Starwood Preferred Guest Promotion: Starwood partnership with Design Hotels to add to its SPG Portfolio

Aside from SPG's Cyber Monday deals and new two new hotels in Las Vegas, it also partnered with Design Hotels for its portfolio. Starwood SPG just announced that it has added Design Hotels to its collection, becoming the eleventh brand in the chain's portfolio.

During Starwood's third quarter earnings, they announced that they are planning to have their 11th hotel partnership with Design Hotels. According to Hotel News Now, Starwood officials also claimed that they have plans to announce a new brand. "We expect to finalize actions in November that consumers will see an 11th Starwood brand through a marketing partnership with Design Hotels," stated Adam Aro, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide CEO. He added, "This will fill a special niche in Starwood's portfolio, incorporating a handpicked collection of independently owned smaller properties committed to individuality, progressive design and cultural authenticity."

The full Design Hotels portfolio currently has 287 properties worldwide and yet to add Starwood's SPG. During the soft launch, five properties are available to book with SPG, including the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City, the C-Hotel in Lake Como, Italy, the Nira Montana in La Thuile, Italy, the Ten Bompas Hotel in Johannesburg, South Africa, and the Kruisherenhotel Maastricht Hotel in Maastricht, Netherlands, as mentioned in The Points Guy.

However, guests are not allowed to redeem SPG points for stays at these hotels at the present time since the redemptions will be available from next year. Head For Points also claimed that during the customers' stay, they need to book through the Starwood / Design Hotels sub-site in order to earn SPG points. Any rooms booked via the Design Hotels website will not be counted in the promotion. The earning rates allegedly start at 2 points per $1 spent, plus status bonus for Gold and Platinum members, stay credit towards status renewal or progression, and with free internet and bottled water included.

For now, a lot of clients are positive about the Design Hotels deal and believe that it can only be a big plus for Starwood's SPG promo. SPG is set to add the Design Hotels on a regular basis, with 40 more projected to join by the beginning of 2016.