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The Joule Hotel- Dallas, TX and the Anatomy of Suite Upgrade Shenanigans

December 22, 2010

I stayed at the Joule Hotel in Dallas, Texas this October for a wedding weekend. The hotel, a part of Starwood’s Luxury Collection, gets pretty solid reviews on Flyertalk and other hotel rating sites, so I was excited for my stay. The hotel is also knwon to offer solid upgrades to Starwood Platinum Guests, so I was [...]

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My Starwood Holiday Gift- 30 Page Hardcover Personalized Image Book

December 18, 2010

Starwood is known for giving year-end gifts to their Platinum guests. Several years ago, it was a 50% off award coupon, which was an incredible points-saving value. Last year it was luggage tags, which I thought were cheap, but better than nothing. This year, they are giving out hardcover image books. You can choose a [...]

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Starwood Announces Q1 Great Weeks Promotion

December 13, 2010

Starwood announced their new promotion today, which is a double Starpoints and bonus points for weekend nights. It’s a decent promotion, but nothing mind-blowing- I wish they would get a little more creative or give choices (like the amazing You Choose promotion of 2008). There’s also a list of non-participating properties, but it isn’t nearly [...]

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Starwood Elites: Don’t Forget To Sign up for Rewarding Returns by Dec 31

December 8, 2010

I nearly forgot to select my gift for staying 5 stays between July 1 and December 31, 2010. Link. Your choices will depend on your elite status and activity at the time the promotion was generated. My choices were: 4,000 bonus Starpoints With Free Night Awards starting at 2,000 Starpoints® at Category 1 properties, you’ll already [...]

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Starwood Teases “Guess What’s Next” and My Guess is…

December 8, 2010

A new tier higher than Platinum. The official Starwood rep on Flyertalk, Starwood Lurker a.k.a William, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Frequent Traveler Awards in Houston, has the current tagline “Guess whats next” in his signature. There’s been tons of rampant speculation, but nothing confirmed yet. I think its a new [...]

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Starwood Clamps Down on Point Transfers

December 7, 2010

A great aspect of the Starwood Preferred Guest program is that you can transfer points between members of the same household. All you need is two accounts that have the same address and the points transfer instantly- for free. Well, industrious mileage hounds have taken advantage of this perk, because you now may need to [...]

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Starwood Reinstates Peak Season Point Increases

December 7, 2010

For the past couple years, Starwood eliminated peak award pricing. Simply put, peak awards are a way for properties to demand more points for busy travel periods. As a Starwood Platinum, this isn’t good news, because I generally only redeem for Category 5 and 6 properties. Now, during peak times, Category 5 properties will be [...]

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25,000 Starwood Points for Amex Sign-up

October 22, 2010

There was a recent 30,000 point sign-up bonus for the Starwood American Express, which was pretty amazing, but is long gone. They have a new incentive- 10,000 points for sign-up and 15,000 points if you spend 15,000 in the first 6 months. Application link. Valid thru Nov. 30. A pretty good deal if you can [...]

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20% Off Starwood Point Purchases

October 17, 2010

If you need to bump up your account balance to reach a reward, Starwood is running a 20% bonus on purchased miles until December 31,2010. 1,000 points is normally $35, but with this promo it costs $28. Hardly a bargain, but if you need some more points to reach a reward, this may make sense.  Remember [...]

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Starwood Double Elite Qualifying Stays/Nights at Aloft, Element and Four Points

October 3, 2010

In a move to incentivize their loyal members to stay at their cheapest properties, Starwood is running a promotion where each stay at an Aloft, Element or Four Points by Sheraton will count double towards your elite qualification. So 13 stays at an Aloft will get you to Platinum status (which is normally 25 stays). [...]

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Starwood Bonus for Platinums

September 15, 2010

In an attempt to keep Platinum members who have already hit their requalification for 2011, Starwood is offering an extra point per dollar spent for all stays October 1- Dec 31 (link here). So once you hit 25 stays/50 nights, you will earn 4 Starpoints per dollar, in addition to any Starwood Amex bonus points or [...]

