Via Deals We Like:

Yup, another Facebook promotion! The Westin Charlotte is giving away 250 starpoints for signing up for the “Charlotte Insider eClub” via their Facebook page.

You must sign up by February 1, 2012, but as we’ve seen before, Facebook promos can sometimes get pulled fast – DO NOT DELAY. These points won’t get you a free night, but every little bit counts.

The terms state that the bonus points will be awarded to your account by March 1, 2012.

Let’s hope they do a better job managing this promotion than they did last time. Based on the comments section of the post, it seems like they don’t ask for your SPG number, though I suspect they’ll email you at some point to request it (or make you email them).

Now I would’ve written this post on my own, but unfortunately I’m in the great People’s Republic of China, which means I can’t use Facebook, Twitter, etc. I was going to go on Twitter to bitch about not being able to use Facebook, but then I realized they blocked that too.

Here’s a great idea for a reality TV show. Instead of locking 12 strangers in a house for months, how about sending a dozen Generation Y’ers to China and seeing how long they last without being able to update their Twitter or Facebook? I’m not even that addicted to Facebook or Twitter, though I’m already experiencing withdrawal symptoms after just 12 hours. So if you try to talk to me on Facebook or Twitter, my apologies for not responding over the next few days.

Posted on January 27th, 2012 by lucky
Filed under: Free Miles/Points, Great Deals, Hotels, SPG | 12 Comments »

  1. January 27th, 2012 at 8:36 pm

    AK said,

    At least your automatic Twitter upgrades from the blog still work — signed up!

    At first, I was wondering where to enter my SPG number, but the hotel’s FB account says that they’ll email people on Feb 1 to get their SPG numbers.

  2. January 27th, 2012 at 8:38 pm

    deux centimes said,

    A VPN is necessary for any length of stay in China.

  3. January 27th, 2012 at 8:46 pm

    WorldWingedExplorer said,

    there are free workaround. Google proxy mate and leech for free. Many chineese do it.

  4. January 27th, 2012 at 9:10 pm

    Carberrie said,

    You can’t access facebook from PH SH? I was able to and can also from Andaz. However, I couldn’t while staying at Le Royal Meridien… SPG why can’t you work around China’s block like Hyatt?

  5. January 27th, 2012 at 10:54 pm

    roy said,

    The Westin Charlotte’s last contest over 7/4/11 was a cluster. No thanks.

  6. January 28th, 2012 at 12:05 am

    HikerT said,

    Isn’t it just a link on facebook? Pretty sure you can just go here without even bothering with facebook:

    http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=0018wh8d2IyWWr30_k3t2VDhg%3D%3D

  7. January 28th, 2012 at 5:05 am

    lucky said,

    @ Carberrie — No Facebook for me! Any easy workaround that won’t land me in jail? I need my fix…

  8. January 28th, 2012 at 5:17 am

    Sean M. said,

    @lucky – I’ve found that the Facebook and Twitter clients on mobile devices are rarely blocked by the various ISP filters in China. Try using those rather than the web versions. For the web versions though, you will need a VPN or proxy. I’ve used Anchor HotSpot (free version) successfully in the past to access Facebook, but for faster speeds I’ve used SecuriTales web-based proxy. There is a free trial to SecuriTales as well.

    It is NOT illegal to use Facebook or Twitter or Google from China. They simply block direct access to many of the sites. Using a proxy or VPN or similar to get around this is perfectly legal.

  9. January 28th, 2012 at 9:37 am

    Westin Charlotte Facebook 250 points sign-up bonus: act fast! - Loyalty Traveler said,

    [...] posted this last night and One Mile at a Time picked up the offer too. Sign up fast since this offer may get pulled early once they realize on [...]

  10. January 28th, 2012 at 10:17 am

    The Points Guy said,

    I paid to use Astrill VPN while in china and it worked like a charm!

  11. January 28th, 2012 at 10:32 am

    Andrew said,

    “I’m not even that addicted to Facebook or Twitter, though I’m already experiencing withdrawal symptoms after just 12 hours.” I’m about your same age and I go onto Facebook once or twice a month, so from my perspective, you’re definitely addicted ;)

  12. January 28th, 2012 at 11:47 am

    Kevin said,

    I’ve paid to use StrongVPN.com on my last couple of trips to Asia – it also keeps my bank from locking my account when they see a login from China or Thailand or wherever – don’t ask me how I know thins ;-)

    They have several ways to use the service including OpenVPN which can work on both your PC and a smartphone (well Android at least).

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