What Airline and Hotel Alliances Mean for Loyal CustomersTips on how to make the most of rewards programs, and an insider's look at what your loyalty points really mean.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Five hundred nights. That's how long it took me to attain lifetime Platinum status at Starwood Hotels, parent company of Sheraton, Westin, W and others. That's nearly a year and a half of key cards and bills slipped under the door--time (and some $100,000 in room charges) invested in the goal of locking in the amenities that top-tier loyalty earns.
More than anything, it means the suite upgrades that are all that's standing between a successful business trip and the stateroom scene from the Marx Brothers' A Night at the Opera. So when I heard that Delta Airlines customers who haven't ever stayed in a Starwood property might walk in and claim benefits similar to mine because of a new alliance between the two brands, I was miffed.
