Level benefits are laid out pretty clearly in the member guide. For us the 25% booking discount and the 50% points rental discount make it worth well over $500.
Bob Diver It's not identifying the benefits that is hard but rather putting a dollar value on actual savings. Depending on where you stay and how early you book, it's possible that you may not be able to take advantage of upgrades or discounts. For example, an upgrade may save you 50K points, but would you have booked the larger room if you were paying the full point value? And renting points is supposed to be going away next year.
Scott Kotrla I understood the question and, yes, it's hard to judge the value of something I don't have to pay extra for. Would I want to spend $100K + plus additional MFs to upgrade from member to elite? Certainly not. And I don't have to decide whether to book the larger room or not at full points because I don't have to. I can book an upgrade or at a discount, whichever saves me the most points, because I always book far enough in advance. The savings using the 25% discount for me would be about $1350 in MFs but, then, I can also use my million points. If elite was an upgrade with a fee, how many points would I be able to use? If only the amount that I had purchased then the fee would have to be commensurate with that, right? Also, I agree with Brian Matrose that elite is the only worthwhile level. You could possibly make a case for Prestige. Under the new Trust and Platinum levels points rentals are different but not gone. I hope you're wrong about them going away but, if they do, then I would also become a buyer of sb, sm and lg.
Level benefits are laid out pretty clearly in the member guide. For us the 25% booking discount and the 50% points rental discount make it worth well over $500.
ReplyDeleteBob Diver It's not identifying the benefits that is hard but rather putting a dollar value on actual savings. Depending on where you stay and how early you book, it's possible that you may not be able to take advantage of upgrades or discounts. For example, an upgrade may save you 50K points, but would you have booked the larger room if you were paying the full point value? And renting points is supposed to be going away next year.
ReplyDeleteScott Kotrla I understood the question and, yes, it's hard to judge the value of something I don't have to pay extra for. Would I want to spend $100K + plus additional MFs to upgrade from member to elite? Certainly not. And I don't have to decide whether to book the larger room or not at full points because I don't have to. I can book an upgrade or at a discount, whichever saves me the most points, because I always book far enough in advance. The savings using the 25% discount for me would be about $1350 in MFs but, then, I can also use my million points. If elite was an upgrade with a fee, how many points would I be able to use? If only the amount that I had purchased then the fee would have to be commensurate with that, right? Also, I agree with Brian Matrose that elite is the only worthwhile level. You could possibly make a case for Prestige.
ReplyDeleteUnder the new Trust and Platinum levels points rentals are different but not gone. I hope you're wrong about them going away but, if they do, then I would also become a buyer of sb, sm and lg.