There is no doubt Starwood Preferred Guest points are one of the most valuable currencies out there. With great hotel redemptions and airline transfer partners, there are a lot of ways to get great value out of your SPG points. Another, perhaps lesser-known, redemption option from Starwood is their SPG Moments program, which offer fixed…
Continue reading: Review: SPG Moments With Paul McCartney
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I've never really looked into SPG Moments in too much detail because I felt like the redemption rates were too high, but 20k points for this event does indeed seems like a great deal. I guess I should be paying more attention to it.
Mike, great report. Sounds like you had a terrific time. Do I understand correctly: it was just you and your MIL? Explain?
Also, how to do I set up changealert.com? I googled and can't seem to find it, and that website domain is for sale.
Lastly, do you know anything about the US Open for 2015? Ben?
Thanks.
@zow: Trip was a gift for my MIL. The plan was for my wife to come along as well but I used up all of her vacation days with other trips this year.
My mistake, the change notification website is ChangeDetection.com, perhaps Ben can fix it in the copy above. The website is pretty straight forward to use. They email you when something changes on the page. Then you can click through to see what's new.
I'm definitely looking forward to the Taylor Swift show in the suite! Thanks for the excellent review.
Real housewives meet and greet? Really? That would be the biggest waste just to meet fake and trashy reality "stars."
I redeemed SPG points several years ago to attend the So You Think You Can Dance finale and it was amazing. The seats were 5th row back mixed in with choreographers and previous contestants. It was one of my top uses ever of SPG points.
We went to see Jewel as a part of SPG's "Hear the Music, See the World" event -- great experience, but very different as it was exclusively an SPG event. (Maybe 200 people in the US Grant ballroom; the show was just Jewel and a selection of acoustic guitars, and she probably spent half the show talking story (which, I hasten to add, made it all the more fun and personal.))
@ lairdb -- We went to a "Hear the Music, See the World" event as well, which was incredible. Ben Folds Five played to about 200 people, they had all kinds of catering, including a sushi chef and three bartenders, and had made up Westin Heavenly Beds as part of the seating. Very fun event, and an amazing value.
@Tiffany -- yes, I didn't mention the catering, but it also deserves credit; it was very strong. (We had just come from an excellent dinner, so we didn't take full advantage of the food, though we took full advantage of the bar.) (Open bar, IIRC.)
In case the SPG folks notice this, based on my experience with this event, I'd be about 43,607 times as interested in similar small-venue/SPG only events than in the stadium-scale events.
Sadly , I think at 73 years of age Paul's .. "Salad days are over .."
He could barely hold a note in tune with his ensemble at the 2012 London Olympics.
Meatloaf however , is extreme but there's always another story ...
Sadly past their prime
Which night was reviewed? I was in the suite with my wife on the Saturday show and it was great. Had quite a few guests of Spg and a couple of us who had redeemed points. Phenomenal use of points given this package would retail around $1k for two people for McCartney (his package ticket and event prices are crazy). Great value when compared to some of the U.S. points prices. I'd expect this to increase next year. 20k seems too low to last.
The SPG show packages is a promotion for the program itself. They are usually reasonable redemptions. I have been to many exclusive events with them. I never overpay. The problem with some events is they are always short on details and things can be all over the place when people don't confirm what time, where etc. I am not talking about something simple like a show. I say movie premieres overseas that included hotels, meals and other things.
The thing with the pricing is that SPG has fixed it at a flat level. Recently there was a darts tournament (can you imagine watching darts when you are that far from the stage?!?!?!?!) that was also 20k for two tickets!
This may change in time, I imagine.
Meanwhile, having seen Sting and Paul Simon as a guest of SPG recently in the suite, I am off to Fleetwood Mac (showing my age) in a couple of weeks on my own points. Madonna has a few nights at the O2 lined up for December so that should be a good one if / when SPG makes the seats available - at the moment they only have concerts up to July.
@rich We went to the Sunday night show. I read somewhere Dave Grohl joined him at the show you attended. Would have loved to see that.