Moments by Starwood Preferred Guest Puts
Members behind the Velvet Rope and into the VIP Room with Justin Timberlake,
Gwen Stefani, Oscar de la Hoya and More
…
WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.-Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide,
Inc. (NYSE:HOT) and its Starwood Preferred Guest
®
program, the award-winning hotel loyalty program, is introducing a new online
auction website where members can use their Starpoints
®
to bid on exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime experiences.
Moments by Starwood Preferred Guest lets members transform
their Starpoints into extraordinary lifestyle events
–
giving them insider access to red carpet movie premieres, closed rehearsals with
today
’s top music artists, private dinners with
world-renowned chefs, rounds of golf with PGA TOUR pros and more. Starting
today, members can visit www.spg.com/moments and bid on a full range of specially curated
experiences not available anywhere else.
It
’
s Better on the
Inside
…
Sit in on a private pre-show sound-check with Justin Timberlake or watch Gwen
Stefani rehearse unscripted before taking a front row VIP seat at their
concerts. Attend the premiere of Showtime
’s original
series
The Tudors and mingle with the cast on the red carpet, tour
renowned artist Georgia O
’Keeffe
’s private residence or sit ringside at the upcoming Oscar de
La Hoya/Floyd Mayweather fight and celebrate at the private post-fight party.
These are just a few of the exciting happenings that are now available for
bidding. The auction site will be updated regularly and upcoming events include
a private dinner with Jean-Georges Vongerichten at his signature, namesake
restaurant in New York City, red carpet access to upcoming Hollywood premieres
and more.
According to Robin Korman, Vice President of Loyalty Marketing for Starwood,
during a three month pilot for the new auction site several events created a
bidding war among members. A Justin Timberlake private sound-check session and
VIP concert tickets started with a minimum bid of 20,000 Starpoints and was
auctioned for more than 120,000
– the equivalent of a
12 night stay at The Westin St. Maarten or Le M
éridien
Cancun. A Superbowl package, including tickets to the game and access to several
private pre-game events, started bidding at 250,000 Starpoints and ultimately
sold for more than 500,000.
“
Moments by Starwood Preferred Guest give our
members access to once-in-a-lifetime events that go beyond just offering tickets
to a concert or sporting event,
” said Korman.
“We want to make an emotional connection with our members
that extends outside of our hotel doors by providing them with rich experiences
that go beyond the world of upgrades and free flights.
Moments is
designed to play to people
’s passions with amazing
events that are available only to our members.
”
To make sure members don
’t miss out on the
experience of a lifetime,
Moments will introduce a cash and points option
to the site shortly
– allowing bidders to use a
combination of cash and Starpoints for auction events. For more information
about
Moments by Starwood Preferred Guest please visit www.spg.com/moments. For more information about Starwood
Preferred Guest, including enrollment, please visit www.spg.com.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and
leisure companies in the world with approximately 850 properties in more than 95
countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties.
Starwood
® Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator
and franchisor of hotels and resorts with the following internationally renowned
brands: St. Regis
®, The Luxury Collection
®, Sheraton
®, Westin
®, Four Points
® by Sheraton, W
®, Le M
éridien
® and the recently announced AloftSM
and ElementSM Hotels. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood
Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high
quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit
www.starwoodhotels.com.
