Some of you may remember that a few months ago, I started a “Status Challenge” with Starwood Hotels.  You can read more details about hotel status challenges (and specifics on the Starwood Platinum Challenge) in my previous post here…but in short, a hotel status challenge is a set of requirements required to reach elite status with the hotel chain in an expedited timeframe.

For Starwood’s Platinum Challenge, the requirement was to stay 18 nights within a 3 month period.  The 3 month period is based on calendar months, and with my travels, I stayed exactly 18 nights at Starwood hotels during the months of March, April and May.  Not long ago, I received the following email:

If you complete a Challenge early in the year, your status will only be valid through the end of that year, but since I completed the challenge after the month of April, my status will remain active until 2016, which will be very nice.  Starwood Platinum members receive the following benefits:

• Room Upgrades at Check-In (including Standard Suites), subject to availability
• Complimentary Breakfast for up to 2 guests each day
• 4:00 pm late check out
• Complimentary Internet Access
• Club Level Access, where available
• 3 points per dollar spent on Starwood Hotels (a 50% bonus over standard members)

Those little touches will be nice to have, and it’s awesome to have for almost 2 full years.

In addition, as part of a relatively new partnership, Starwood Platinum members also receive benefits when flying on Delta:

• Complimentary First Checked Bag
• Priority Check In, Security and Boarding
• Complimentary Upgrades on Domestic Flights, subject to availability

The upgrades on Delta flights probably won’t happen very often, since all regular Delta elite members receive their upgrades first, but it’ll be nice every once in a while.  A few weeks ago (after completing the Platinum Challenge), I flew on Delta from Greensboro to Atlanta, and back from Atlanta to Charlotte.  For the outbound flight from Greensboro, after all upgrades were cleared and First Class was full, I was left at #2 on the upgrade list; on the return flight from Charlotte, after all upgrades were cleared, I was #23 on the upgrade list.  So upgrades won’t be too frequent of an occurrence, but it’ll be nice when they come through from time to time.

I’m staying at a few Starwood Hotels this week in San Francisco, so I’ll be reporting shortly on putting the shiny new Platinum Status to the test!!  Here’s a quick sneak peak:

Stay tuned for more updates shortly!