SPG Moments are a great way to realize some pretty good value on your Starpoints. Some of the best ones are those that end just about a week or so before the date(s) of the event as not everyone is able to pick up and travel that fast. Such was a recent SPG Moments auction that took place. I had my eye on it and was ready to bid, but there was a good reason it went above my pre-set limit.
The SPG Moments Auction That Got Away
The beautiful St. Regis Florence at the heart of this SPG Moments auction
The SPG Moments auction was for a trip in Florence, Italy next week. It included an upgraded room for two nights at the St. Regis Florence – a property that goes for 35,000 Starpoints per night for a basic room. In addition, it also came with a private portrait session for two by a celebrity illustrator, breakfast each morning, and access to the St. Regis Butler Stories event.
Perfect Mother-Daughter Trip!
Thanks to a lot going on, I thought this would be the perfect quick getaway for my wife. I started planning it out for her and our daughter to have a nice little mom-daughter trip – and planned it as a surprise. That was for a couple of reasons, the main one being that my wife would probably veto it if I mentioned it beforehand as she does not like traveling to new places by herself (but would be able to do it just fine if I gave her directions and all the info after I won). Plus, our daughter has begun to get involved in photography like her mom so I thought it would make a great outing of shooting some interesting things in Italy.
The Waiting for the Bidding
The auction was at 25,500 points for a few days. My plan was to go up to 35,000 points (maybe 40,000) since that is the equivalent of a single night stay at the property. The evening before it ended, I wound up mentioning it to my wife and she was saying it was really something she would rather not do (though she was incredibly thankful that I thought of it!) and would rather I do it with our daughter. I could not get away so I said ok.
The day the auction ended, the bidding was staying in the 20,000s. I was begging for it to go higher because I knew I would not be able to control my bidding finger if it stayed there. I told my wife she would probably end up needing to go so get mentally prepared! 🙂 About an hour before, it was still around that. For a package that included a stay that would have cost 70,000 Starpoints (for an inferior room) just for the stay, I really could not let it go for only 30,000 Starpoints!
The Auction Close
The final price on this great deal
Sure enough, with less than an hour to go, it went up and ended up at 53,500 Starpoints – still a great deal but thankfully above what I was planning on spending. If my wife had been for it, I probably would have gone up that high. But, since I wasn’t going to, I was just glad to see that the ending price was not something ridiculous like 30,000 Starpoints for the package. I would have just had to buy it at that price!
Have you ever had a SPG Moments auction or some other travel auction go for so cheap that you had to buy it? 🙂
