All Free Night Awards are for single or double occupancy in a standard room. At a small number of, non-US, historical hotels, there are rooms which have a maximum occupancy of 1 guest. It is infrequent, but it does occur, and the Hotel Pulitzer is one of those hotels.
Yes, the Hotel Pulitzer considers the ‘classic room‘ (one of those rooms with maximum capacity of 1 guest) as their Standard Rooms. As a result they sell them using either Starpoints Awards or currency.
The issue in these cases is not the number of people, or the hotel trying to squeeze more money from guests of the SPG Program, but the size of the room and what is the legal allowable occupancy based on fire code and safety regulations. It is unfortunate for travelers with 2 or more occupants in their party, but this is simply how the hotel is situated. We also have hotels where there are no ‘Standard Rooms’ and therefore travelers with 1 or 2 people in their party have to spend higher Starpoints for an upgraded room type. There are just some special property configurations available in our global portfolio to be aware of.
If we did not offer up these single occupancy rooms for Free Night Awards, then in a scenario where all other rooms were sold out at the hotel – we would not be adhering to our No Blackouts Promise.
To clarify: Starpoints Awards have been for single or double occupancy. Just be aware that not 100% of properties are configured to always have double occupancy rooms as their 'Standard Rooms'.
Best regards,
Christopher Carman
Social Media Specialist
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
spgchampion@starwoodhotels.com