EDIT: This promotion has been extended for another year. Stay until 12 July 2017 and earn your SPG gold status! (see updated T&C here)
EDIT EDIT: This is only for World MC’s issued in Asia Pacific
EDIT EDIT EDIT: It seems they are now asking for a code when you register. You can call up the bank customer service to ask for this code. I suspect the codes are one-time use only because people have reported not being successful using other people’s codes
The Idea
- SPG Gold usually requires 10 stays or 25 nights in 1 calendar year
- If you have a World or World Elite Mastercard, you can sign up for a promotion that awards you SPG Gold with 1 stay at any Starwood Asia Pacific property by 13 July 2015
- With SPG Gold you can get 4pm late checkout, a 50% points bonus, 250 bonus points per stay and room upgrades
The Details
There is an ongoing promotion which awards you SPG Gold with 1 stay at any Starwood Asia Pacific property by 13 July 2015.
SPG Gold is useful to have- you get guaranteed 4pm late checkout (which can be amazing to have when you’ve got a 6pm flight to catch and need a place to refresh prior), 50% bonus points earning, 250 bonus points per stay (at Four Points and Aloft you get 125 bonus points), room upgrades
So do you have a World Mastercard? If you own any of the following cards, you do
- Manhattan World Mastercard
- DBS Women’s World Mastercard
- Maybank World Mastercard
- Citi Dividend World Mastercard
- Citi Paragon World Mastercard
- Citi Rewards World Mastercard
- HSBC Premier World Mastercard
- CIMB World Mastercard
- ANZ Optimum World Mastercard
It appears that the best way of getting in on this is to get a HSBC Premier World Mastercard– there is no annual fee and the minimum income requirement is S$30,000.
Alternatively you can get a Citi Rewards World Mastercard for S$30,000 min income and no first year annual fee.
As I mention in my post on hotel loyalty programs, if you’re the sort who believes in staying in the cheapest possible hotel, or in boutique hotels/B&Bs, this probably won’t interest you. But if you have an upcoming stay for a business trip at a Starwood property in the Asia Pacific region, why not register and get in on this?
Hi Aaron,
The Citibank Rewards card is also World MasterCard. Does it qualify for this?
Yes! Any world mastercard qualifies
It seems that it requires a certain bank promo code.
Do you happen to have them? Because I’ve checked the websites of Citibank, HSBC and ANZ, they don’t seem to advertise this promo… and when I called them asking for the bank promo code, they seem unaware.
Interesting…they didn’t use to have this. My guess is that in the past all you had to do was get the first few digits of a world mastercard to sign up, and too many people without the card were googling for this online and then registering. I’ll check with my bank and get back to you. I’ve got a couple of world mastercards so i’m perfectly fine sharing one of those codes
just got off the phone with DBS. after a long while they figured out they needed to transfer me to someone called “axs concierge”. I’m guessing this is the body that handles all non-bank specific promotions. They gave me a code- 66658884. Now, I’m not sure if this is bank specific. That is, if you enter a DBS card number, it will probably work with this code. But if you’re entering a UOB/Citibank card there may be a different code to enter. You can try this, and if it doesn’t work then I’m sorry to say your best option is… Read more »
None of these codes worked so I emailed DBS and this was the response: Please allow me to inform that you are required to call our 24-hour hotline at 1800 111 1111 or +65 6327 2265 (for calls made from overseas) and upon successful verification, our officer will connect you to an officer at AXA (MasterCard Concierge) who will provide you with the unique verification code. With the code, go to http://www.spg.com/worldmastercardgold to register. – Enter the required verification details. (BIN number, unique verification code and personal details required). – Book a stay at Starwood Hotels and Resorts in Asia… Read more »
maybe this means the codes are one time use only?
It doesn’t seem to be bank specific. I just tried the code with non-DBS bank and it worked. Thanks.
The code didn’t worked for me. If anyone needs, HSBC SG code: 28649547
thanks Jon. I’m not sure how they’re doing the codes but always good to have a few more.
That doesn’t work
these ones did not work for me unfortunately 🙁 any ideas welcome.
