Starwood Preferred Guest - Using Starpoints for Food/Bev on property

You know, I just thought about this today..... It would be great for me if *wood had an award category for Food & Beverage allowances. For example, I check into the Los Cabos Westin for a week of R & R.

For, say, 10000 points, I can get $150 in food & bev credits for use at any on site outlet. I know Marriott dabbled with this sort of thing over the years.

Just tossing it out there --- it would be a great enhancement in my eyes. And, before anyone says so, YES I know that numerous properties offer Plat guests certain $ amounts for their Plat amenity, but that's not what I'm suggesting here.

Thoughts??

You know, I just thought about this today..... It would be great for me if *wood had an award category for Food & Beverage allowances. For example, I check into the Los Cabos Westin for a week of R & R.

For, say, 10000 points, I can get $150 in food & bev credits for use at any on site outlet. I know Marriott dabbled with this sort of thing over the years.

Just tossing it out there --- it would be a great enhancement in my eyes. And, before anyone says so, YES I know that numerous properties offer Plat guests certain $ amounts for their Plat amenity, but that's not what I'm suggesting here.

Thoughts??

Got lots of advertising in room and at check in and out about using pts on my recent trip in asia (BK in particular, but Beijing too)...
Call/email the properties you are interested in.

It seemed to me as though there was almost a 'push' to get people to use their pts, and they are offering everything from a bathrobe, to foot massages, to food and drinks...

Right, I'm familiar with that sort of offer. What I'm proposing is a far larger scale, standardized offer that would be chainwide. It would be treated precisely the same way as an award (instant or otherwise).

The standardization is CRUCIAL if this is to work. Every hotel wouldn't be able to manipulate precisely what they would be willing to offer up for xxx points.

As I said, a standard 10000 points ~ $150 or so USD in F&B. Maybe 5000 points~$60, etc, etc.

I 'm looking at a "letter" I recieved at check-in in Hawaii. It offers the following f&B items in exchange for starpoints:

Hanohano room at Sheraton Waikiki 3 course dinner 6,750 points
Surf Room at Royal Hawaiian 3 course dinner 6,000 points
Royal Hawaiian tin with cookies 750 points
Banyan Veranda at the Moana 3 course prix fixes dinner 3,750 points
Sunday brunch at the Moana 3,000 points
Afternoon Tea at the Moana 1,500 points
Momoyama at the Princess Kaiulani Steamed
Lobster Japanese prix fixes dinner 5,250 points


MO

SPG does allow you to pay for meals with Starpoints, they call it instant awards.
I paid for my meal at the Sheraton Jogjakarta in May with Starpoints, 750 points for 10 dollars credit.

SPG does allow you to pay for meals with Starpoints, they call it instant awards.

Not on a global, standardized basis, they don't. What's out there now is a melange of various offers that many (most) properties don't offer. Again, what I'd like to have as an option would be F&B credit that I could add to my stay's folio --- for that matter, why limit it to F&B, why not include any on-site, property-owned service? That could mean gift shop, spa services, etc.

I am aware that this could mean jumping through hoops contractually with several properties with complex usage rules and there may be some countries with significant hurdles to this sort of award......regardless, I'd very much like to have these options.

Say I was going to Princeville for a week. I could opt to shell out 30000 points for a folio credit of something like $450 to spend on site whilst there.