Are SPG’s Hot Escapes Gone?

This morning I eagerly went to take a look at SPG’s weekly list of Hot Escapes. Last week’s list had an absolute massive amount of properties and I was hoping this week’s would be the same.

Oddly, when I clicked on the link to the weekly SPG Hot Escapes, the page didn’t pull up as usual.

Instead of seeing the typical page of properties that included a map, it simply had a note that the “best deals” were “coming soon”.

Puzzled, I checked my link to make sure it was correct but everything looked fine. I then used an old link to see if that worked –

Nope, that one didn’t work either.

For those not familiar with SPG Hot Escapes, SPG combined “Beat The Timer for Hot Escapes” and “Starpicks” into something called Hot Escapes. Every Wednesday at 6am EST new properties are added and must be booked by that Saturday, for stays throughout the following six weeks. The number of properties on offer varies, and I’ve seen it in the low forties to hundreds of hotels.

The savings range from very slim to substantial, depending on property and rate offered. As an SPG member, you also save an extra 5% and earn points for the stay. Really the only drawback is that all Hot Escapes reservations are prepaid so if you change or cancel you are required to pay a fee.

Back in June of this year, Starwood made tweaks to the way the weekly Hot Escapes page looked. The functionality was basically the same though.

Where are this week’s Hot Escapes?

On the sidebar of this week’s page, there is a search function. Thinking perhaps the layout had changed again I typed in Italy.

Why Italy? It’s one of my favorite places to visit, plus last week’s Hot Escapes Italy list had a couple properties on offer that I had stayed at before and reviewed –

Italy

The Westin Excelsior, Florence
Piazza Ognissanti 3, Florence, Italy
was USD 269
SPG Member rate:
USD 217

Sheraton Milan Malpensa Airport Hotel & Conference Centre
Malpensa Terminal 1 S.S. 336, Milan, Italy
was USD 113
SPG Member rate:
USD 81

The St. Regis Florence
Piazza Ognissanti 1, Florence, Italy
was USD 344
SPG Member rate:
USD 248

Sheraton Padova Hotel & Conference Center
Corso Argentina 5, Padova, Italy
was USD 90
SPG Member rate:
USD 69

Sheraton Roma Hotel & Conference Center
Viale Del Pattinaggio, 100, Rome, Italy
was USD 97
SPG Member rate:
USD 74

Four Points by Sheraton Bolzano
Via Bruno Buozzi, 35, Bolzano-Bozen, Italy
was USD 96
SPG Member rate:
USD 69

The rates that returned were definitely not those with savings. For example, the Sheraton Milan Malpensa Airport Hotel that was offered last week at $81 was now listed at 211 EUR. Definitely no savings there!

My hope is that the Hot Escapes list is coming later today. We heard just this past week about the major upcoming merger between Marriott and Starwood but I think it is a little early before we see any changes affected directly to the merger.

Stay tuned for an update…