Starwood Hotels and Resorts has made a number of changes to its SPG loyalty programme, designed to reward the “small but powerful group who drive 30 per cent of the company’s profit”.
Among the new benefits is “Your 24”, granting Platinum members who have reached 75 eligible nights in any calendar year the option of choosing their own 24-hour check-in and departure time. Instead of the standard 3pm check-in time the scheme’s most loyal members will be able to, for example, check in at 10am and stay until 10am the following day.
Frequent travellers will also be interested in the scheme’s new lifetime status offering, similar to that granted by some airline loyalty schemes. Members who have stayed a total of 250 nights, and maintained elite status for at least five years (not necessarily consecutively) will be awarded lifetime Gold status, while those staying 500 nights and with ten year’s elite status will be granted lifetime Platinum status.
The group has also introduced a new “personal ambassador” service for those guests staying 100 nights in any one year. Starwood says the service differs from a traditional travel concierge programme in “the unique personal relationship between member and ambassador”, with ambassadors able to “provide services beyond the hotel and are even empowered to assist guests when they’re not travelling”.
Other new benefits include a welcome gift at check-in for Gold and Platinum members, including bonus Starpoints, complimentary in-room internet access or a complimentary beverage, and new SPG 50 Nights and 75 Nights Benefits.
The first of these - awarded when a member has reached 50 eligible nights in a calendar year – grants members 10 room upgrades, while the second (awarded after 75 nights) allows members to earn four Starpoints for every eligible US dollar spent, along with the Your24 benefit above.
The changes will take effect from March 1, and coincides with a new-look SPG brand identity, with members invited to take part in photo shoots (see below) with photographer Alessandra Petlin, which will be used in member communications going forward.
Mark Vondrasek, senior vice president, distribution, loyalty and partnership marketing, said that the aim of the changes is to “make SPG so rich that it’s impossible for mega travellers not to choose Starwood.”
“We also want to make the program wildly aspirational for all frequent travellers. And because we know that many of our members are also members of other hotel loyalty programs, we believe these upgrades give travellers a compelling reason to consolidate their travel with us. With this in mind, we have enriched all of our elite offerings, ratcheting up the proposition as members stay more.”
More information on the changes can be seen at spg.com/morepower.
Report by Mark Caswell
