II Platinum Upgrade

Been watching a thread on the Starwood board with info about a new Platinum upgrade for II accounts that's available now. (from TUGger rickandcindy23)

... You get free guest certificates, and I do about two every year, so that is a savings, and there is a discount of $50 on Getaways. ... $129 per year extra.

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We had talked about whether the new/corporate accounts for enrolling in the DC could be upgraded to Gold for a fee in the Do you plan to ... and MGV Owner Presentation ... threads. Looking this morning it appears the new Plat upgrade is also available in these accounts.

I just started to look at this today on IIs website. There are sopme pretty good benefits. The airport lounge access ($99 value) will almost pay for the upgrade.

We don't use guest certificates very often, but do sometimes buy two or more getaways in a year. So it may be a worthwhile upgrade at some point.

I wonder if there is any discounts for multi-year memberships?

Platinum Member Benefits

For those interested, here are all the benefits.

$50 Getaway DiscountGetaways are the ultra-affordable way to travel more often. As an Interval Platinum member, you get $50 off every Getaway, no matter where or when you book. It really does pay to travel.

Airport Lounge MembershipWith complimentary enrollment in the Standard Priority Pass program ($99 value), you'll have access to more than 600 airport VIP lounges in over 100 countries and 300 cities.

Free Guest CertificatesWant to share your love of a great vacation?

Interval Platinum members may assign the use of your exchange or Getaway accommodations to friends and family members, at no extra cost.($49 value).

Priority Getaway AccessPlatinum membership has its privileges. Enjoy exclusive access to Getaways before others.

When you see the priority-viewing indicator on a Getaway at IntervalWorld.com, you'll know the cream of the crop is yours for the taking.

ShortStay ExchangeSMLooking to travel, but for less than a week?

ShortStay Exchange lets you exchange your resort week for two separate vacations - each one from as few as two nights to as many as six!

Points-based members can make as many ShortStay Exchanges as their available points allow. Explore the ShortStay Exchange opportunities available today.

Companion Airline Travel Program
Your companion airfare certificate gives you great airline rates when you book two round-trip tickets.

Simply register the Companion Pin printed on the certificate you received in your membership kit prior to the Register By date. Once registered, you'll receive an activated voucher by mail, which will contain instructions on how to purchase your airline tickets.

Platinum EscapesExperience the ultimate in last-minute travel with deeply discounted vacation weeks available by e-mail invitation only.

Platinum Escapes are always changing, so keep an eye on your in-box, as you never know what amazing Platinum members-only deals will show up.

Platinum ConciergeSMWith Platinum Concierge, you have the services of a personal assistant 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's a great way to simplify your life and save time. Get restaurant reservations, concert tickets, shopping tips, and more.

Interval Options®Decisions, decisions ...
Whether you choose to sail the high seas, indulge your golf cravings, or relax your mind, body, and soul at a spa, with Interval Gold or Interval Platinum you’'ve got more options than ever for your next vacation exchange.
The unique Interval Options service lets you trade your week toward the purchase of a cruise or accommodations at a golf or spa resort.

Cruise Exchange — Cruise to exciting destinations such as the Bahamas, the Caribbean, Mexico, and Alaska with some of the world's most popular cruise lines, including Royal Caribbean, Carnival, Disney, Princess, Celebrity, and more.
• Cruise Exchange FAQ's

Golf And Spa Exchange — Customize your ideal golf or spa vacation exchange package to accommodate your taste and budget at famous specialty resorts around the world.

Private Jet ProgramReceive discounts on the ultimate in luxurious private air travel on Delta AirElite® charter flights (international or domestic). Or purchase a 10-hour flight card and enjoy even more benefits such as a free Delta Air Lines Medallion® membership and 200,000 Delta SkyMiles® redeemable for two worldwide first-class tickets.

To book your private jet charter, simply call Delta AirElite at 800.927.0927 and provide your Interval Platinum member number.

Hotel, Dining & Leisure DiscountsTwo great ways to enjoy special offers from Entertainment®:

1. Printable Coupons* — Choose from thousands of buy-one, get-one-free or up-to-50-percent-off Premium Discounts at restaurants, retail outlets, and service merchants throughout the U.S. and Canada.

2. Membership Card Offers — No coupons required. View the complete up-to-date listing of merchants honoring the Interval Gold membership card (with the Entertainment® crown logo on the back) for the following discounts:

Up to 50% off rack room OR 10% off promotional rates at thousands of hotels worldwide. Advance reservations required
Up to 20% off at participating restaurants and retail and service merchants across the U.S. and Canada
Detailed information about how to take advantage of your Hotel, Dining, and Leisure Discount benefits.

