Rookie Travel Tips With Shannon and More On Starwood Preferred Guest

August 12, 2011 - Shannon

The Readers Have Spoken: I wanted to say Thank You all for the comments this week about Rookie Fridays. I found them very constructive and I will be modifying posts accordingly. You can look forward to shorter, more informative Rookie Fridays!

Last weeks winning travel tip goes to Joshua, who submitted his tip via email (Thanks, Joshua)

”While the best value for your miles often comes from saving up for that big trip in first class to exotic, far away locations, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best use of miles for everyone. A lot of rookie travelers may not have the same time and income flexibility that some experienced travelers have.

“My wife and I had set aside a good chunk of Delta and Continental miles to eventually take a couple of long trips to Europe. But now we’re expecting our first baby in the fall. Flying for 16 hours and being away from home for three weeks are pretty much out of the question for the foreseeable future.

“We’ve also recently moved into our dream home, which needed some TLC, so we decided to put our miles to good use. We transferred our Continental and United miles over to Amtrak and redeemed for Lowe’s gift cards at a rate of 10,000 miles = $100. That bought us all new kitchen appliances (the house had none when we moved in) and a new backyard fence. Our Membership Rewards points went into Delta with the 50% bonus and were redeemed for Amex Gift Cards at a rate of 11,000 miles = $100 (the going rate for holders of a Delta SkyMiles credit card). We use these for most of our everyday spending, which allows us to put more of our paychecks into savings – an invaluable comfort for new parents.

“Did we get the best monetary value for our miles? Probably not. Did we get the best value toward enriching our quality of life? I think so.” – Joshua

The Starwood Preferred Guest Program Continued….

Another way to maximize your SPG points is to take advantage of their 5th Night Free Offer.

You redeem points at Category 3 through 7 hotels for four nights and the fifth night is included for free. The free fifth night must be the fifth night of a five consecutive-night stay for which the reward was redeemed and you get no credit or refund for any unused portion of your stay.

Fifth Night Free Total Points needed by category in general:
3 – 28,000 or 5600 per night
4 – 40,000 or 8000 per night
5 – 48,000-64,000 or 9600-12,800 per night
6 – 80,000-100,000 or 16,000-20,000 per night
7 – 120,000-140,000 or 24,000-28,000 per night

Points needed to redeem one free night per room in general by category:
3 – 7,000
4 – 10,000
5 – 12,000-16,000
6 – 20,000-25,000
7 – 30,000-35,000

Using the fifth night free deal can save you some real points on your vacation.

Kinkaku-ji Temple, Kyoto, Japan, photo by Andrew Ingersoll

I searched for some hotels in Hawaii since that’s always a great vacation. I found the Category 5 Sheraton Maui Resort and Spa in September for 12,000 Starpoints a night. That’s a total of 48,000 Starpoints for five nights or 9600 points per night. The standard room goes for $279 US per night, giving your Starpoints a value of three cents. At the regular rate, your hotel costs for five nights here would be $1395. And at the regular points per night redemption, it would have cost you 60,000-80,000 points. So by using the fifth night option in this case, you save anywhere from 12,000-32,000 points.

Another good example was The Westin Miyako, Kyoto, Japan. This Category 4 hotel was going for 10,000 Starpoints per night or 30,000 Yen per night, which, at current currency conversion rates, is $385.60 per night; 40,000 points over five days is 8000 points per night. At the rate of $385.60 per nigh,t your SPG points are valued at five cents per point. At regular points redemption rates per night, this would cost you 50,000 points, so you’ve saved 10,000 points by using the fifth night option. Or you could just pay $1,928.00 for five nights.

Another good one I found was the SLS hotel in Beverly Hills, a Thursday through Monday stay in May. This is a Category 5 hotel for 12,000 points per night or a total of 48,000 points. Each night of the five-night stay would be 9600 points. The standard room rate is $489, placing a value of five cents on each Starpoint. Fifth night free again could save you between 12,000 and 32,000 points on these redemptions.

Peak seasons affect room rates as well as points required per room. To maximize your award, search for travel off-season. Each location, hotel, and vacation are different so you must go onto SPG’s website and do some digging to really individualize how you are going to stretch your points, but this is a great start.

Happy Hacking!

– The Rookie, Shannon

Anonymous

Glad to see your giving back Rick and Katy…as they say down under – "good on ya"!
René

We who owe you so much are so happy for you and bug! Enjoy the points and tell us how they get spent (we know you wil)

@ Shannon Rookie Travel Tip:

2 years ago I hated staying at hotels and never ever asked for an upgrade or even knew about it. Now, just about every time I say at a hotel I get a suite or better and I understand that hotel stays can be FUN and very nice.

