Westin Riverfront Resort in Avon, Colorado consists of a hotel, Westin Riverfront Resort & Spa, Beaver Creek Mountain and a Starwood Vacation Property, Westin Riverfront Mountain Villas, Beaver Creek Mountain.

The Starwood resort property sits in the valley beside the Eagle River at an elevation of 7,400 feet at the base of Beaver Creek ski resort. Ski lifts are on the property to take travelers to Beaver Creek  Mountain which offers 149 ski trails at elevations of 8.100 to 11,000 feet. Vail is ten miles away to the east with shuttle bus access daily in ski season to the Vail slopes.

Two weeks ago I stayed at the Westin Riverfront Villas in the off-season with a AAA rate of $116 per night. There was also an additional nightly $20 resort fee.

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One of the BAcon bits that was made clear to me over this past weekend is most readers find the slideshow image on Loyalty Traveler of the hot tub with rose petals ‘creepy’. I heard that word a lot over three days.

This photo is from the Holiday Inn Express in Yreka, California November 2008. The newly opened hotel had an open house for the community.

I arrived on a road trip from Portland, Oregon heading south back to Monterey in November 2008. The hotel stay was a Priority Club 5,000 points PointBreaks award night. Besides a cheap room using points, the hotel was serving complimentary Sierra Nevada beer for the two hours of Open House.

There were several hotel rooms open for visitors to see. The hot tub with rose petals was in one of the open house rooms at the Holiday Inn Express, Yreka.

There was no hot tub in the room where I stayed the night.

The slideshow will soon be gone from Loyalty Traveler

My website was reviewed by Andy Hayes in a seminar session for BAcon, the Boarding Area conference in Colorado Springs May 10-12, 2013.

Andy recommended the entire slideshow be removed since the reader has no control to stop and gaze at any photo and there are no captions to the photos.

Andy also said the rose petals around the hot tub were creepy.

My mental association with the hot tub photo is remembering a cheap hotel night drinking free beer with the great people of Yreka, California. I wonder if the community members from Yreka thought the hot tub room was creepy at the time?

What association do you make with the hot tub and rose petals that makes it so creepy?

The hot tub image has been removed from the front page, although still visible if reading an older post from 2012 or earlier. The entire slideshow will be removed from Loyalty Traveler soon. The changes have to be made by BoardingArea technical staff. I do not have control over that plug-in which is why it has not been changed to date.

Another hot tub photo

Today I photographed another hot tub on my BAcon to KPIG road trip from Colorado Springs back to Monterey.

No rose petals.

Is this hot tub creepy?

Sheraton Mountain Vista Villas, Avon, Colorado hot tub on 7th floor with view of Beaver Creek ski area.

Today is checkout day for the Cheyenne Mountain Resort in Colorado Springs for the final day of the Boarding Area blogger conference hosted by Randy Petersen and the House of Miles.

I was looking for a hotel tonight in Colorado and checking Denver rates.

Sheraton Denver Tech Center:

• BAR = $179
• AAA = $69

This is the largest AAA discount I ever recall seeing.

While that hotel rate looks tempting, the Sheraton DTC hotel is one I have stayed at before and I did not have great things to say in my previous reviews. As I recall, the walls were paper thin and carried sound from room to room.

Going Upscale

While a bit more expensive, the rates for Starwood Hotels in Beaver Creek (near Vail) are truly deals right now.

Westin Riverfront Mountain Villas, Beaver Creek, Colorado

• AAA = $116
• 12,000 Starpoints (SPG category 5)

This looks like the right time to be heading for the mountains and a nice resort.

Registration for the Double Take current promotion with Starwood Preferred Guest is open. This promotion offers 2 bonus points per dollar.

There are many nonparticipating Starwood hotel properties for this offer. Check the list carefully for your planned stays.

The best part of the promotion is the mobile booking bonus of 500 points per stay for any booking worldwide, even for hotels not participating in the double points offer.

SPG Double Take May 1-July 31, 2013.

When I registered I received a notice that I had not yet registered for Delta Skymiles Crossover Rewards.

Thanks for the reminder SPG.

Related post:

Elites meet when SPG and Delta Skymiles Crossover Rewards begins March 1, 2013 (Loyalty Traveler Feb 7, 2013).

SPG has a nice offer of double points or a 25% off (Gold elite) or 35% discount (Platinum elite) on one award stay for SPG members who qualify or requalify for elite status in 2013.

The 15-page FlyerTalk thread on this promotion is filled with  questions from members on the specifics which were clarified by the Starwood Lurker representatives.

1.) Gold members can choose between double Starpoints for a month or 25%-off a Starpoints redemption.

2.) Platinum members can choose between a double Starpoints month of their choice (from the three months listed as options at time of registration) or 35%-off a Starpoints redemption.

3.) The %-off redemption awards are valid for up to 5 nights at a Category 1-6 hotel or resort and are valid for 6 months from the month of registration. Fifth Night Free benefit can be combined with this award.

4.) Earning and redemption dates are served up at time of registration and they will always be in the future (may not be chosen retroactively). If you qualified today but wanted to wait and register later in the year for a double Starpoints month later in the year, or for a later redemption window on your %-off award, you may do so but there is no going back to choose previous months.

5.) Members who earn or requalify their elite status this calendar year (10 stays or 25 nights for Gold; 25 stays or 50 nights for Platinum) will be sent an email letting them know they can choose their gift. If you are not opted in to SPG promotional emails, you will still be able to access the site if you are eligible (spg.com/elitegift2013).

