I’m a President’s Circle member with Herz. The guaranteed upgrade to a premium car is the perk that makes it worth while for me.

With regards to hotel programs, I belong to several. Twice I redeemed points to spend a week at the Champs-Elysees Marriott. Another time i got a free week at the Westin Paris.

The problem is that ppl get confused and believed that these programs are rewards. Of course not. They are to incentivize you to spend you travel dollars with them. Just make sure you get a good rate of return.

Dishonest and sleazy.

If we assume a customer’s average flight is 1000 miles one-way, then it takes 25 one-way flights to earn one free round-trip. If airfare gets more expensive, then the customer pays more to earn, but earns a more expensive rewards — so from the airline’s perspective, it all should work out in the end.

With dollar-based hotel programs, inflation alone is going to cause hotel redemption rate inflation. If hotel rates rise, customers earn more points (which doesn’t happen with the airline miles model). It only makes sense then that the reward should also require more points.

As a customer, would I prefer that reward levels stay the same? Of course. But I also understand the business model and see why this hotel reward inflation occurs.

At least Starwood was nice enough to let everyone know of the upcoming changes and provide time to book rewards at the current level. Among hotel brands, this reward inflation certainly isn’t unique to Starwood, and it seems most hotel programs just raise the redemption rates with no warning. The no-warning changes from other hotel programs are the ones that ought to be labeled “sneaky.”

Starwood is an incredible value. When you transfer points to miles, you get a 5k bonus for every 20k you transfer, essentially giving you 1.25 miles per dollar. The selection of airlines you can transfer to is better than anywhere else (including Membership Rewards, which doesn’t include American Airlines). You can get many of their lower end hotels (such as Four Points and some Sheratons) for a little as 2-3k/night. I find it harder to justify the 5, 6, and 7 star hotels at 12-35k/night. Nights & Flights is a great option for their 3 and 4 star hotels. 5th Night Free is a good option for 5 and 6 star hotels if staying 5 nights is convenient. Cash & Points can be a good option for their 4, 5, and 6 star hotels.

They had a similar reclassification last year, although I don’t think they did much notification of it. (I don’t know if they have done it before that, because I’ve just been a member for a year and a half.) It’s only natural that most would increase in value (especially ones where there was extensive rennovation). Only a relatively small percent of their properties changed classes.

I’m a Starwood Gold, and I get frequent upgrades (even for rooms paid for with points, which is almost exclusively how I pay). I’ve been very pleased.

Also, I should note that I put the link to Starwood’s Point Comparison as my website, for easy reference to the myriad of hotel redemption options. I have no relationship with Starwood other than being a happy customer.

I stopped flying UA after the disruptions of 2000 (and the way they treated their employees in bankruptcy). I don’t like US’ new no-minimum mileage policy or the merger with the former HP. I guess I will pick WN by default.

But the more accurate description is like a protection racket: “if you DON’T have points, we will freely abuse you as a customer”.

That is why I will never fly United again, unless I absolutely have to (unfortunately, more often that I like, due to schedules and destination). Early on, I had few points, and they bumped me in the worst way. Now I have points and I get better treatment, but I remember the past insult.

I recently had an American flight cancel and there were very few options for the remainder of the day. I think because I am Platinum I was confirmed in First all the way home, with no miles or electronic upgrade points subtracted. Many other people were rebooked on another airline. I would have taken the other airline, but both situations involved overnight flights so I naturally took the upgraded flight.

What I found distasteful about the Starwood change was the phrase “only a handful are moving this year”. There were dozens of changes, primarily to higher categories. I don’t consider dozens of changes to be a handful.