I take it you don’t have a world mastercard? Are you in a position to apply for the citibank rewards world mastercard ($30K income min)?
Hi anyone have code for DBS Woman World MasterCard ? The DBS code above doesnt work
let me see if i can get a new one…but if you already have the card you could just call them and ask right?
Do you think it will be embarrassing moment ?, when :
“Which DBS card do you have,sir ?”
” hmmm currently i am holding DBS Woman World Master Card”
“I thought this is only for woman ,sir “
haha not at all. if you read hardwarezone you’ll see that so many guys have this card. heck, i got everyone in my office (90% males) to sign up for this card too. i’m sure DBS knows all about it.
I have a World MC issued by Barclays and they don’t know what code I am talking about. Is there any way you could help?
Thank you!
Hi Jen- this promotion is only for world MC issued in Asia pacific- if your card is from Barclays I’m assuming it’s from outside Asia Pac? See T&C – The Promotion is valid only for World MasterCard® cardholders with residence in Asia Pacific who enroll or are already enrolled as Starwood Preferred Guest® members (“SPG Members”) at the Preferred Guest® Tier when registering for the Promotion (“Qualified SPG Members”). This Promotion is only valid for World MasterCard cards issued in AP region (excluding Japan).
One thing that bugs me is this, so i get the Gold status on SPG, but if my normal stay patterns are usually with other chains, is it worth it? While i have Gold this year, it is quite difficult to maintain it for the next year since i will need 10 nights then…
10 stays or 25 nights to maintain gold, yes. But Starwood is pretty liberal about giving away gold status. And since they’re offering it for free now, why not take? Unless you only have plans to use the status in a subsequent year (eg the 2016 calendar year) then perhaps you might hold off… but I think (emphasis on think) that if you qualify now your status is valid till Feb 2017. Then from Jan 2016-Dec2016 you need to clock 10 stays/25 nights to maintain.
Do you think we can use the one night stay promo with world mastercard again (assuming it is available in 2016/2017) once our accounts reset to preferred member?
Good question. I don’t know. Intuitively I think it should be a one time offer only, HOWEVER it will be tied to a particular account. so, if you register with a different world MC (singapore has a lot- even the entry level citibank rewards card is world) and a new SPG account how are they to know you already signed up once? If you dont stay a lot at starwood, even better. less attachment to your existing account
Well we can always test the system when the account resets. See how good is the SPG account system with regards to promotions.
As you mentioned not much attachment if you don’t really stay at SPG.
Anyway i do find it easier to attain status at IHG and Accor but SPG hotels do seem more luxurious as a whole…
My SPG Gold just came through after registering with a personalized Citibank code and staying at Westin Taipei.
The interesting part is that because it was a work trip I paid on Corporate AMEX instead of my MC as the T&Cs demand, but the upgrade came through anyway. So SPG’s backend knows when you register and stay, but not your method of payment, which presumably stays local to the hotel.
Thanks Phil- that is interesting. I long suspected that the registration and the payment method were not strictly linked, because i wondered how logistically they would match the 2 up. That said, there are other promotions ongoing (eg spg keyless) which require you to register pay with a specific card (amex in the case of spg keyless). Since I only have one chance to get this 2.5k bonus points i’m not going to muck around, but I wonder whether they’d be able to track this on their side either if they couldn’t track yours… https://www.spgpromos.com/keyless/
I expect they would be able to track for the keyless promotion because the transaction happens between your phone app and the SPG backend directly.
May I know how long did it take for your status to change to gold after your stay? Thanks
It was pretty quick, maybe a week or two I think.
Just had my first SPG stay as Gold. The benefits were… underwhelming. Bonus points and a regular room on a higher floor. Nice as a freebie though.
I c. Mine is like 3 weeks now and the status remains unchanged ?
Was the bonus point u mentioned the welcome gift? Was it 250 points? Understand that we can choose to have welcome drink as an alternative?
Where was your stay if convenient to share? Will be going to HK , and from what I read in the forum about the perks, I’m thinking twice whether to cancel my booking with Sheraton and look for others instead …
Maybe drop them an email to chase then.