6.) Preferred members who achieve Gold status and Gold members requalifying are eligible for the Gold gift. Gold members who achieve Platinum status and Platinum members requalifying are eligible for the Platinum gift.

7.) If a member obtains Gold status by meeting the spend threshold on their SPG Amex cobrand credit card, they will also be eligible for the Gold gift.

8.) Lifetime Gold members who hit the Gold stay or night thresholds and Lifetime Platinums who hit the Platinum stay or night thresholds will also be eligible for gift selection.

9.) The campaign will run all year so if you haven’t earned or requalified yet there is plenty of time.

10.) All offers can be used in tandem with other promotions in market.

Starwood Lurker on FlyerTalk

To clarify the eligibility part:

Members without SPG elite in 2012 will earn the Gold and Platinum gifts in 2013 for reaching those levels in 2013.

Members with Gold elite status in 2012 will earn the Gold and Platinum gifts in 2013 for reaching those levels in 2013.

Platinum members in 2012 need to requalify for Platinum in 2013 to earn this benefit. Current SPG Platinum members do not earn the Gold elite gift for 10 stays or 25 nights in 2013; only the Platinum gift upon requalifying with 25 stays or 50 nights in 2013.

Other important specifics:

Members who earn both the Gold elite gift and Platinum elite gift need to register for their Gold elite offer first. The Gold elite offer is forfeited if the SPG member registers for the Platinum elite gift before registering for the Gold elite gift.

The reason this matters is some members may want to wait before registering for their Gold elite gift since the 25% off an award stay is valid only six months from registration date.

The award discount gift has a 6-month validity from time of registration.

Say I receive the Gold elite gift email offer today and I want to use the discount award stay in November. The discount is only available from April 25 to October 25. I would want to wait another month or two before registering my Gold elite gift so I can use the discount for a November stay.

And if I qualify for SPG Platinum in May and receive another email offer for the SPG Platinum gift, then I need to be sure to register first for the Gold elite gift and wait on the Platinum elite registration. The Platinum elite registration can even be done in December 2013 to get a 35% discount on an award stay in early 2014.

This offer is valid for all 2013. Members who qualify in December 2013 for the Gold or Platinum gift will have a few months in 2014 for redeeming the gift.

Starwood Hotels has a large presence in New York with 25 hotels in the New York City area and over a dozen hotels in Manhattan and several in Harlem and Brooklyn.

Starwood Hotels in New York range from St. Regis to Aloft Harlem.

Starwood Hotel Brands in New York area:

• St. Regis = 1
• Luxury Collection = 1 (The Chatwal)
• W Hotels = 5
• Westin = 3
• Sheraton = 7
• Le Meridien = 1
• Four Points = 4
• Element = 1
• Aloft = 2

SPG Hotel Reward Categories for New York

• Category 7 (30,000 or 35,000) = 2 with 1 hotel peak season.
• Category 6 (20,000 or 25,000) = 6 with 1 hotel peak season.
• Category 5 (12,000 or 16,000) = 12 with 3 hotels in peak season.
• Category 4 (10,000) = 4
• Category 3 (7,000) = 1

Starwood Hotels New York SPG Rewards Survey

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One block west of North Michigan Avenue, the major shopping district and upscale retail section of Chicago called the ‘Magnificent Mile’ is Four Points Chicago Downtown-Magnificent Mile. The hotel is next to Trader Joe’s supermarket for access to food and drink when a restaurant is not in your meal plans. 

This hotel stay was a Starwood Hotels Best Rate Guarantee claim where I saved about $10 on the room rate and earned 2,000 bonus Starpoints. Starwood Hotels had a prepaid, nonrefundable room rate of $105 for a room with two Double beds and Hotels.com rate was $95 for a King Bed. Read More…

Starwood Preferred Guest has a Starpoints sale at 25% off when you buy 13,000 to 20,000 points by April 30, 2013. Normally Starpoints are $35 per 1,000 points.

Periodically SPG offers Starpoints at 20% discount for $28 per 1,000 points. This sale reduces the cost of points to $26.25 per 1,000 points.

Members can only purchase 20,000 points in a calendar year. You must have had an active account for a minimum 14 days to purchase points.

20,000 points is $525.

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Starwood Preferred Guest is promoting event bookings through December 31, 2013 by offering SPG members the chance to earn bonus points and elite night credit on group bookings.

Earn:

• 1 base Starpoint for every $3 in spend, up to 20,000 bonus Starpoints per event.
• 1 base Starpoint for every $2 in spend for SPG Gold and Platinum elites, up to 30,000 bonus Starpoints per event.
• Earn 1 night elite credit for every 10 rooms booked by group per night of the event. Example: 12 rooms for 3-night conference = 36 nights = 3 elite nights credit.

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Here is a taste of how it feels to have a promotion not targeted for US residents.

SPG members who reside in mainland China can earn triple points at 68 hotels in Europe for stays from June 1 to October 31, 2013.

Triple points means 6 points per dollar (2 base points + 4 bonus points). 

Here are the promotion eligibility terms from Starwood Preferred Guest:

Eligibility: Offer valid for SPG^® members who reside in mainland China and have a valid China address on their SPG profile. Member must not have had a non-China address on his/her SPG member profile within 3 months of promotion start date. Members residing in Hong Kong, Taiwan or Macau do not qualify for the promotion.

There is no earning limit for this offer. Read More…