Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has upgraded and extended its Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) loyalty programme to better meet the needs of a small but powerful group of “mega travellers”.
According to Starwood president and CEO Frits van Paasschen, just 2% of travellers drive 30% of Starwood’s profits — and it is this group that the improved SPG offering is aimed at.
New benefits starting March 1 include Your24, a 24-hour check-in option for SPG members that spend 75+ nights at Starwood hotels annually and an Ambassador programme, which has been trialled over a three-year period and involves matching the best travellers with personal ambassadors.
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The group has also introduced SPG Lifetime status, with SPG Lifetime Gold status given to members who have stayed 250 nights total and maintained elite status for at least five years (consecutive or not) and SPG Lifetime Platinum status awarded to members with 500 total nights and 10 years of Platinum SPG status (consecutive or not).
Van Paasschen explained the rationale behind the SPG changes: “With globalization trends, there are more mega travellers than ever before going to more places around the world. The opportunity to cultivate what we call ‘loyalty beyond reason’ with the world’s most frequent travelers has never been greater. These are sophisticated consumers who have become jaded by generic points and perks. This is why we’ve invested in distinct new and personal benefits to truly reward those who reward us with a disproportionate amount of their business”.
Starwood’s goal is to dominate the “mega traveller” market, so these frequent high spenders prioritise Starwood over other hotel loyalty programmes they might also be members of.
Starwood senior vice president, distribution, loyalty & partnership marketing. Mark Vondrasek explained: “Our goal is to make SPG so rich that it’s impossible for mega travellers not to choose Starwood.
“We also want to make the programme wildly aspirational for all frequent travellers. And because we know that many of our members are also members of other hotel loyalty programmes, 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,” said Vondrasek.
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