Bonus points were +50% for stay and +250 gift instead of a drink voucher.
Last stay was at Westin Taipei where the upgrade was just going up a few floors. However, I am currently staying at Sheraton Taipei and its much better – got upgraded to a corner room.
I think a lot depends on how busy the hotel is, so as with all things travel, your milage may vary. I have not stayed in any SPG hotels in HK.
I’m going to be frank and say that SPG Gold is good to have, but don’t expect great things. (Hilton Gold is probably the best mid-tier status to have, if you think you won’t hit the top tier in any program). You can see people’s experiences with proper upgrades as golds here- http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starwood-starwood-preferred-guest/788145-report-your-gold-upgrade-successes-46.html
data point for me- 1 week. this was in 2013.
I dropped emails and called as well. SPG cso all said can’t help and asked me to wait after 4 weeks have passed. 4 weeks are almost up and the deadline will coincide with my upcoming stay. Given the uncertainties, I think I’ll just proceed to cancel. Will switch to langham instead and I have registered for their instant gold “voyager” membership instead. Much better knowing the certainty. 🙂
I just had the weirdest call. Tried to get the Bank code for the UOB PRVIMILES World MasterCard and the UOB staff told me that it’s a MasterCard, not a World MasterCard (and she said that after apparently speaking to. Apparently the UOB PRVIMILES World MasterCard is by invite-only, what I have is the MasterCard. So I told her nicely that it’s a World MC because I’m holding it right in front of me and it has the “World” word, and plus the website only lists World MC for PRVIMILES, I couldn’t find a MC version. Anyway, I got transferred… Read more »
that is very strange indeed. the right thing to do in such cases is HUCA (hang up, call again). It is strange that the mastercard concierge says the same thing though. I can’t understand that at all. let me know what happens
curious- did you ever get a resolution on this?
My 2 cents – I have the DBS Women’s World. Called DBS for the code and got transferred as expected to the concierge. Asked me for the first 8 digits (or 6? doesnt matter I guess), and was put on hold for a couple of mins so that they can “generate the code”. Code worked, good deal for 10 mins over the phone.
I suspect I know what’s happening with this. because so many people were googling images of world mastercards and using those digits to register online, they started having to implement a one time code system. so whatever code they’ve given you, you can’t share with anyone else. smart of them, i must say. that said, even the entry level (30k per annum) citibank rewards card comes in a world mastercard version so if you can get a card you can definitely get this offer
76744237 anz optimum
sorry wrong number see next post
the problem is- these codes are one time use only i think
76744327
Dear Aaron, do you know the cheapest spg hotels ins singapore or johor that are eligible for this promotion?
Strictly on the lowest rate basis, It has to be wanderlust hotel at little India. It is under design hotel, new brand under SPG.
In addition to the gold status, you can earn one Free Night Award for every three eligible paid nights till May 31, 2016. You can earn up to two Free Night Awards during the promotion period.
You must register.
https://www.spgpromos.com/designhotels/?EM=VTY_SPG_DH_PROMOTION
I can still see some cheap rate around end May 16, at $169++. U better act fast while the rate last.
There isn’t any SPG property in Johor.
Example. 27 to 28 May, 28 to 29 May still have $169++. You must book through SPG website/app to enjoy the award night. Hope this help
If u book 27 May to 30 May, u will see a special value rate at $159 per night.
I am not sure if Design Hotels qualify. Better to check.
Based on my enquiry with SPG team, design hotel qualifies.
Btw, I think they extended the promotion again till July 17.
Now, they ask you to enter full details of the credit card with the title “There will be no charge made to your card. This is for verification only”. I did just that and got the membership. So, no need to get any pesky code from the bank.
Got the membership ? Did u mean successfully register or did u get instant gold ?
Yes. I got a mail saying “You’re now entitled to receive SPG Gold Preferred status after your next stay by 14 July 2016”. It is not instant gold, but after an eligible stay (read: min 1 day)
I am booking thru the spg website. Design hotels do not qualify.
It seems like it has been extended again till July 2017.