The obvious tip is get some status with the hotel chain. Any status will do fine I have found. PC is E-Z to get with 60k card and SPG GOLD is E-Z with AMEX PLAT card from Ricks site.

Here is what I do and it WORKS. Use FAXZERO.com to fax the hotel (get the number from the hotel site) the day before you arrive and say something like this:

Dear xxxx hotel,

I am very much looking forward to my stay at your hotel tomorrow confirmation # xxxxxxx.

As a (insert status here) with (what ever chain) I would very much appreciate a suite upgrade if available.

Sincerely,

(you)

I have found when I check in they almost always say: "we received your fax and have upgraded you to" whatever or the best room or whatever. You can also make other requests E-Z this way like I am booked for 2 beds would like king or a room with a view or club level or whatever.

Try it next time!

René
IPBrian

Wow, 150,000+ SPG points…gotta love the internet!
Anonymous

The 'greed' factor does make some of the people to game the system. Would it not be an easy fix for the people offering the deal to add a caveat – 'one per person or one per household' and have a filter in their software to reject any multiple uses?
Anonymous

Rick, Glad you are banging away on the "rub it in" crowd. I imagine you wont confront Pickles directly though.
Anonymous

That 83,000 mile "deal" is stupid. It has happened before on the site, but just never got publicity. They will not honor it. If faced with a somehow valid lawsuit, they will refund your purchase price as the legal remedy. It is much cheaper to give $5 back than thousands of miles.
Anonymous

Rick,

If a system is set up in a way that can be taken advantage of, assume it will be. It's not our fault that they didn't slap the appropriate T&C's on a "deal" or that a pricing error slipped through.

The "worst" thing I ever did was book two flights with NW when they had a $400 discount off of an air and land combo from LAX to HNL. One night in a hotel (and a red-eye home) could be had for $80. Boy was that fun.

Honestly, for deals that are clearly errors, it's pretty pompous to say "everybody gets one, anybody else who orders more is greedy." The first guy is just as guilty as the second.

As far as that suntrust guy getting mad? I never saw what you did, but he'd do himself a favor to think back to my first paragraph. It's not my job to run or safeguard his business.

Things get especially tricky when we consider pricing errors — these days, with BA slapping on so many fees and fuel surcharges, it's hard to know what's a marketing gimic or an error.
Ted

of course you're smiling Rick, you just netted 120k SPG points!
Anonymous

Rick- Right on the money… pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered. Don't bite that hand that feeds you.
jung lee

I had two approved SPG applications during the 10K referral period, and the points both posted within a week of the approvals.
BostonFlyer

I am hoping that the person who ordered $5k devices have their order canceled. A lifetime ban form the program should also be in consideration for that person. There have been already reports of orders canceled if the quantity was more then one. If they give miles great, if not it was worth a try and maybe some goodwill will be handed out instead.

BTW I ordered one for the the rare chance that the miles actually post, you can't get miles if you don't try.
CreditCardAssist

I'm trying to get some airline rewards for travel this fall, but I'm nervous about racking up charges on my credit card. Does anyone have any suggestions?
David

Ordering $5,000 is plain and simple – STUPID!!
There is no way in hell they will honor that. However, that guy can apparently afford to hire the lawyer for the lawsuit

In regards to the AMEX 10k MR authorized users question:
Each authorized user has to physically be APPROVED by AMEX. I called in 5 names with dob & ssn, and only 1 of 5 was instantly approved. The other 4 went to "processing" and I would know within "7-10 days" if they are approved.
Worst case scenario is they get declined and I call in with more friends info

Hope that helps.

In regards to the SPG points – WOW, 150,000 free points, and a possibility to earn over 1,000,000 SPG points is about as incredible as it gets! Cool to see people with good ideas and the willingness to share, get rewarded.
andrew w.

I called for additional card holders and got rejected first time when supervisor confirmed it was targeted. The second person did 30 accounts the day prior and new exactly what was going on.
She set up 5 free gold accounts for my business gold card using only name. For my Platinum amex, she set up 5 gold cards for a total of $45 using Name and DOB, then 3 plat for a total of $175 using Name and DOB, was told SS# not needed for any cards. Told 7-10 BD to get card, then 2 months to get points posted after minimal spend. Will be doing 8 more accounts tomorrow morning when she calls me back for wifes platinum amex.
Anonymous

Rick: Called yesterday morning and mentioned the prom code for adding authorized users. 1st rep said "you must have seen this on a travel website" and transferred me to the MR rep. She said the promo was targeted and if I didn't see it when I logged into my account – I wasn't eligible. Tried again through the secured e-mail and through a survey I completed on my reaction to my experience with customer relations. Doesn't look good. jack
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