SPG Announces New Fall Promotion: Better By The Night

Update: Some offers mentioned below are no longer available. View the current offers here.

Starwood just announced the details of their Fall Promotion, Better by the Night, which will run from October 1 through December 20, 2012. Registration is not open yet, but you can sign up for a text message reminder on their site for when it does (I will also put a reminder post when it does).

Here are the details of the promotion:

-Earn double Starpoints on stays of 1 or 2 nights.
– Earn triple Starpoints on stays of 3 nights or more.
– Plus, earn 250 additional bonus Starpoints for stays booked at spg.com, or 500 additional bonus Starpoints for stays booked through the SPG mobile app for iPhone.

The double and triple bonuses will be based on stays from October 1 through December 20, 2012. Find a list of non-participating properties for this promotion below. The booking bonuses are eligible for all Starwood hotels and resorts that participate in the SPG program, regardless of whether or not the hotel is participating in this promotion.

My Take
I’ve been gung-ho with SPG this year since they introduced their new tiered benefits for those who stay 50, 75 and 100 nights. I’m about to surpass 75 nights once my 10 elite night credits post from my new Starwood Amex and Business Starwood Amex cards, so I’ll be earning a boatload of Starwood points per stay: 4x base for being a 75-night Platinum member, 500 Platinum amenity per stay and 2x additional for paying with my Starwood Amex – plus any additional promo points.

My only hesitation is that I do like maintaining Hyatt Diamond and I’m only at about 5 stays there, so need to kick it up a notch this fall to requalify. Their fall promotion is based on the number of nights you stay, regardless if they are consecutive and I generally have a lot of one-night stays, so if I end up doing about 20 one-night stays, I’ll requalify for Diamond, earn 42,000 bonus points through their promo (35,000 + 20% bonus for having the Hyatt Visa) and then 6.5 base points per dollar spent for being a Hyatt Diamond plus 3 points per dollar for using my Hyatt Visa  – plus 1,000 points per stay for Diamond amenity! While I like SPG’s elite program better, Hyatt has a better earning ratio and lower redemption rates for top tier hotels – only 22,000 points a night vs. 30,000+ with Starwood.

So with all that being said, I’ll likely be focusing my attention on Hyatt this fall, but that doesn’t mean the SPG promotion isn’t good – it’s just not perfect for my needs. For those who have expensive stays of 3 nights or more, the SPG promo is a nice way to pad your account balances all while working towards great new elite benefits.

Non-Participating Property List (for double/triple points)

While there doesn’t seem to be a list of participating properties, in a rather backwards fashion, SPG has at least provided a list of non-participating properties throughout the world, so be sure to check it before booking any stays:

Australia
Lilianfels Resort, Blue Mountains
Echoes Resort, Blue Mountains

Austria
Four Points by Sheraton Panoramahaus Dornbirn

Bangladesh
The Westin Dhaka

Brazil
Sheraton Sao Paulo WTC Hotel
Four Points by Sheraton Curitiba

Canada
The Westin Ottawa

China
The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel Beijing
Sheraton Chengdu Lido Hotel
Sheraton Dongguan Hotel
Sheraton Changsha Hotel
The Westin Guangzhou
Sheraton Urumqi Hotel
Sheraton Guangzhou Hotel
Aloft Beijing, Haidian
Sheraton Shunde Hotel
Le Méridien Shimei Bay Beach Resort & Spa
Aloft Nanhai, Foshan
Four Points by Sheraton Luohe
The Westin Pazhou

Colombia
Sheraton Bogota Hotel
Four Points by Sheraton Medellin
Four Points by Sheraton Cali

Germany
Sheraton Munich Airport Hotel
Four Points by Sheraton Munich Olympiapark
Four Points by Sheraton Munich Central
Le Méridien Munich
Sheraton Munich Westpark Hotel
The Westin Bellevue, Dresden
The Westin Grand Munich
The Westin Leipzig
Le Méridien Stuttgart
Sheraton Hanover Pelikan Hotel
Sheraton Munich Arabellapark Hotel

