One SPG Member Earned 30M Starpoints, and More Stats from 2015
It's no secret that Starwood Preferred Guest is TPG's favorite loyalty program, due in no small part to the incredible value you can get from Starpoints. Of course there's speculation that SPG will become less rewarding following the merger with Marriott, despite assurances from Marriott's CEO. For now, though, Starpoints remain the most valuable loyalty currency, with redemptions ranging from five-star resorts in Hawaii to luxury suite tickets to Knicks games in New York.
Each year, Starwood releases annual earning and redemption stats, sharing the year's record breakers with its members. Every time you complete a transaction on your SPG account, Starwood can track it in a database, giving the chain lots of very interesting stats when it comes to member habits. Partnerships, such as Delta Crossover Rewards and SPG's new pairing with Uber provide even more data, making 2015's year in review the most interesting yet.
So, let's dig into 2015's data (current as of early December):
Perhaps most interesting of all is the total number of Starpoints earned by a single member in 2015: 30,328,030. Yes, that's THIRTY MILLION Starpoints, which is a tremendous number. It's unclear how that breaks down, but I'm willing to bet many of those weren't earned from hotel stays. SPG also shared that a single member stayed in Starwood hotels in 24 countries, while another (or maybe the same?) visited 73 different properties in 2015.
As I mentioned, Starwood joined forces with Uber in 2015 — from when that program launched in February through early December, one SPG member rode in 1,127 Ubers. Assuming they had 10 months to do that, that's nearly four Uber rides per day! Starwood caps Uber earnings after the first $10,000 spent in a calendar year, so chances are that member didn't earn points for every ride.
Additionally, one member earned 247,560 by flying with Delta, while another redeemed a whopping 677,000 Starpoints for access to the Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao fight in Vegas back in May.
And then on to the less exciting stats... In 2015, one member earned 835,136 Starpoints by booking meetings and events for their employer, which may seem like a high number until you realize that companies sometimes spend hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more) on a single hotel meeting or event.
Next up is SPG Keyless — in 2015, members opened 66,746 hotel rooms using their smartphones or watches. Finally, SPG revealed that more Starpoints were redeemed at The Westin in Maui, which isn't a tremendous surprise given how popular Hawaii is, and the fact that each night requires at least 12,000 Starpoints at that Category 5 hotel.
How many Starpoints did you earn in 2015?
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- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent on purchases at restaurants worldwide, on up to $50,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
- Earn 4X Membership Rewards® points per dollar spent at US supermarkets, on up to $25,000 in purchases per calendar year, then 1X points for the rest of the year.
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