Recently in Starwood Preferred Guest Category

Starwood Preferred Guest recently unveiled SPG Flights, a new online service where members can redeem Starpoints to fly on hundreds of airlines to destinations around the globe. With SPG Flights, getting to the destination of your dreams is as easy as search, redeem, fly, because - in true SPG spirit - there are no blackout dates. If there's a seat available on the flight you want, it's yours. Simply select your preferred itinerary and class of service and redeem Starpoints for the entire cost of your flight, even during high-demand periods such as holidays. Taxes and booking fees are included in the ticket price, and you can even redeem Starpoints for others. If you're feeling generous, for example, you can give the gift of travel to family or friends. Or better still, organize a group excursion, because members can redeem Starpoints for tickets for up to five passengers per transaction. (Hawaii, anyone?) SPG is more flexible than ever, so click on over to SPG Flights and see where your Starpoints can take you.

You get one extra day this year, and today it arrives! So if you haven't had the time yet to vote for the Freddie Awards, you have one bonus day to voice your opinion on your favorite rewards programs. The 20th annual Freddie Awards, presented by InsideFlyer magazine, takes place April 24th, but the ballot boxes close today. Voting for the member-generated Freddie's is determined by the overall rating of each program. Winners are chosen by highest quality, not quantity, so the program that receives the highest average value with at least 1% of the popular vote wins.

Help Starwood set some records after sweeping the awards last year in 11 categories including Best Award Redemption, Best Affinity Credit Card, and Best Program of the Year in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East. Whether it's your love of no blackout dates, the ease of earning double or triple Starpoints, 4pm late checkout, or the wonders of elite status, the Freddie Awards are your chance to speak up about how you feel about SPG membership. So don't hesitate, vote while you have one extra day in February!

To celebrate the opening of one of the newest Westins, the Westin Minneapolis, Starwood is offering something special: Double Starpoints. All stays until July 31, 2007 will earn double Starpoints at the hotel, a brand new conversion of the historic former Farmers & Mechanics Bank building. The 214-room hotel is located on the skyway, the interior has a 34-foot high vaulted library and marble stairs, and all 214 rooms have a Westin Heavenly Bed and Heavenly Bath, along with iPods, 32" LCD televisions, full internet and oversized desks. The Target Center and Historic State Theatre are just down the street.

Warm weather is finally here on the East Coast. Celebrate with Starpicks and the Sheraton Centre Toronto. Steep discounts of more than 20% off regular room rates are currently available. The four diamond hotel is built around a 2.5 acre waterfall garden and amenities include the Senses Spa, a year-round indoor/outdoor pool, a 2500 square-foot gym and room sizes that are way above the urban norm. Then there's also the fact that the city of Toronto is right outside your door. Not too bad at all.

Film producers and fashion photographers love the setting of the W Los Angeles. It's easy to see why, given the hotel's decor and design. The W Los Angeles is also one of this week's Starpicks. Reserve within two weeks of your departure date and room prices are at least 20% off. This time of year is perfect for the W's heated outdoor pool, the Bliss Spa and any of the hotel's restaurants. Starpicks just got some coverage from Travelpost too.

Hawaii is the perfect place for a vacation. We know it's, true deep in our hearts, even if it isn't a scientific fact. Luckily, Starpicks is here to help. Stays at the Princeville Resort are being discounted by at least 20%. Just follow the Starpicks rules and you've got a great resort stay if you have vacation time over the next two weeks. We know you like Hawaiian resorts that have oceanside, 5,000-square foot swimming pools, oversized spas and golf courses that are routinely listed among America's best. It's pretty nice that way.

Visitors to Las Vegas now have one more thing to do, as if there weren't already activities aplenty across this great desert city. The New York Times has a brief but noteworthy item about the new, 180-acre Las Vegas Springs Preserve, a complex of gardens, trails, museums, and theaters a few miles west of the Strip that will open to the public soon. The preserve is actually built in an area teeming with underground springs that were tapped to support the original settlement of Las Vegas, which is Spanish for "the meadows". One section of the preserve, called the ORI-GEN Experience, outlines the history of the Las Vegas Valley, and features a large indoor theater and an outdoor amphitheater with 2,000 seats, as well as three museum galleries. Another feature, called the Desert Living Center, has a collection of buildings that were constructed of straw bales and rammed, compacted earth as examples of sustainable and conscientous living. Sounds fine to me, but after hiking those desert and garden trails, I'll take a comfortable bed at the Aladdin Resort & Casino, thank you very much.

[image via the Las Vegas Springs Preserve]

To celebrate the launch of the flashy new Starwood Preferred Guest credit card by American Express, select SPG members and their lucky
guests got to spend an intimate evening at the W New York, listening to the amazing Ms.Lauryn Hill live in concert. Ms. Hill sang some of her most beloved hits, while audience members watched, and rocked out, steps away at the foot of the stage.

There's nothing quite like something shiny, new, and plastic in your wallet. Starwood's new SPG American Express card is going all out for their launch this week, and what better way to enjoy it then to attend a special private concert with Ms. Lauryn Hill, something select cardmembers will get to do Wednesday night in New York. Not able to swing being in NYC for the event? Not to worry, you can enjoy the whole thing from the comfort of home on your screen.

Randy Peterson, blogger of Flyer Talk will be live-blogging the whole intimate show at WebFlyer, with a possible audio feed, so you won't miss a single note, as long as you have a high speed connection. Oh, and yes thelobby will be there as well--don't worry we will report back to everybody with a comprehensive post-show wrap-up first thing Thursday morning. So look out for your glossy new ruby-red SPG Amex in the mail, and check back here for post show special event recap!