Hertz #1 Club Gold® MembershipComplimentary Hertz #1 Club Gold® Annual Membership
No enrollment fee — a $60 value
Pick up your rental car with no lines and no waiting at more than 40 of the world's busiest airports
Gold counter service at more than 1,000 other locations in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, and New Zealand.
Useful services such as flight tracking, Free Rental Days with Hertz #1 Awards®, and more

Platinum Quality ServiceSpecially trained advisors are available to assist you with vacation plans, including booking exchanges and Getaways, and to answer questions.

dioxide45 said:

...I wonder if there is any discounts for multi-year memberships?

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Yes, for 3- and 5-YR memberships: 1YR - $129, 2YRS - $258, 3YRS - $329 and 5YRS - $516

dioxide45 said:

For those interested, here are all the benefits.

$50 Getaway DiscountGetaways are the ultra-affordable way to travel more often. As an Interval Platinum member, you get $50 off every Getaway, no matter where or when you book. It really does pay to travel.

...

Free Guest CertificatesWant to share your love of a great vacation?

...

Priority Getaway AccessPlatinum membership has its privileges. Enjoy exclusive access to Getaways before others.

When you see the priority-viewing indicator on a Getaway at IntervalWorld.com, you'll know the cream of the crop is yours for the taking.
...

Platinum EscapesExperience the ultimate in last-minute travel with deeply discounted vacation weeks available by e-mail invitation only.

Platinum Escapes are always changing, so keep an eye on your in-box, as you never know what amazing Platinum members-only deals will show up.
...

Hotel, Dining & Leisure DiscountsTwo great ways to enjoy special offers from Entertainment®:

1. Printable Coupons* — Choose from thousands of buy-one, get-one-free or up-to-50-percent-off Premium Discounts at restaurants, retail outlets, and service merchants throughout the U.S. and Canada.

2. Membership Card Offers — No coupons required. View the complete up-to-date listing of merchants honoring the Interval Gold membership card (with the Entertainment® crown logo on the back) for the following discounts:

Up to 50% off rack room OR 10% off promotional rates at thousands of hotels worldwide. Advance reservations required
Up to 20% off at participating restaurants and retail and service merchants across the U.S. and Canada
Detailed information about how to take advantage of your Hotel, Dining, and Leisure Discount benefits. ...

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Thanks for posting the list. At a quick glance I think these are my favorites.

just for reference, platinum is not $129 a year, it is $129 MORE a year, so $89 + $129 = $218 annually for a 1 year membership. But as already stated the priority pass is a $89 value (with interval discount), so if you then purchase a getaway or give a guest cert, it paid for itself.

siesta said:

just for reference, platinum is not $129 a year, it is $129 MORE a year, so $89 + $129 = $218 annually for a 1 year membership. But as already stated the priority pass is a $89 value (with interval discount), so if you then purchase a getaway or give a guest cert, it paid for itself.

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many of the cities we use and some airlines in pass cities are not included, so no platinum for us. we did the gold upgrade for II which gave us the Hertz Gold and Entertainment book access for $59. (I miss passing the line since I don't travel much on business anymore).

After looking at the Standard Priority Pass, it isn't as good as it sounds. It gives you access on an as needed basis. After your first use there is a $27 fee for each lounge visit.

I called and upgraded. I got a partial credit back for my paid gold membership.

Available to Marriott Accounts Also

If you have the free Marriott II with DC, you can add the Platinum for the upgrade fee.

dioxide45 said:

Priority Getaway AccessPlatinum membership has its privileges. Enjoy exclusive access to Getaways before others.

When you see the priority-viewing indicator on a Getaway at IntervalWorld.com, you'll know the cream of the crop is yours for the taking.

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I wonder what this benefit will provide? It sounds intriguing and may be good for those that use getaways for more prime seasons. Something tells me they won't bother to put off season Orlando weeks in to Platinum Priority availability. Probably for those more prime resorts/seasons we will see a benefit, but not sure what they will really make available to platinum members first.

dioxide45 said:

After looking at the Standard Priority Pass, it isn't as good as it sounds. It gives you access on an as needed basis. After your first use there is a $27 fee for each lounge visit.

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Additionally, if you go to the Priority Pass website and look at the lounges that are included, you'll see that a lot of the lounges will not be accessible to Priority pass members after Oct 1, 2011.

According to a thread on flyertalk the CO/UA lounges are only being removed from the "select memberships" that are offered complimentary with credit cards that are not associated with Chase. Other memberships offered though programs like II would be considered standard and not affected by the 10/1/11 date.
Still one free visit and the $27 per visit and $27 per guest is not so hot. Especially because I rarely fly CO or UA so even if I were in one of the airports I would probably be on a different concourse.

I responded with a guess to the getaway priority in the Starwood forum. I already upgraded and I can see some getaways labeled priority view and it seems to me these are new - they were not there yesterday. So maybe priority means that when II dumps getaways in the system in the first x days or weeks only platinum members see them. Like a Marriott preference for exchanges, sort of.

dioxide45 said:

I wonder what this benefit will provide? It sounds intriguing and may be good for those that use getaways for more prime seasons. Something tells me they won't bother to put off season Orlando weeks in to Platinum Priority availability. Probably for those more prime resorts/seasons we will see a benefit, but not sure what they will really make available to platinum members first.