To enjoy the complimentary upgrade to Starwood Preferred Guest® Gold Tier membership, eligible SPG Members must first register for the Promotion and then make one eligible stay in any of the hotels or resorts within the Asia Pacific region that are owned, managed or franchised by the Starwood Group before 14 July 2017, and make full payment for the eligible stay and all services during the eligible stay with a World MasterCard. This upgrade offer is a one-time upgrade per member.
it’s the deal that keeps giving!
Folks, this may sound like a stupid question but.. does i work if I book the first night through an OTA?
nope.
Stayed 1 night at the 4 points hotel in Singapore which had a special opening rate of 152 before taxes on 9 Jul. Got my gold upgrade today. Yay!
Just signed up for the promo via the link. Only asked for my SPG account details followed by my World Mastercard details. Once done, I got this: “You are now entitled to receive Gold Preferred status for 1 year when you next use your World MasterCard® or World Elite™ MasterCard®, for any bookings in Asia Pacific by July 14, 2017. In addition, enjoy 20% savings when you book two nights or more before July 13, 2017 at Starwood hotels and resorts in Asia Pacific and pay with your MasterCard.” There was no mention of any bank promo codes anywhere. Am… Read more »
SPG status expires on the 28th of Feb. So if you stay on 1 Dec 16, your status will be valid till 28th Feb 2018. what this means is you will have 1 Dec 2017 to 31 Dec 2017 to chalk up enough nights to requalify.
Do all SPG status expire on 28 Feb? If so, then isn’t it better to plan the 1st stay on 2 March 2017, making it 2 March 2017 to 1 March 2018 to requalify, and the status expire on 28 Feb 2019?
if you do your first stay on 2 March 2017, your status requalification period is 1 Jan 2018 to 31 Dec 2018. Requalification is by calendar year.
Thanks Aaron. If it is by calendar year, would that make it the best to have the first stay on 2 Jan 2017, so that re-qualification is 1 Jan 2018 to 31 Dec 2018 and expiry in Feb 2019. Seems like you actually get 2 years of Gold status effectively?
“This program is only eligible for World and World Elite MasterCard’s issued in Asia Pacific. Members will have to do a test transaction of MYR 1 to verify their eligibility. Members account will not be charged for the test transaction.”
Did you have to do this test transaction thing before making a booking?
nope. this seems new to me. maybe they have too many fraudulent sign ups
Do design hotels qualify? Seems different posters had different opinions.
Also, does everyone get the registration email? I registered today and haven’t received email yet.
Thanks
Hi Aaron,
Had read that hotels booking on SPG website does not earn 9x bonus points on DBS Women World card because it processed offline. If we select pre-paid rates in SPG website, does it still qualify for 9x bonus points on DBS women world card?
Thanks for your advice
Hi Aaron, I tried registering for the promotion online but again, there was a registration error that asked me to contact my bank (DBS) for help. They did not prompt for any code when registering (saw your edit at the top of the post) So when I called DBS and asked if they were aware of such an ongoing promotion, they told me that they are not aware because this is not a bank promotion per se but a tie up with mastercard. They told me to contact mastercard instead. I am quite lost now and wondering how to successfully… Read more »
In all likelihood you got a cso who doesn’t know what they’re doing. This is indeed a Mastercard tie up, but my understanding is the bank needs to generate a unique code for verification on the Mastercard side. Did you hang up and call again? Sorry, but that’s my advice in this situation. Is the dbs woman’s world card the only world mc you have?
Dear Aaron, would I qualify for the Gold status if I book the stay and pay through the Starwoods App/website? Or do I have to make payment at the hotel physically with the card?
Either option should work.
One stay upgrades you to Gold membership for life or for a calendar year?
Obviously just a calendar year.
Is CIMB Preferred Visa Infinite qualify for this?
It’s a World MasterCard promotion, so no.
IS CIMB Enrich World Elite MasterCard qualify for this?
If check-in on 13-July, and check-out on 16-July, is it still qualify for this promotion?
Anyone knows if this promo got extended with an updated link? The link in this post doesn’t work anymore.
Just missed this by a few days 🙁