Effective April 1, 2011, Starwood Preferred Guest has changed its policy on Platinum status matching. Previously, eligible Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond, Marriott Rewards Platinum, Shangri-La Golden Circle Elite and Hilton HHonors Diamond members could request a status match to Platinum and SPG would review the request and possibly match the status without requiring anything but adequate documentation. With the new policy, members will be required to complete a Stay Challenge to receive the status match. Members can request a Stay Challenge by sending an email to [email protected].

Bottom line: While other programs, including Marriott Rewards and Hyatt Gold Passport, are known to offer similar elite status challenges, SPG members on milepoint.com and FlyerTalk.com were given “advance notice” of the change of less than 24 hours, which didn’t give eligible members much of an opportunity to request a status match before the change was implemented.