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Starwood 10,000 Point Resort Promo

September 1, 2010

Earn 10,000 bonus Starpoints for resort stays. Enjoy an escape to paradise with an exclusive resorts offer from SPG®. Earn 10,000 bonus Starpoints® when you register, book and then enjoy a stay of four or more nights at participating Starwood resorts through December 19, 2010. There’s no limit on the number of bonus Starpoints you [...]

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Hyatt vs Starwood and Battle of the Fall Promos

August 25, 2010

In the frequent guest world, Hyatt has been working hard to oust Starwood as the top loyalty program (in my humble opinion). For years, Starwood was voted and respected as the best program and for good reason: it has a long list of well respected partners, valuable points and a ton of redemption options for [...]

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Starwood Promo Update: Lots of Properties NOT Participating

August 20, 2010

As mentioned in my post earlier today, about 15% of Starwood properties are not participating in their double/triple miles promotion. This is the first time I’ve seen a Starwood promotion with such a substantial list of hotels opting out. This is not a good sign of things to come with Starwood, who in my opinion, [...]

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Next Starwood Promo Confirmed- Double/Triple Points

August 20, 2010

A couple weeks ago, I reported that the next Starwood Promo was leaked.  Today it was confirmed by Starwood to be the same promotion (click here for official details). Overall, its an okay promotion, but nothing specactular like Hyatt’s Faster Free Nights or Starwoods You Choose promotion of 2008. Note- about 15% of Starwood properties [...]

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3,000 Bonus Starpoints for Sunday Night NYC Stays

August 15, 2010

Earn 3,000 SPG points every time you stay a Sunday night at the following NYC area properties until Dec 30, 2010: Register here. Sheraton at Times Square Hotel Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers Sheraton Lincoln Harbor Hotel (Weehawken) The St. Regis New York The Westin Jersey City Newport The Westin New York at Times [...]

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Starwood Promo: Free Nights at Aloft and Element

August 11, 2010

I’ve never stayed at an Element, but I’ve been impressed with the Alofts (W-lites) that I’ve stayed in. I doubt I’ll have three stays by the end of September, but thought I’d pass along the promotion for all of the road warriors. Register here. Earn unlimited Free Night Awards with every three stays now through [...]

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1,500 Bonus Aeroplan Miles When Transferring Hotel Points

August 9, 2010

Air Canada Aeroplan, home of the 80,000 point Star Alliance business class ticket North America-Europe, is running a promotion to encourage people to transfer their hotel points. When you transfer enough hotel points to reach 10,000 Aeroplan, you get a 1,500 point bonus. For each brand, I’ve indicated the amount of points needed to hit [...]

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Fall Starwood Promo Leaked

August 9, 2010

There’s been a lot of chatter about Starwood’s next promotion, but no official word from Starwood. As a Starwood Platinum, I’ve been pretty unimpressed with their offerings thus far this year and was hoping for a killer promotion for this fall, something like the You Choose promo of 2008 where I was getting 25k bonus [...]

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Le Meridien Barbarons and Seychelles Overview

July 18, 2010

After our great Air Seychelles flight and quick Hertz car pick up, we drove  up the windy mountain road in our stick shift Diahatsu jeep in order to get to our hotel, Le Meridien Barbarons. We chose Le Meridien Barbarons for a couple reasons, but mainly because they had Starwood Cash and Points availability, which [...]

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Extended- 30,000 Point Starwood Amex Sign-up Bonus

July 15, 2010

Update: The 30,000-point bonus is no longer available. The bonus is now 25,000 points for the Starwood Amex business and personal cards. A couple weeks ago, I wrote about a great sign-up bonus for the Starwood Amex card- 30,000 points as long as you spend $1,000 in the first three months. The deadline to apply was July 6, but [...]

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Starwood “Rewarding Returns” Promotion

July 14, 2010

This one may be targeted, but if you have at least 5 more Starwood stays to come this year, you should definitely try signing up here. Basically, you get a choice of what bonus you want for hitting 5 stays. My options are: 1) 4,000 Starwood points 2) $50 Starwood gift certificate 3) 25% off [...]

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