Beginning Jan. 1, 2004, Starwood Preferred Guest elite members will no longer be provided the standard upgrades and amenities for stays booked online at any site other than Starwood’s (including Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Orbitz.com, Priceline.com, Travelocity.com and Travelweb.com).

Members have known for some time that stays booked through such sites do not earn points.

As the popularity of discount third-party sites has grown, many travel industry programs have tried to steer their customers to their own in-house Web sites. In Starwood’s case, the program already offers what’s called the “Best Rate Guarantee,” which, according to company spokesman William Sanders, gives Starwood the “confidence that you will always be able to find the best rate at one of our proprietary Web sites.”