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Has Starwood Preferred Guest given up its O2 suite?

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Regular readers will know that there have been some great points opportunities over the past three years to see top musical acts at the O2 Arena in London via SPG Moments.

Starwood Preferred Guest took a VIP suite in the arena and made tickets available as a points redemption, usually around 15,000 points for two people.  The suite was fully catered with a hot and cold buffet and a free, unlimited bar.

Anika reviewed a Muse concert here and I have been numerous times, generally to see acts too uncool to publicly name.

The game might be up, unfortunately.  The O2 suite was a three year deal and the three years is now over.  There have not been any concerts listed on the SPG Moments site for a while.

Other venues controlled by AEG (Mercedes Arena, Staples Center) also seem to have disappeared from SPG Moments.

SPG Moments O2 Arena London suite

If the suite has gone, this may be a sign of things to come with the Marriott-isation of Starwood.  SPG will have lost a lot of money on these events – the value of the points redeemed won’t even have covered the cost of the food and drink, yet alone the cost of the box itself – but it didn’t care because it was all about relationship building with its core guests.  I have never seen any signs that Marriott thinks the same way.

I wish Virgin Atlantic would do more with its suite at the O2.  I have no idea who gets the seats – once a year we get an invite, this year we get ’30 Seconds To Mars’, last year it was world darts – but there would be real value in Virgin Atlantic offering up seats for miles.

Virgin Flying Club is desperately in need of valuable low value redemptions as it doesn’t have any short-haul flights to offer.  With the credit card due for a major relaunch soon it would be a good way of driving sign-ups.


How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards

How to earn Marriott Bonvoy points and status from UK credit cards (April 2024)

There are various ways of earning Marriott Bonvoy points from UK credit cards.  Many cards also have generous sign-up bonuses.

The official Marriott Bonvoy American Express card comes with 20,000 points for signing up, 2 points for every £1 you spend and 15 elite night credits per year.

You can apply here.

Marriott Bonvoy American Express

20,000 points sign-up bonus and 15 elite night credits each year Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points by converting American Express Membership Rewards points at the rate of 2:3.

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE Marriott Bonvoy Gold status for as long as they hold the card?  It also comes with Hilton Honors Gold, Radisson Rewards Premium and MeliaRewards Gold status.  We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

40,000 bonus points and a huge range of valuable benefits – for a fee Read our full review

You can also earn Marriott Bonvoy points indirectly:

and for small business owners:

The conversion rate from American Express to Marriott Bonvoy points is 2:3.

Click here to read our detailed summary of all UK credit cards which can be used to earn Marriott Bonvoy points

(Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Comments (108)

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

  • din says:

    Yes, you can book a multi-stop flight for example
    LHR to DXB to KUL (instead of a stopover which has a max stopover of 22-35 hours, book 1 or 2 days in DXB for an extra £50 to your journey) or look to book on weekends?

  • MinR says:

    You could choose a Flex or Flex plus fare on either sector if you already. It sometimes costs £50+-

  • RussellH says:

    We have been to Plane Food a couple of times in the last six years or so, though not in the last couple of years (LHR is not somewhere we go very often). Both times perfectly accepatable, and reasonable value for money, given that it is at an airport where thb I do not expect to find reasonable value for money.

  • Eugene says:

    You could reserve a seat. Some of them are quite pricy- economy with a little extra legroom.

  • Cate ⛱️ says:

    They have a hold your fare facility so could you buy your seats after paying a reservation fee – or two 🙂 ?

  • Kevin says:

    OT and apologies if someone’s said it elsewhere but Qatar Airways is launching two direct flights a day from Gatwick to Doha from 22nd May.

  • Mark LLL says:

    Peter,
    I had exact same situation: twenty pounds short of spend threshold and Amex terms say hotels/car hire spend do not count.
    Didn’t see an option for a charity donation.

    If all else fails, you might consider adding Emirates travel insurance at the booking stage – covering you against loss due to denied airspace (whatever that is) – 33 pounds for my itinerary. The risk would be if Amex excludes insurance spend, though I did not see that specifically excluded in offer T and Cs.

    Best of luck.

  • Simon says:

    Rob, when you talk to Amex, could you ask them why they don’t make more of their sponsorship of the Stadium in Brighton? They could presumably have a box in the Emirates vein and allow people to redeem MRs to use it. Now that Brighton are a premiership club this might be of broader interest, ie not just Brighton fans. Would certainly guarantee my loyalty!
    More broadly they could at least offer normal seats as per Emirates. I’ve seen one offer for concert tickets, and the stadium outlets in shop small, but that’s it. It’s otherwise a pretty successful naming deal – the stadium is now known as just “the Amex”…
    (I realise that maybe they are actually using the box, but just to entertain/thank higher spenders than me.)

    • New Card says:

      They did a give away for Platinum cardholders of free tickets to every match this season – all tickets were snapped up within minutes (before many people even got the email about it).
      Agreed they could do more with this!

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

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