Priority Club’s Crack the Case is a fantastic promotion for me. You will have to check your own email offer to decide the promotion value for yourself. There are so many variations to this email offer that I can only explain mine as an example of the Crack the Case promotion released today.

Crack the Case 162,000 Bonus Points Offer for Ric Garrido

I will earn bonus points for completing each of five tasks called “latches”.  I need to complete or “open the latch” for only four of the five latches to earn my “Crack the Case” bonus of 91,000 bonus points. The timeframe for accomplishing the tasks of this promotion is through May 31, 2011.

My five latches to open (fulfilling four of these five tasks earns an additional 91,000 bonus points)

• Stay 10 room nights = 5,000 points
• Stay at 2 brands = 2,200 points
• Stay 2 Saturdays = 3,300 points
• Priority Club Select Visa = 60,000 points
• Take a Survey = 500 points

FlyerTalk thread shows wide range of ‘Crack the Case’ offers

This FlyerTalk thread details dozens of individualized offers. Some members have high hurdles and others, like me, have easily manageable, relatively low cost latches to open for a huge overall bonus.

The tasks are similar for the various targeted promotions, however, the quantities needed to fulfill the tasks and the bonus points earned for each task are the main variables differentiating individual offers.

For example, one FlyerTalker stated the survey earns 2,000 points in his case; 68 room nights required to earn 12,800 points; and 38 hotels to earn 21,700 points.

68 room nights and 38 different hotels is quite a higher hurdle than 10 room nights and 2 brands for earning the “Crack the Case” bonus.

Another FlyerTalker states a Crack the Case potential bonus of 467,700 points, but to fulfill the requirements will take either 108 nights or 68 properties by May 31, 2011. Perhaps that is not insurmountable for this particular Priority Club member, but I would be highly unlikely to reach that level of hotel stays – even with half a million points incentive.

It appears that Priority Club members with infrequent stays received the low threshold, high bonus  offers. I had a few IHG brand hotel stays last summer and fall, but no IHG hotel stays so far in 2010.

I plan to Crack My Case

My offer will earn 102,000 bonus points without even bothering to take on a Priority Club credit card. If I choose the credit card offer, then I could get 157,000 bonus points after just two hotel nights in two different IHG brands between now and May 31, 2011.

For me, this a 5-key Priority Club promotion offer that will entice me to Crack the Case.

Is “Crack the Case” a good promotion for you?

Check your email to find out the individual latches you need to open in order to crack your case for Priority Club bonus points.

Fee increase to $65. No big deal.

Sheraton 3^rd night free offer. No big deal.

Five nights elite credit per year. No big deal.

Elimination of SPG50 annual certificate. No big deal.

The July 30 announcement on FlyerTalk by Starwood Lurker (Starwood Hotels employee) of two exciting new benefits pointed out changes coming to the SPG credit card from American Express. To date there have been 28 pages with over 400 responses on the SPG-AMEX changes.

All in all I find the changes to be no big deal and nothing too exciting.

Fee Increase

The $20 fee increase is a drag, but this is really only equivalent to about 500 starpoints lost for the year. When you stay at Starwood Hotels you receive 2 points/$1 when you use your SPG American Express card. Points for $250 in hotel room stays is neutralized with the annual fee increase.

Sheraton 3^rd Night Free Benefit

The Sheraton 3^rd night free offer is not clearly a new benefit as of yet. The restrictions for the ZHA or ZRA are the same as for the current 3^rd night free offers. Room is prepaid and you must arrive Thursday through Saturday. The fact that you must use your SPG-AMEX card is even more restrictive than the long available 3^rd night free Z3H/Z3R rates.

The 3^rd night free benefit will actually be an enhancement only if there is hotel availability using ZHA/ZRA codes for hotels unavailable using the Z3H/Z3R codes. The current 3^rd night free offers are available for Sheraton Hotels – as well as Westin, W Hotels, and Four Points.

Starwood Hotels 3^rd Night Free link

Starwood Resorts 3^rd Night Free link

Five Nights Elite Credit

I am in the camp who sees little personal benefit from this enhancement. I have never qualified for SPG elite status on nights.

Gold elite requires 25 nights at Starwood Hotels in a calendar year. The SPG-AMEX benefit reduces this threshold to just 20 nights.

But you only need 10 stays in a calendar year for Gold status. A person can earn SPG Gold elite with as few as 10 one-night stays in a year, or a total of 10 nights.

How many SPG-AMEX cardmembers stay 20 to 24 nights in a year, with fewer than 10 stays? Cardmembers who finish the year with 20 to 24 paid nights and fewer than 10 hotel stays are the only Gold elite recipients of this SPG-AMEX enhancement.

Platinum elite requires 25 stays or 50 nights in a calendar year. The five nights elite credit only makes a difference if you are in the subset of SPG-AMEX cardmembers who stay 45 to 49 nights in a calendar year without 25 stays.

The five nights elite benefit affects a small subset of cardmembers.

50% off award discontinued as annual benefit.

The SPG50 certificate is 50% off the rack rate for a hotel stay up to five nights. Most of my annual certificates have gone unused. I have only found a lower rate using SPG50 twice and the last time was in 2008. There is almost always a lower rate available. And I avoid prepaid rates whenever possible.

But any SPG member still has the same 50% rack rate option available for just 1,000 starpoints and there is no requirement to use an SPG-AMEX card.

If you regularly used your SPG50 certificate, then the changes are equivalent to losing another 1,000 points per year.

Conclusion:

Some SPG-AMEX cardmembers lost an equivalent value of 1,500 Starpoints with the annual card fee increase and loss of the SPG50 certificate.

For some cardmembers the five nights elite credit may be the difference between general SPG membership and Gold elite. Some frequent guests will find the 20 night threshold will be easier to reach than 10 stays for Gold elite.

For most Platinum elite members I do not see the five nights credit having any impact unless you are in a very select group of cardmembers having 45 to 49 paid nights and less than 25 stays.

October 14, 2010 we will see if the Sheraton 3^rd night free ZHA/ZRA offer is actually an enhancement to the SPG American Express card.