How to Maximize Hotel Rewards

[Updated July 2016]

​I travel to New York (lower east side), Chicago (the Loop) and Atlanta (Buckhead) for work and I like to snowboard in Lake Tahoe, Park City and Vail so I need a hotel chain that has a good presence in these places AND a great rewards program. After crunching all the numbers, it was a no-brainer to commit all of my loyalty to Starwood. 

I was indoctrinated into the Church of Starwood Preferred Guest ("SPG") when I was an Associate at McKinsey. We stayed in hotels 4-5 nights per week and they were always Starwoods. I never questioned it at the time and I really took the program for granted. With greater time and perspective, I've really come to appreciate just how great SPG is for both hardcore business travelers and infrequent casual vacations.

Earning Starpoints

There are a few ways to earn Starpoints:

• Stay at Starwood Hotels and earn 2 starpoints per dollar spent on applicable room rate, food/beverage and services (including spa treatments). The key is to charge everything to the room. You earn 3 starpoints per dollar if you have Gold Status and 4 starpoints per dollar if you have 75 Night Platinum Status. You can also earn for spend when you hold events like conferences or weddings at Starwood facilities.
• Spend money on the Starwood American Express and earn 1 starpoint per dollar on all purchases and 2 starpoints per dollar on all purchases at Starwood Hotels. I had this card when I worked at McKinsey and it really accelerates the accrual of points. It also helps you achieve status by giving you credit for 2 stays and 5 nights. The drawback is a $95 annual fee so I canceled it after I left consulting.
• Sign up for Delta Crossover Rewards and receive 1 starpoint for every dollar spent on a Delta flight if you are a Delta Medallion member. 
• Sign up for Uber Rewards and receive 1 starpoint for every dollar spent on Uber.
• Sign up for the Starwood/Caesar's Partnership and receive 2 starpoints (and status credits) for every dollar spent at Caesar's Palace Hotels (including Harrah's, etc.).

Earning Status & The Key Benefits of Status

Earning Gold and Platinum status at Starwood is easy:

• Free Gold status if you have an American Express Platinum Card
• Earn Gold status with 10 stays or 25 nights (award stays/nights count which is really nice)
• Earn Platinum status with 25 stays or 50 nights
• Lifetime Gold status (5 years of gold and 250 nights) / Lifetime Platinum (10 years of platinum and 500 nights)

The biggest benefits to me are upgraded rooms (including suites at Platinum Status) and late checkout at 4pm. There are many more benefits, here is a good summary.

Redeeming Starpoints

There are two main ways to redeem Starpoints:

• Search for rooms on the SPG website and book using points. The amount of points required for an award night ranges based loosely on the price of the room - more expensive room, more points required. I only book award nights if I am getting at least 2 cents per point in redemption value (and usually I get much more).
• Transfer Starpoints to airlines at a 1:1 ratio (and receive a bonus 5,000 miles when transferring 20,000 points). I only transfer to Delta but you can transfer to about 30 different airlines (including United, Virgin America and many international airlines).

My Pro Tips

I only travel about 6 times per year for work so I would not qualify for SPG Gold Status. However, I discovered a few tricks that help me get to Gold each year. 

• If you book rooms for other people traveling with you, you can earn credit for the stays/nights of your guests up to 3 rooms.
• If you have a multi-day stay in a city like New York that has more than one SPG property, you can book one night each in multiple hotels so you can accrue multiple stays. For example, you can book the W Times Square and the Sheraton Times Square on back to back nights so you get two stay credits instead of one.
• If flying out of a city (like Denver or Salt Lake City after skiing) at night is more expensive than the next morning, you can book a cheap room at an airport Starwood (the Aloft at Denver Airport is usually $99/night) and earn easy, cheap stays.
• Don't forget to rack up starpoints when you go to Vegas, Atlantic City or Lake Tahoe! If you are staying at a Caesar's property, you can charge any restaurant in their system (even at another Caesar's hotel) back to your room. 

Now that you've figured out how to accumulate rewards, click here to learn how to optimize redemption of reward points.

Questions? Comments? Tweet me @RetireOnRewards.