Greece
Sheraton Rhodes Resort

Hong Kong
Sheraton Hong Kong Hotel & Towers

Hungary
Le Méridien Budapest

India
ITC Maurya, New Delhi
The Westin Gurgaon, New Delhi
ITC Kakatiya, Hyderabad
ITC Sonar, Kolkata
Le Méridien Pune
The Westin Sohna Resort & Spa

Italy
Sheraton Firenze Hotel & Conference Center

Japan
Kobe Bay Sheraton Hotel & Towers
The Westin Osaka
Sheraton Miyako Hotel, Tokyo

Jordan
Sheraton Amman Al Nabil Hotel & Towers

Kuwait
Sheraton Kuwait Hotel & Towers
Four Points by Sheraton Kuwait

Lebanon
Four Points by Sheraton Le Verdun

Malaysia
Sheraton Langkawi Beach Resort
Four Points by Sheraton Langkawi Resort

Pakistan
Sheraton Karachi Hotel

Russia
Sheraton Palace Hotel, Moscow

Saudia Arabia
Sheraton Jeddah Hotel
Sheraton Riyadh Hotel & Towers
Sheraton Dammam Hotel & Towers
Le Méridien Medina

Singapore
The St. Regis Singapore

South Korea
The Westin Chosun, Seoul
Sheraton Incheon Hotel

Taiwan
Sheraton Taipei Hotel
Le Méridien Taipei

Turkey
W Istanbul
Sheraton Istanbul Ataköy Hotel

United Arab Emirates
Le Méridien Abu Dhabi
Aloft Abu Dhabi
Le Méridien Al Aqah Beach Resort
Grosvenor House, Dubai
Al Sondos Suites by Le Méridien
Le Méridien Dubai
Le Méridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina
Le Royal Méridien Beach Resort & Spa
The Westin Dubai Mina Seyahi Beach Resort & Marina
Le Méridien Fairway

United Kingdom
The Lanesborough, a St. Regis Hotel

United States
California
Sheraton Palo Alto Hotel
The Westin Palo Alto
Palace Hotel, San Francisco
Sheraton Sunnyvale Hotel
Sheraton Anaheim Hotel
Le Parker Méridien Palm Springs
The Westin Verasa Napa
Four Points by Sheraton San Jose Downtown

Colorado
The Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa at Beaver Creek Mountain

Florida
Walt Disney World Dolphin
Four Points by Sheraton Destin-Fort Walton Beach
The Westin Tampa Bay

Georgia
The St. Regis Atlanta

Hawaii
Moana Surfrider, A Westin Resort & Spa, Waikiki Beach
Sheraton Waikiki

Illinois
Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers
The Westin Michigan Avenue Chicago
The Westin Chicago River North
The Westin Chicago North Shore
W Chicago-Lakeshore
W Chicago-City Center
The Tremont Chicago Hotel at Magnificent Mile

Kentucky
Sheraton Louisville Riverside Hotel

Louisiana
Sheraton Metairie – New Orleans Hotel

Michigan
The Westin Book Cadillac Detroit

Minnesota
The Westin Edina Galleria

Missouri
Four Points by Sheraton Kansas City Airport

New Jersey
The Westin Princeton at Forrestal Village

New York
The Manhattan at Times Square
W New York-Union Square
Le Parker Méridien New York
W New York

Pennsylvania
Sheraton Great Valley Hotel
Sheraton Erie Bayfront Hotel

South Carolina
Sheraton Columbia Downtown Hotel

Tennessee
Four Points by Sheraton Knoxville Cumberland House Hotel

Texas
The Westin Galleria Houston
Aloft Las Colinas
The Westin Houston, Memorial City
Aloft Plano
W Austin
Aloft Frisco

Utah
Sheraton Salt Lake City Hotel

Virginia
The Westin Washington Dulles Airport

Washington
The Westin Bellevue
Four Points by Sheraton Downtown Seattle Center

Yemen
Sheraton Sana’a Hotel