A few days ago I received an e-mail from Starwood Preferred Guest giving me a heads up that my SPG Gold status would soon end because I had not achieved the number of nights/stays required.
I’m not spending as much time at SPG hotels as I used to due to some travel pattern changes, but I can maintain Gold status as a benefit of my Amex Platinum card. If you’ve carried the Platinum Card for a while, you might remember that it used to be a matter of just calling up SPG, giving them a promo code, and they granted the status. As this code was widely available on the interweb, I am certain it was subject to a good bit of abuse.
Not wanting to see my status lapse, I rang American Express this morning at the number on the back of my Platinum Card. The gentleman asked for my SPG number, and said he’d dial them up and take care of it, and added that if it looked like it was going to be more than a couple minutes, he’d check back in with me. Not more than a minute later, he was back letting me know that XXX at SPG had taken care of everything and I was all set for the new year. The whole thing took about 3 minutes.
Hey, it’s not SPG Platinum, but Gold is better than a poke in the eye. The complimentary internet can actually save you a few bucks….or more than a few internationally. It’s one of a handful of reasons that the Amex Platinum Card still passes my value test.
-MJ, February 22, 2014
MJ,
Does the Gold status through AMEX count towards eligibility to achieve SPG Lifetime Gold?
Sums,
Good question, and one I’ve wondered about from time to time, but never really looked into because I’ve made elite on my own a few years in a row until the last one. I looked into this question on the LT discussion on FT. The SPG folks there indicate that having status via Amex Platinum will count. You can see that here.