Ric Garrido , writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty p

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Starwood discount hotels downtown disney Preferred Guest has a high value promotion " Redeem Reward " geared for members with high account balances seeking high value award stay rebates in points. Members can receive a 30%, 40% or 50% rebate in points redeemed for award stays from October 21 through December 20, 2012 at 21 select Resorts in North America.
This promotion rebate means a category 7 hotel like W South Beach at 30,000 discount hotels downtown disney points per night will still cost 30,000 points per night for your award reservation. discount hotels downtown disney You will receive 15,000 points per night back, up to 6 weeks after your award stay.
You need to have 120,000 points available in your account to make a 5th night free reservation for a category 7 hotel at 30,000 points per night. Your 5 nights will ultimately cost only 60,000 points or 12,000 points per night once you receive the 60,000 points rebate discount hotels downtown disney for this hotel.
SPG is currently selling points at $28 per 1,000 points discount hotels downtown disney with a member limit of 20,000 points for $560. A couple with the same residence can each buy 20,000 points, then transfer points into one account for 40,000 points at $1,120. I explained this in detail in a post this week on buying Starpoints.
So even if you have no Starpoints currently, you can purchase 40,000 points as a couple to redeem for a 5th night free stay at a category 4 resort discount hotels downtown disney on the list. The category 4 hotels listed for this promotion provide discount hotels downtown disney only a 30% or 40% rebate and you will receive discount hotels downtown disney back 12,000 or 16,000 points.
One of the FAQ states that an award stay including December 20 will receive a rebate for the entire stay. This means a 5th night free stay is possible for Dec 20-25, 2012 and the rebate will apply for the entire stay.
A: Yes. As long as one (1) night of the eligible Award stay falls within the promotional period, the registered member will receive 30%, 40% or 50% of his or her Starpoints bonused back for all standard room Free Night Award nights at a participating property during that stay.
A: Yes. As long as the member registers for the promotion discount hotels downtown disney and his or her eligible Award stay falls within the promotion period, the member is eligible discount hotels downtown disney for the offer. There is no need for a member to cancel discount hotels downtown disney and rebook an Award stay.
Ric Garrido , writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler, shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. You can follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed .
Any promo is a good promo I suppose (especially since Starwood hasn t offered any good quarterly promos in 2012), but it s hard not to think that almost all of the hotels/resorts on this list are a category above where they should be.
More importantly, since these hotels are offering a significant discount to their point level, one can only hope that the Cat6 Cat7 hotels on this list will drop a level in 2013. The St. Regis Bahia Beach (for example) is a great resort, but to ask 30,000 points for a standard room in addition to a $60 resort fee for a resort in Puerto Rico is INSANE!
Again, I recognize that some people (who have lots of banked SPG points) will benefit from this promo. My issue is that Starwood continues to increase resort categories discount hotels downtown disney so quickly (and clearly NOT in-line with each hotel s daily rate) that Starpoints are worth less less. And now, rather than reduce the category of some hotels (with the owners likely complaining that they d leave Starwood) we get these 11th hour promos, that a very small percentage of us can benefit from.
This is a great promotion offer. My primary complaint is that making this a rebate offer excludes a large portion of the SPG members who could afford award nights at 50% the rate, but do not have sufficient points to book a standard award and wait for a 50% rebate on points redeemed.
With regard to the cost of high category hotels, I have criticized SPG many times over the years for the really high cost of awards at upper tier hotels and the trend to push hotels to higher categories each year.
I find category 6 and 7 hotels generally a poor value for spending discount hotels downtown disney points. There are some exceptions, but I value my points much more highly with Cash Points and category 2 and 3 hotels where I can save $1,000 for 20,000 points compared to one night at a high-priced Starwood resort.
This promo is definitely a good deal for those who can benefit from it, however I think (simply by offering the promo) it s clear that most of the hotels on this list do not belong in their respective categories.
Personally, I think that all SPG resorts (excluding St. Regis resorts) should be capped at Cat. 5, since you only get a standard room still have to pay resort fees. And rather than reduce hotel category levels discount hotels downtown disney to where they should be in 2013, this 11th hour promo is essentially discount hotels downtown disney a mea culpa from Starwood. A promo that is so last-minute that it benefits very few people.
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