Occasionally we come across individual hotel bonus offers that are worth mentioning separately. The latest comes to us from Starwood Preferred Guest for stays at The Westin Tampa Bay. To celebrate their 5th anniversary the hotel has a 5,000 Bonus Starpoints package for weekend stays of 2 or more nights. We did a rate check on the package as many of these individual hotel ‘bonus’ offers tend to be more expensive than some of the lower rates. When we do these rate comparison we don’t check the lowest non-refundable rate as very few frequent travelers actually book those rates for being too restrictive. Our rate check was for Mar 14 -16 and we compare the Best Available Rate, the AAA rate and the 5,000 Bonus Starpoints rate. Note that the 5,000 Bonus Starpoints rate also includes in room Wi Fi and valet parking.
The AAA rate per night for the dates above is $161 but this does not inlcude Wi Fi or parking. Add in those two and you are looking at $175.95 per night
The lowest flexible rate is $179 per night but this does not inlcude Wi Fi or parking. Add in those two and you are looking at $193.95 per night
The 5,000 Bonus Starpoints rate is also $179 but it inlcude Wi Fi and parking plus the bonus Starpoints (essentially 2,500 per night)
As you can see the bonus Starpoints package is actually a good deal. Even if you valued the Starpoints at a very conservative 1 cent per point (but most people can get a value of 2 cents or more) those points are worth at least $25 per night. This is one case where buying the ‘bonus points’ package makes sense as the points more than make up for the difference over the AAA rate and unless you are SPG Elite the free internet makes it even better.
The main drawback of this offer is that you have to book at least 31 days in advance!
Here is the offer as it appears on our SPG Bonus points page:
5,000 Bonus Starpoints and free in room Wi-Fi on weekend stays of 2 or
more nights at The Westin Tampa Bay. 31 advance purchase required. Full Details & Online Booking Until Jul 20, 14
Can’t make use of this promotion? Be sure to visit our SPG Bonus points page for the most comprehensive listing of SPG bonus offers on the internet!
