Just the other day, Uber and SPG announced a partnership, similar to Delta’s Crossover Rewards, where you’ll be able to earn Starwood points for every dollar spent on Uber. To me, this offer is next to useless, as it will cost me more money to participate than just buying what I need out-right.
All elite levels will earn one Starwood point for every one dollar spent not during a stay, and then between 2-4 points when using Uber during a stay.
Here’s the one caveat for non SPG elites or frequent stayers — you need to stay one night at an SPG hotel prior to you being able to earn the crossover points.
I’m an SPG Gold (via having the American Express Platinum card), but only stay in SPG hotels if I absolutely have to, since I value Hyatt Diamond and Kimpton Inner Circle status much more. So, for someone that hasn’t stayed in an SPG hotel this year and doesn’t plan to, this promotion may not make sense. Here’s why:
Let’s stay it costs $50 to do a one-night stay in a cheap SPG branded hotel (this is conservative, but you may be able to find a good deal). Once you’ve completed that, you’ll be eligible to then beginning earning Starpoints for using Uber. Staying free in a Category 1 hotel requires 3,000 Starpoints, which would require $3,000 spent on Uber as a non elite, $1500 as a Preferred, $1000 as a Platinum or Gold, and $750 as a Platinum 75+. I don’t know about you, but I don’t come close to spending any of those amounts on Uber during the year. Taking into account the one-night I’d need to get out of the way first, that’s another $50 I’d need to take into account for the calculation.
That’s my take. So, for me, this offer really isn’t beneficial, though I’ve signed up just in case I complete an SPG stay, since it never hurts to sign up for promotions regardless of whether you complete them or not.
Is the new SPG and Uber partnership beneficial for you?
Jamie Larounis is an avid traveler, blogger and miles/points educator. Traveling well over 100,000 miles a year and staying in hotels for over 100 nights, he leverages miles, points and other deals to fly in first class cabins, and stay in 5-star hotels. The Forward Cabin shares his experiences, musings, reviews, tips, tricks, resources and industry news with you, the fellow traveler.
“Here’s why the new SPG and Uber partnership is useless”
This is an insanely misleading headline. Just because you, based on your hotel preference, do not find value in this partnership and then use some crazy method to find a dollar amount you would need to spend (really, saying it cost $50 because someone would go out of their way to stay in a hotel room just to trigger this bonus?!?) does not mean this offer is “useless.” Many people have SPG, many people use Uber, this costs nothing to add on and can be very lucrative to people who frequent both programs but your headline considers the partnership “useless.” This is click-bait at it’s worst.
Agreed. As someone who qualifies both SPG Plat and Hyatt Diamond based on travel each year AND uses Uber more than rental cars, this is significant for me. Possibly even significant enough to consider UberX to the airport and home now since it’s almost the same as airport parking but MUCH less hassle.
welcome to boardingarea noob
Notice that this didn’t stop him from using his affiliate link for Uber. When they come out with an Uber credit card I’m sure we’ll see it blogged about here.
I also find that SPG promos are useless when not planning on a single Starwood stay all year. In that situation I would also find the SPG Gold status from the AmEx Platinum to be useless.
Also, award stays count so if you use Uber that much that 1 point/dollar (on top of 2 MR points on the AmEx) is worth it then burn some points to become eligible.
By this reasoning information on all promos that do not directly affect you are “useless”. If Delta says all first class upgrades out of LAX are $1 then is it “useless” because not everyone has trips planned there? Does every offer have to be inclusive of everyone otherwise it has no value?
Aren’t you staying at the Phonecian in July? And I agree with Mike’s comments.
Oh, that’s true! Didn’t realize that was an SPG. I forgot about that to be honest. But, I guess I’d lose out between now and then if I don’t have an SPG stay till then. I’m looking forward to it!