After booking the flights, the next question was where to stay. The goal for this trip was simple: spend as little cash as possible, ideally none at all, by booking award nights with points. Since I only had SPG and IHG hotel points, I chose one of SPG’s hotel brands. As it turned out, I ended up getting 5.5 cents per SPG point in value, though the process was not entirely smooth. This was also my first time redeeming points for a hotel stay, so this post may be a bit beginner-oriented.

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The points booking process

Search all SPG hotels in Orlando on spg.com and enter your stay dates. You’ll see results like this:

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Enter “Disney” in the location field to see the exact area, then zoom in on nearby hotels for a closer look.

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If a hotel shows “SPG Free Night,” that means it can be booked with points. In the screenshot, the 3000 means the minimum number of points required per night. You can compare that against the cash price shown on the SPG website. If the redemption value is poor—for example, if it takes 10,000 SPG points to book a room worth $100 per night—then:

  • the redemption value is only $100*100/10k = 1c per SPG point

In that case, it probably is not worth redeeming. Generally speaking, once you can get around 2.5c per point, it becomes worth considering.

Value calculation and analysis for this booking

In the end, I picked the Cat 2 Sheraton shown above, with award nights starting at 3,000 points. That was because one of the nights was a weekend night, and Cat 2 hotels only cost 3,000 points on weekends. (I still regret not booking one more weekend night.) Weekday nights cost 4,000 points. So five nights came to a total of 19,000 SPG points (still less than the 25,000-point SPG card welcome bonus), for an average of just 3,800 SPG points per night. The same room was selling for $154 on the SPG website, and thanks to SPG’s lowest rate guarantee, that was basically the cheapest price anywhere online. That works out to roughly 4c per point.

Looking at it another way: with the SPG credit card, I earn 1 Starpoint per $1 spent, and if each SPG point is worth 4 cents when redeemed for this hotel stay, then the SPG card was effectively acting like a 4% cash back card.

And that still was not the whole story. After clicking through, I found that the $154 base rate was not the final price. There was also nearly $40 in taxes and fees, including a $19.95 resort fee. When booking with SPG points, the room rate is $0, so naturally there is no tax on the room, and only the resort fee remains. That means the redemption value was actually ($154+$20)/3,800 = 4.6c per point, making the SPG card more like a 4.6% cash back card in this case.ff3Also, that lowest cash rate was nonrefundable, meaning you would be charged if you canceled. If you wanted a rate with earlier cancellation, it would cost an extra $10 per day. By contrast, SPG award bookings had no cancellation fee: if you canceled by the stated deadline (usually three days before check-in), there was no extra charge. Better yet, after canceling, the SPG points would return to your account instantly, ready to use again right away.

Green Choice

In the end, I booked this room and later found one more small opportunity before check-out: Green Choice. Basically, if you skip housekeeping, the hotel gives you 500 SPG points per day, so of course I opted in. That meant I spent 19,000 points and got 2,000 points back (since the final day does not count).ff4

What happened in practice

Everything looked great on paper, but when we arrived at the hotel late that night, something unexpected happened. The elderly woman at the front desk told us that the King bed room we had booked was sold out, and only rooms with two beds were left. Those rooms faced the pool, and if we still wanted a king bed, we would need to move again the next day.

At first, I did not feel like arguing and almost decided to just drop off the luggage and stay there. That would have been a big mistake. If you booked a specific room in advance and the hotel sold it out from under you, that is clearly their fault. As the saying goes, “crying baby get milk.” In the U.S., when something unfair happens and the other side is clearly in the wrong, you should stand your ground. So we very firmly explained our position and mentioned that we were SPG credit card holders. The front desk agent kept searching and ended up upgrading us to a fifth-floor suite facing the pool, with a sitting room, bedroom, and balcony. The regular price with tax was more than $210. So, without planning to, I ended up getting 5.5c per SPG point in value.

(Thanks to plotinfo for the great photo)
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The pool across from the room

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Suite

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Bedroom

Elite qualification and status progress

In truth, even a nicer room is still just a place to sleep for five nights and spend a daytime break, but getting upgraded to a suite definitely felt great. And thinking about how I spent 19,000 points and got 2,000 points back felt even better. Especially since those 19,000 points came from part of the SPG credit card’s 25,000-point welcome bonus, which made it feel like the card had practically given me $1,200 in value.

I also later discovered that award stays count toward elite qualification as both STAYs and NIGHTs. Add in the 5 NIGHTs and 2 STAYs that come each year with the SPG credit card, and Gold status was suddenly within reach.

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  • Originally: 5night1stay + credit card 5night2stay + Disney 5night1stay = 15night4stay

Summary

  • Rooms booked with SPG points could be canceled freely up to three days before check-in, and the points would return to your account immediately. With a cash booking, you would either need to pay extra for cancellation flexibility or book a more expensive refundable rate to get the same benefit.
  • If you do not need housekeeping, using Green Choice can earn you 500 SPG points per day at some properties, and 250 at others.
  • There is a discount for booking SPG award nights on weekends: Cat 2 hotels cost only 3000 points per night.
  • Hotels near major tourist attractions tend to be expensive, but SPG award pricing is not affected by peak travel season.
  • Booking with SPG points can eliminate the taxes charged on a cash room rate.
  • SPG award stays can also earn Night and Stay credit toward elite status qualification.
  • SPG points are very valuable and usually not easy to earn. The fastest way is through a credit card welcome bonus: SPG credit card overview: earn 25,000 points with a new card

Follow the rest of the series in my Orlando Disney guide: