I've written in the past about SPG Moments, whereby Starwood Preferred Guest members can redeem Starpoints for tickets at sold out events including concerts, sporting events, cultural activities, etc. As a general rule of thumb the best use of airline miles is for flights and the best use of hotel points is for hotel stays.…
Continue reading: My Experience At The US Open SPG Suite
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
how many points was the winning bid? I know you mentioned that it started at 25,000, but you were invited right? thanks
Meh, color me jaded, but I don't need to spend my points to be marketed to. It's easy enough to get as good a seat on Stubhub for less than $500 which is what I value 25K SPG points.
Nothing personal @Nick, but I couldn't disagree more. Spent Labor Day weekend at the tournament and I would have loved to do the suite. A $500 ticket on stub hub was not courtside during my time there. Also, the food was just plain bad. They need to get with the times- sporting venues now offer quality food in return for the exorbitant prices they charge. Ben, I'm seriously envious and am hoping someone offers something similar for the French Open in 2016!
Nice digs but I would never pay that kind of points/money to watch on the sideline mid-court. If it were on the baseline where you could really see the strategy and not exercise your neck muscles - it would be a different matter for me. We've spent hours on the beloved Grandstand and watched up close a 5-set supercharged marathon match between Donald Young and Tomic - that's priceless! Perhaps, when they rebuild the Grandstand and refurbish Armstrong, they might incorporate more hospitality suites.
I spent Labor Day weekend at the Open, and thanks to you I was able to get into the Chase Lounge for both of our sessions. We loved it! You can't beat high quality free food and drinks at a sporting event like the US Open. It was also great to enjoy the air conditioning and comfortable seating areas with TVs for every court. I can't wait to go back, and would love to get into the SPG suite next time.
25k is just the starting price... Is it possible this thing was sold for just 25k?
Have had one great SPG Moments experience in the past -- but I lucked into noticing that one; under normal circumstances it's a PITA to continually go back to the website to check for new entries, and as a practical matter, I just don't.
If there was an RSS feed, or a periodic newsletter that was readable, complete, and prominently showed the city*, I'd keep a much closer eye, and probably attend more.
(*In other words, was completely unlike the AmEx Events emails, which are utterly useless unless you live in a focus city.)