More Than Points

This past weekend, I received an interesting promotion in the mail. At first glance, it appeared to be from United. Upon closer inspection, I noticed the Starwood Preferred Guest in the lower left-hand corner in addition to the United Mileage Plus in the lower right-hand corner.

Inside was a Starwood Preferred Guest Gold membership card valid until 02/29/2008 requesting me to sign-up at http://spg.com/UAGold369. Please note, this promotion won’t do you any good unless you received it in the mail or perhaps, reached a certain United status (read on).

I used to be a Starwood Platinum member, but working at a client for a year without a nearby Starwood hotel forced me to become a Marriott Platinum member instead. This free Gold status upgrade was quite a pleasant surprise.

YOU CAN NOW EARN MORE MILEAGE PLUS® BONUS MILES WITH STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST. Congratulations! You have successfully registered for this Starwood Preferred Guest® promotion. You can now enjoy elite Gold Preferred Guest® status through February 2008. You’ll also earn 3,000 Mileage Plus bonus miles for every three eligible nights you stay at Starwood hotels and resorts through July 31, 2007, for a total of up to 9,000 bonus miles.

I found the catch in the terms and conditions:

Offer is valid for new SPG members only. Offer is valid for recipient of this mail piece only and is non-transferable. Offer is void for employees of Starwood Hotels & Resorts and United Airlines. To receive the Mileage Plus® miles, recipient must participate in the Airline Direct DepositSM program. With Airline Direct Deposit, Starpoints® earned from eligible hotel stays and select bonus offers will be converted automatically into Mileage Plus miles, will be credited to your Mileage Plus account and may not be transferred back to your SPG account. Gold Preferred Guest® membership is valid through February 2008.

This promotion was totally unrelated to my current Starwood membership. Upon attempting to register with my existing membership number, I received a message:

THIS STARWOOD PREFERRED GUEST PROMOTION IS UNAVAILABLE. We’re sorry; you are not currently eligible for this United Mileage Plus® bonus miles and Starwood Preferred Guest® elite status promotion. Please visit SPG.com to view other special offers and promotions.

As a United Premier Executive member, I can only conclude this promotion is offered to United Mileage Plus members with a certain status. It sets you up with an entirely new SPG account that automatically converts stays into mileage points as opposed to Starwood points.

Ah well, if I end up staying at a Starwood, it may be worth it to start with the new account (even with the United mileage caveat) since I’m only a regular Starwood Corporate Guest on my original account. Then again, it’s only 10 days to become Gold status.

It’s interesting to note how the various companies are working directly together.