I really hate when I waste my miles and points. Even though I have (over) a million miles, I still hate feeling like I didn’t get the “best” redemption for them.
(SEE ALSO: Sometimes you just gotta suck it up and book a “Standard” award)
Now, I’m not saying that this is a GOOD habit to have, and in fact this leads sometimes to “analysis paralysis”, like the time my hotel filled up before I could book my room!
Throwing away 4000 Starpoints
Last month, I announced how there were 282 SPG hotels that were changing category. While a few of these hotels were going down in price, most of them were going up (especially in North American and Western Europe, which you can see from this map of the affected hotels
A trip to Columbus
Included in the list of hotels going up was the Sheraton Suites Columbus, which I have stayed at before and enjoyed. Plus given that I have the SPG Business card (currently at 35,000 points – its highest ever signup bonus!), I get access to the Sheraton Lounge, which means dinner and breakfast
(SEE ALSO: Which hotels give dinner for free?)
Unfortunately for me, the Sheraton Suites Columbus is one of the hotels going up in category, from a Category 2 to a Category 3. We have tickets to see Brian Regan in Columbus next month, and rather than driving home to Cincinnati after the show, we thought we’d stay overnight, and the Sheraton was one of
Gratuitous “I walked on the moon” Youtube clip – Brian Regan is pretty hilarious
So it was a Category 2 but as of March 1, it is moving to a Category 3 – here’s the SPG award chart
I meant to book the hotel before the March 1st deadline, but in all the excitement of our Disney trip it slipped my mind. As you can see, it now goes from 4000 points to 7000 points. But wait – it’s even worse! Because SPG gives you a 1,000 point discount at Category 1 and Category 2 hotels if you book on a weekend (we were staying on a Saturday night), so really what was a 3000 point booking (pretty reasonable) now becomes 7000 points (OVER TWICE AS EXPENSIVE!)
At 3000 points, it was a no-brainer. At 7000 points, I’m not so sure.
Ever screwed up a potential travel booking like this?
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Dan Miller travels with his wife and 6 (SIX!) children. He loves to help families travel for free / cheap, especially larger families. If you are looking for help, drop him an email at 
Have a great time seeing Brian, we went to see him this past fall and he put on a great show.
Thanks – we’re looking forward to it (even if we do need to find a different hotel now 😀 )
Four Points in Polaris (right off 71) is still Cat 2 and it’s not too far from the Sheraton
Yeah I was looking at that but there’s no lounge or even breakfast I think. Right now my plan is the Holiday Inn Express in Grove City or maybe one of the Hampton Inns.
I actually pre-booked a bunch of hotels at places I’ll be visiting before the category change, even though I’m not sure if I’m using them – you never know! I like to hedge 😀
Right! This is what I meant to do, but just forgot 🙁