SPG have announced their annual category changes for 2016. These changes will take place on March 1st, as long as you book before this date you’ll be locked into the rate you booked regardless of when your stay actually takes place. Majority of properties are going up in price, but some are also decreasing in price. I’ll update this post (or make a new one) with some additional information later. So far, the biggest change seems to be Four Points by Sheraton Penghu in Ma Gong City, Taiwan. It’s going from a category one property (3,000 for weekday stays and 2,000 for weekend stays) to a category five property (12,000-16,000 points), pretty massive increase (8x on cheapest to most expensive rates).
Well the Sheraton Bougainvillea in PVR is going down a category because its not a great place to stay. So while its nice that it will take fewer points, its still not that interesting.
I checked Four Points by Sheraton Penghu in Ma Gong City, Taiwan which is still a
category one property (3,000 for weekday stays and 2,000 for weekend stays) but it now costs 4,000 for weekday and 3,000 for weekend.
Le Meridien Bora Bora is going from the fabled 7+ to a 6. May actually be worth looking into!
I tried to book Four Points by Sheraton Penghu in Ma Gong City, but no award open at all? Am I seeing that correctly?
I always find it easier to see where the hotels are by using a map so I made up a map of all the hotel changes. You can see very clearly that most of North America and Western Europe is covered in red (i.e. hotels going up in price)
http://www.pointswithacrew.com/282-spg-hotels-are-changing-category-one-is-tripling-in-price/
Thank you. I couldn’t make out which country they’re in from the list
Hmmm. I wonder when they’ll stop allowing the use of Starpoints to book these hotels after the merger
Interesting that Walt Disney World Swan is moving from a cat 4 to a cat 5, but the Dolphin isn’t. Bummer! Glad I already booked the Swan on points.