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Bits: see Madonna with Starwood, PartnerPlusBenefit bonuses on Austria and Japan

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News in brief:

Starwood opens up Madonna and more

I wrote earlier in the year about the concert I attended at the new Starwood Preferred Guest suite at the O2 in London – see photo below.

SPG, which is the loyalty scheme for Le Meridien, Westin, St Regis, Sheraton, W etc, has now opened up tickets for the Autumn.  The highlight is Madonna.  They also have Duran Duran, Dave Matthews Band and Simple Minds.  There are also some One Direction tickets for next week still available.

Pricing is now being tweaked based on the artist.  Madonna is 25,000 SPG points for two tickets in the suite.  This includes free food and drink all night.  Duran Duran, One Direction and Simple Minds are 15,000 points per pair.

For the first time, SPG is also offering – for Madonna – premium seating in the main arena at 15,000 points per pair.  This is a better option if you are willing to give up the food and drink in return for a substantially closer view of the action.

Whilst you can transfer American Express Membership Rewards points to Starwood at a ratio of 2:1, it may be a bit risky to do it just to get these tickets.  The transfer will take a few days and the seats will go quickly.  You would be well placed for whatever is offered in the Spring, of course.

The SPG Moments booking site is here.

SPG Moments O2 Arena suite

Double and triple points on selected routes with PartnerPlusBenefit

PartnerPlusBenefit is the Star Alliance version of the British Airways OnBusiness scheme.  If you run your own business and fly on Air Canada, ANA, LOT, Lufthansa, SWISS, Austrian, United, Germanwings, Eurowings, TAP Air Portugal or Brussels Airlines then you should be a member.

Unlike OnBusiness, you also get a wide range of redemption options.

There are two bonus available for the Autumn.  Until the end of October 2015, you will receive double points when flying from Heathrow or Manchester to Vienna on Austrian.  If you are heading to Japan before November 30th, you will receive triple points on flights on ANA, Lufthansa, SWISS and Austrian.

If your business is not already a PartnerPlusBenefit, you can join by requesting a callback via this page.  You will receive 1,500 points for joining which is enough to get you, for example, a European flight upgrade.

Comments (20)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Mark says:

    Don’t bother wasting your points on seeing Madonna

    She is absolutely useless live. Out of the 100 or so live concerts I’ve been to she has to be the worst I have ever seen. Not to mention she was off her face when she performed. She even said Happy Independence Day to everyone…… It was the 5th July!

    • plastikman says:

      Do you want to see Madonna? No, because it’s not 1985.

      • Rob says:

        Hey, I saw Fleetwood Mac – average age on stage roughly 70 – and they were amazing. My wife is off to Madonna, I am off to Abu Dhabi!

  • Jamsey says:

    Hi my ihg free night certificate for my credit card expires 3rd October does that mean I need to use it by the 3rd or book by the 3rd? Anybody know?

  • wetboy1uk says:

    Madonna – couldn’t think of anyone worse.

  • Rob says:

    Added:

    “Score VIP access to dinner, drinks and more with a sports icon and celebrity chef. Join Phil Vickery for a drink and private chat before other guests arrive for dinner. After your one-on-one with him, he’ll demonstrate cooking one of his gourmet burgers and share his thoughts on the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Then you’ll sit with Vickery at the head table for dinner, drinks and lively conversation.”

    Sat 10 October, Sheraton Skyline Heathrow, INCLUDES a club room for the night. 10,000 points and just one package on offer.

    PS. Just noticed a Lidl ad appear on the site! WTF ….?! This is from the agency and not Google, luckily.

  • Anders says:

    YPlan are also selling tickets that let you into their VIP suite. Madonna tickets are £149.99-£159.99. This doesn’t include drinks though.

    • Rob says:

      Interesting – I’ve seen that suite, you pass it on the way to the SPG one. I might need to downgrade my perceived value of the SPG tickets on that basis – although one benefit of the SPG is that it is an unofficial HFP meet-up!

      2 of the other 5 couples at Fleetwood Mac were definitely HFP because they said Hi – didn’t ask the other three!

      • Anders says:

        From the description on the app, you get access to the Amex suite before and after the show. Haven’t been to either so can’t comment on which of all these new sponsored suites is the best one.

        • Rob says:

          Amex bar seems open to anyone with a VIP ticket – I just wandered in after Paul Simon with no trouble.

  • Jason says:

    I’ll be in the SPG suite for One Direction next Wednesday (Sep 30th) if anyone else is booked?

    Don’t judge me..

    • Rob says:

      Looks like the last few went today, possibly to HFP readers, so you will not be alone in there!

  • Rob says:

    I have done a bit of housekeeping on the comments as I think we had strayed from the key point of whether Madonna is worth 25k SPG at the age of 57 …..

  • cheekychappie says:

    those who were there – got the info

    30K TCC, 72,000 Avios

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

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