SPG Bonus Beginnings

A week ago, Starwood sent out an interesting targeted email for Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members regarding their Bonus Beginnings promotion. (SPG is Starwood’s free-to-join rewards program.)

What was interesting about this promotion was not just that it was targeted, but that the promotion offer varies depending on your SPG history. When I plugged in my SPG number, it registered me for an offer where I will achieve SPG Gold Status after just two more stays between now and February 28, 2013. Now, I’m already at 7 stays, so 2 more stays only saves me 1 stay. But what’s nice is, it extends my opportunity to get gold until the end of February. (Normally I would only have until the end of the calendar year–December 31st.)

I also asked a couple of other friends to plug in their SPG numbers to see what offers they received. Here are the results:

• Friend #1 – 0 SPG stays but has AMEX SPG Personal Card: “A Free Weekend Night Award after her next stay (must stay by Feb. 28, 2013). Redeemable for any Category 1–6 hotel or resort worldwide — with no blackouts.”
• Friend #2 – 35 stays: “We’re sorry to tell you, you’re not eligible for this offer.”
• Friend #3 – 0 stays no AMEX SPG card: “2,000 bonus Starpoints per stay — up to 6,000 bonus Starpoints. With Free Night Awards starting at just 2,000 Starpoints® at Category 1 hotels and resorts, you’ll already have enough for a night on us. Your Starpoints are also redeemable toward airline tickets, suite upgrades, unique SPG® MomentsSM experiences and more.”

So it looks like there are at least three different valid offers available. It seems to be targeted for those folks who have not had much history with Starwood, but it never hurts to plug in your SPG number just to check!

Visit the promotion website here to find out: https://www.spgpromos.com/BonusBeginnings