Starwood Expands Loyalty Program to Reward Agents

Travel agents will be able to earn points for client bookings and room nights toward elite status under a major expansion of Starwood’s global loyalty program, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG.)

In a key enhancement, agents will now be able to combine the points and credits they earn for booking clients with their personal points and redeem them for SPG benefits. The changes also apply to meeting planners and administrative assistants who handle travel.

Called SPG Pro, the enhanced program will launch on Oct. 15.

Merged programs, combined benefits
In the past, Starwood maintained separate programs for meeting planners, administrative assistants and agents – and members could not combine benefits from those programs with their personal benefits.

“Our guests are our customers, and our customers are our guests,” said Christopher Holdren,  senior vice president-SPG.

Holdren said that research showed a full third of elite SPG members are responsible for booking the travel of others.

Business-to-business bookings, which includes corporate travel, meetings and events, leisure and corporate wholesale travel – account for about 70% of the company’s room revenue, according to Holdren.

The basics
Agents who are now StarwoodPro members will need to register for SPG Pro to take advantage of the change. The educational elements of StarwoodPro will remain in place, as will the STARPRO special agent rates.

Starting Oct. 15, agents booking clients will earn one Starpoint for every $3 of their clients’ eligible spend – in addition to what they earn for their personal stays.

Agents will also be able to earn elite status, which yields higher Starpoints earning levels and richer benefits; they will earn one eligible night for every 20 room nights booked on behalf of clients. Plus, those eligible nights may be combined with the nights agents stay at Starwood hotels – with all the activity counting toward elite status.  

SPG Pro also promises “an improved booking process and streamlined account management – so agents can track their client bookings, check their earnings after every stay and follow the elite progress.”

Agents react
“I think this is a good idea,” said Chris Conlin, CEO of Conlin Travel in Ann Arbor, Mich., an agency with $113 million in sales last year.

“Several rental car companies and tour operators have agent level incentives that we support, as long as our customers’ travel needs and preferences come first. I like the idea of including earnings towards elite status rewards as well,” Conlin said.

Clients first
Linda Raymer, CTC, president of the vacation division for Travelink, said that frontline advisors who book business travel may be able to take advantage of SPG Pro when booking for clients who have Starwood as a preferred supplier and when the corporate agreement does not prohibit agents from earning points.

“Our advisors are first agents of the corporate customer, so our top priority is to our customer.

“As for consumer travel, again, it has to be in the best interests of the customer. Of course, everybody, customers and sellers, are  motivated by earning points, but that can’t be to the disadvantage of our clients,” said Raymer, who added that most of Travelink’s advisors are Starwood Pros.