{"id":1776,"date":"2014-06-20T21:07:21","date_gmt":"2014-06-21T01:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/?p=1776"},"modified":"2014-07-08T23:10:03","modified_gmt":"2014-07-09T03:10:03","slug":"starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Some of you may remember that a few months ago, I started a &ldquo;Status Challenge&rdquo; with <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spg.com\" target=\"_blank\">Starwood Hotels<\/a>.&nbsp; You can read more details about hotel status challenges (and specifics on the Starwood Platinum Challenge) in my <a title=\"Starwood Hotel Status Challenges: What, Why, and How\" href=\"http:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/2014\/03\/25\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-what-why-how\/\" target=\"_blank\">previous post here<\/a>&hellip;but in short, a hotel status challenge is a set of requirements required to reach elite status with the hotel chain in an expedited timeframe.<\/p>\n<p>For Starwood&rsquo;s Platinum Challenge, the requirement was to stay 18 nights within a 3 month period.&nbsp; The 3 month period is based on calendar months, and with my travels, I stayed exactly 18 nights at Starwood hotels during the months of March, April and May.&nbsp; Not long ago, I received the following email:<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT.png\" class=\" wwm_socialshare_imagewrapper \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-1771 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT-650x347.png\" alt=\"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge\" width=\"650\" height=\"347\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT-650x347.png 650w, https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT.png 660w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>If you complete a Challenge early in the year, your status will only be valid through the end of that year, but since I completed the challenge after the month of April, my status will remain active until 2016, which will be very nice.&nbsp; Starwood Platinum members receive the following benefits:<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Room Upgrades at Check-In (including Standard Suites), subject to availability<\/li>\n<li>Complimentary Breakfast for up to 2 guests each day<\/li>\n<li>4:00 pm late check out<\/li>\n<li>Complimentary Internet Access<\/li>\n<li>Club Level Access, where available<\/li>\n<li>3 points per dollar spent on Starwood Hotels (a 50% bonus over standard members)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Those little touches will be nice to have, and it&rsquo;s awesome to have for almost 2 full years.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, as part of a relatively <a href=\"http:\/\/www.spg.com\/crossoverrewards\" target=\"_blank\">new partnership<\/a>, Starwood Platinum members also receive benefits when flying on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.delta.com\" target=\"_blank\">Delta<\/a>:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Complimentary First Checked Bag<\/li>\n<li>Priority Check In, Security and Boarding<\/li>\n<li>Complimentary Upgrades on Domestic Flights, subject to availability<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The upgrades on Delta flights probably won&rsquo;t happen very often, since all regular Delta elite members receive their upgrades first, but it&rsquo;ll be nice every once in a while.&nbsp; A few weeks ago (after completing the Platinum Challenge), I flew on Delta from Greensboro to Atlanta, and back from Atlanta to Charlotte.&nbsp; For the outbound flight from Greensboro, after all upgrades were cleared and First Class was full, I was left at #2 on the upgrade list; on the return flight from Charlotte, after all upgrades were cleared, I was #23 on the upgrade list.&nbsp; So upgrades won&rsquo;t be too frequent of an occurrence, but it&rsquo;ll be nice when they come through from time to time.<\/p>\n<p>I&rsquo;m staying at a few Starwood Hotels this week in San Francisco, so I&rsquo;ll be reporting shortly on putting the shiny new Platinum Status to the test!!&nbsp; Here&rsquo;s a quick sneak peak:<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1775\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1775\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Palace-Hotel-2.jpg\" class=\" wwm_socialshare_imagewrapper \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1775 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Palace-Hotel-2-650x487.jpg\" alt=\"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge\" width=\"650\" height=\"487\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Palace-Hotel-2-650x487.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Palace-Hotel-2-1024x768.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1775\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palace Hotel San Francisco Palace Suite Living Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_1774\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1774\" style=\"width: 650px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Palace-Hotel-1.jpg\" class=\" wwm_socialshare_imagewrapper \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1774 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Palace-Hotel-1-650x866.jpg\" alt=\"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge\" width=\"650\" height=\"866\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Palace-Hotel-1-650x866.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/Palace-Hotel-1-768x1024.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 650px) 100vw, 650px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-1774\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Palace Hotel San Francisco Palace Suite Bathroom<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Stay tuned for more updates shortly!<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wwm_social_share wwm_top_left\"><li class=\"wwm_pinit\"><\/li><\/ul>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some of you may remember that a few months ago, I started a &ldquo;Status Challenge&rdquo; with Starwood Hotels.&nbsp; You can read more details about hotel status challenges (and specifics on the Starwood Platinum Challenge) in my previous post here&hellip;but in short, a hotel status challenge is a set of requirements required to reach elite status with the hotel chain in an expedited timeframe. For Starwood&rsquo;s Platinum Challenge, the requirement was to stay 18 nights within a 3 month period.&nbsp; The 3 month period is based on calendar months, and with my travels, I stayed exactly 18 nights at Starwood hotels <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update<\/span><span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1776","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hotels","category-starwood"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update - Guru of Travel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An update from the Guru of Travel on the Starwood Hotels Status Challenge, with information about benefits and the results of a status challenge.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update - Guru of Travel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An update from the Guru of Travel on the Starwood Hotels Status Challenge, with information about benefits and the results of a status challenge.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Guru of Travel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/guruoftravel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-06-21T01:07:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-07-09T03:10:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT-650x347.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guru\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guru\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/\",\"name\":\"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update - Guru of Travel\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT-650x347.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-06-21T01:07:21+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-07-09T03:10:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eda2bcdd0ca2b37633cc5dda90399277\"},\"description\":\"An update from the Guru of Travel on the Starwood Hotels Status Challenge, with information about benefits and the results of a status challenge.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT.png\",\"width\":660,\"height\":353},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Guru of Travel\",\"description\":\"\u2192 travel.  now it&#039;s personal.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eda2bcdd0ca2b37633cc5dda90399277\",\"name\":\"Guru\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/guruoftravel\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/GuruOfTravel\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update - Guru of Travel","description":"An update from the Guru of Travel on the Starwood Hotels Status Challenge, with information about benefits and the results of a status challenge.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update - Guru of Travel","og_description":"An update from the Guru of Travel on the Starwood Hotels Status Challenge, with information about benefits and the results of a status challenge.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/","og_site_name":"Guru of Travel","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/guruoftravel","article_published_time":"2014-06-21T01:07:21+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-07-09T03:10:03+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT-650x347.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Guru","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Guru","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/","url":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/","name":"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update - Guru of Travel","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT-650x347.png","datePublished":"2014-06-21T01:07:21+00:00","dateModified":"2014-07-09T03:10:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eda2bcdd0ca2b37633cc5dda90399277"},"description":"An update from the Guru of Travel on the Starwood Hotels Status Challenge, with information about benefits and the results of a status challenge.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/SPG-PLT.png","width":660,"height":353},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/2014\/06\/20\/starwood-hotels-status-challenge-update\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Starwood Hotels Status Challenge Update"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/","name":"Guru of Travel","description":"\u2192 travel.  now it&#039;s personal.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/eda2bcdd0ca2b37633cc5dda90399277","name":"Guru","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/guruoftravel","https:\/\/x.com\/GuruOfTravel"]}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1776"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1907,"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1776\/revisions\/1907"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1776"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1776"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.guruoftravel.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1776"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}