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ada903 said:

I responded with a guess to the getaway priority in the Starwood forum. I already upgraded and I can see some getaways labeled priority view and it seems to me these are new - they were not there yesterday. So maybe priority means that when II dumps getaways in the system in the first x days or weeks only platinum members see them. Like a Marriott preference for exchanges, sort of.

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That's a nice benefit to platinum membership. II getaways can be great deals, often considerably less than maintenance fees. I'm tempted to upgrade to a platinum membership if there is a priority to see new getaways.

LAX Mom said:

That's a nice benefit to platinum membership. II getaways can be great deals, often considerably less than maintenance fees. I'm tempted to upgrade to a platinum membership if there is a priority to see new getaways.

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Me too, but not until I'm in the market for Getaways - so far our plans for this year and early next are pretty full. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out; I hope TUGgers who take advantage of it will post their experiences and how often the email notices for Priority Getaways are sent.

Siesta and others, thanks for making a point of saying that the II Plat fees are in addition to the basic fee (which is nothing if you've enrolled your Marriott Week(s) in the new DC.)

I don't fully understand the pricing scale...

1 Yr II (basic) $89
1 Yr Gold $59 (on top of Basic)
1 Yr Platinum $129 (on top of ???)

Is the Platinum level $129 on top of Basic, or on top of Gold?

I have a feeling it's intended to be on top of Basic, but if that's the case, the website's not working correctly. We are Gold members, and I would assume the upgrade from Gold to be $70 a year.

$188 for Platinum (on top of basic) sounds like a huge ripoff.

dioxide45 said:

The airport lounge access ($99 value) will almost pay for the upgrade.

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If you go to the II page that discusses lounge access, it includes the following asterisk:
*Per-person fee required with each lounge visit.

You will still be charged $27 per person to enter the lounge.

brianfox said:

I don't fully understand the pricing scale...

1 Yr II (basic) $89
1 Yr Gold $59 (on top of Basic)
1 Yr Platinum $129 (on top of ???)

Is the Platinum level $129 on top of Basic, or on top of Gold?

I have a feeling it's intended to be on top of Basic, but if that's the case, the website's not working correctly. We are Gold members, and I would assume the upgrade from Gold to be $70 a year.

$188 for Platinum (on top of basic) sounds like a huge ripoff.

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The Plat upgrade fee is on top of the basic fee. Ada says above in Post #8 that she called for the upgrade and was able to get a credit for her Gold fee. Maybe the website isn't designed yet to upgrade from Gold to Plat?

Basic membership is $89, gold is an additional $59 on top of basic and platinum is an additional $129 on top of basic. I had two years of gold good through Oct 2012 I believe, and I bought platinum instead; I was credited a little over $100 for the gold paid membership. I was not credited the full $59/year because some of the two years passed and so there was a partial year credit. I mocked it up online as well before calling (by using the link to renew your membership) and it showed the same credit back. I ended up calling and doing I over the phone because I wanted to change a reservation anyway. But the online system seemed to credit me just fine for the paid gold years.

We upgraded to Platinum today. We were given a credit for the extra years on the Gold membership. The extra $50 off Getaways and the free guest certificates is well worth it since we have a big family that uses the Getaways. Not to mention we book at least three Getaways a year ourselves.

Does the platinum work for all members on the account?

There are two of us on this account and we sometimes travel separately. However now we each have our own log in. Can someone who already upgraded to platinum confirm that the benefits go with the account and not just one member?

A benefit I would like is a no-cancellation fee or other cost, if you cancel your exchange within 30 days, or something like that. It would be a benefit I could really use.

II gave me a replacement week for a SDO, and the SDO didn't expire until April of 2012, but my replacement weeks expires this year, in December. I don't think I can use it. I love II, it's my favorite exchange company for so many reasons, but giving me a replacement week, with all of my vacations already booked for 2011, not good.

rickandcindy23 said:

A benefit I would like is a no-cancellation fee or other cost, if you cancel your exchange within 30 days, or something like that. It would be a benefit I could really use.

II gave me a replacement week for a SDO, and the SDO didn't expire until April of 2012, but my replacement weeks expires this year, in December. I don't think I can use it. I love II, it's my favorite exchange company for so many reasons, but giving me a replacement week, with all of my vacations already booked for 2011, not good.

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I agree. A more lenient cancellation policy for Platinum Members would be great.

Is there any more info about the Platinum Escapes? Has anyone who has upgrade already seen any? If so, can you give us a few examples. The guy at II told me there could even be free Platinum Escapes

Thanks
Martin

So I upgraded to platinum but II still wants to charge me for guest certificate when I do it online. I have not called in yet to see what the deal is.

If I request guest certificate when making the booking there is no fee.

ADD GUEST CERTIFICATE to a reservation already made is still showing the fee.