra benefits happen at 50, 75 and 100 nights.
One elite night credit will not be much benefit to most SPG members.You can always book a SPG weekend category 2 reward night for 3,000 points and the award night counts as one elite qualifying night and one elite qualifying stay if you are short for status at the end of the year and you get a hotel room night in the process.
The analysis becomes whether you can earn more than 3,000 points with 5 nights or 9,000 points with 15 nights. One other SPG Nice Choice is 3,000 points every 6 nights and triple points after 15 nights is likely at least 8,000 bonus points.
Nice Choice #11 – Three (3) Elite Qualifying Night every 10 nights. Maximum earning is 6 elite credit nights after 20 nights.
Members may choose to register to earn three (3) bonus Elite Qualifying Nights toward elite status after every ten (10) eligible paid nights, up to a maximum of six (6) Elite Qualifying Nights after twenty (20) eligible paid nights. Nights do not have to be consecutive and can be accumulated across multiple stays. Eligible paid nights must be at SPG participating properties during the three-month promotion earning period as selected by the member (see “all offer terms” for a list of earning period options). Non-participating properties can be found at spg.com/t&c, section 1.2. Bonus Elite Qualifying Nights will be credited to the member’s account in October 2012, after the end of all promotional earning periods, regardless of the promotion earning period selected by the member. Bonus Elite Qualifying Nights given as part of this promotion do not count toward SPG Lifetime™ nights qualification. Bonus Elite Qualifying Nights do count toward annual elite qualification earnings and toward achieving nights based benefits at 50, 75, and 100 nights annually. No bonus elite stay credit is given as part of this promotion. See “All Offers” below for additional terms and conditions.
My Take:This is a better offer than Choice #10 for 2 elite night credits after 12 paid nights. Personally I would rather earn points and spend those points for award stays like a weekend category 2 hotel or Cash & Points where $60 per night and 4,000 points can buy a high-end category 4 hotel room or a 5th night free stay to earn elite night credits.
SPG Nice Choice promotion offers 11 earning options for your choice of promotion period from May 1-July 31 or June 1-August 31 or July 1-September 30, 2012. Register by June 30, 2012.
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