New Way to Earn Starwood Elite Status Faster!

Million Mile Secrets

8 years ago

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Via View From the Wing, Starwood is offering an elite status challenge for its loyalty members.

Through December 31, 2017, if you have enough paid stays, you can earn Starwood elite status much faster than usual!

For example, you usually need to stay at least 25 nights in a calendar year to earn Starwood Gold status. But through the challenge, you only need to stay 9 nights in a 3-month period!

With Starwood Gold or Platinum Elite Status, You’ll Have the Benefit of Late Check-Out, so You Can Relax Just a Little While Longer! The Beautiful Pool at the Hotel Paracas in Peru Is Certainly Inviting!

I’ll explain the details of Starwood’s elite status challenge. And help you decide whether it’s worth it for you.

Starwood 2017 Elite Status Challenge

Link: Starwood Status Challenge

Through December 31, 2017, Starwood is offering folks a status challenge. You can earn Starwood Gold or Platinum elite status by completing a specified number of stays in a 3-month period.

To qualify for the challenge, the terms and conditions state:

You can NOT earn a status you’ve held in the last 5 years. For example, if you’ve held Gold status you can NOT earn Gold status through the challenge, but you CAN earn Platinum status.
You must register for the offer and complete the required stays within a 3-month period. The 3-month period can start in the month prior to registration, the month you actually register, or the month after you register.
If you registered for a challenge in the past, but didn’t earn elite status, you can register again.
Award stays do NOT count towards the challenge requirements.
Registration is required by December 31, 2017.

If You’re Going for Gold Status, You’re Only Eligible If You Haven’t Held Gold Elite Status in the Last 5 Years

With Starwood Gold elite status, you’ll get perks like 3X Starwood points per $1 spent on your stay at Starwood hotels (50% point bonus), late check-out when it’s available, and room upgrades.

Starwood Platinum elite status comes with all of the perks Starwood Gold elite members get, plus perks like suite upgrades and guaranteed availability when you book your room 72+ hours before arrival.

Is This a Good Deal?

If you have a lot of paid Starwood stays coming up, this could definitely be worth it!

To earn Starwood Gold status you’ll need to stay 9 nights within the 3-month challenge period. To earn Platinum elite status, you’ll have to stay 18 nights.

That might seem like a lot, but you’d normally need 25 nights within a calendar year for Gold status, and 50 nights in a calendar year for Platinum! So this is a much better deal if you’re aiming to earn elite status.

Earning Starwood elite status could also be useful in the future, to status match with other chains when it’s an option.

And don’t forget, if you have a Platinum AMEX card, like the AMEX Platinum personal or small business, or Mercedes-Benz Platinum card, you’ll get Starwood Gold status for free! You can even gift Starwood Gold status to a friend. 😉

Bottom Line

Through December 31, 2017, you can earn Starwood Gold or Platinum Elite status through Starwood’s latest status challenge.

To qualify, you must register for the challenge. To earn Gold status, you’ll need to stay 9 nights with a 3-month period. And to earn Platinum, you’ll need 18 nights.

Elite status is great for perks like late check-out, room upgrades, and more. So if you have a lot of paid Starwood stays coming up, this deal is certainly worth it!

Do you plan on taking advantage of this offer? Let me know in the comments!

Editorial Note: We're the Million Mile Secrets team. And we're proud of our content, opinions and analysis, and of our reader's comments. These haven’t been reviewed, approved or endorsed by any of the airlines, hotels, or credit card issuers which we often write about. And that’s just how we like it! :)