Earning Points at Hotel Resturants

In the pursuit of points & miles, you need to think about earning points constantly. One place where you might be leaving points on the table is at hotel restaurants. Many hotel chains allow you to earn points for money spent at restaurants even without staying at the hotel.

Photo Credit: Blue Duck Tavern - Park Hyatt Washington,DC

Last year, I wrote about how I earn points for a business lunch at the Park Hyatt Washington, DC. That one business lunch earned me 5,000 Hyatt points.

Starwood has a promotion going on until April 30th that earns you double points per $1 spent. Typically, you earn 2pts per $1 spent at Starwood Hotel restaurants even when not staying at the hotel. This promotion gives you 4pts per $1 spent.

To register for the promotion, go here.

Not all Starwood restaurants are participating. The list of participating restaurants can be found here. Over 1,000 restaurants worldwide are participating. In the United States, there are 98 restaurants participating. 5 of them are in Washington, DC.

Here are the rules of the promotion:

• Offer is valid from February 1, 2014 until April 30, 2014 

Members must register for the promotion at spg.com/twiceasnice to participate in the offer.

• Only eligible food purchase are allowed
• Greater than $10 charges 
• no alcoholic beverages 
• not in connection with a banquet, meeting or other function  

• Must provide SPG number at time of dine

I would register for this promotion, even if you aren't planning on using it. You never know when you might dine at a SPG hotel.


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Earning Hyatt Points While Not Staying at Hyatt

EDIT: Thanks to @Jamucsb for remembering that it was Gary from View From the Wing with the original post!

I love the blog community. Everyday, I seem to learn a new trick, a new policy or get inspired by a new destination. What I love even more is when a learned trick or policy turns into points in the bank?

Case in point: A while back some blogger (I don't remember who, so I apologize for not hat tip)  explained that one could earn Hyatt points for eating at one of their restaurants or getting spa treatments, even if you were not staying at the hotel.

On V-Day, my boss and I held a luncheon for a few of our real estate agents at the Blue Duck Tavern located at the Park Hyatt in Washington, DC. I had booked the event in early January and kind of forgot about it until I read this blogger's post about earning points at restaurants at Hyatts.

I immediately sent an email to my contact at the restaurant inquiring about earning points for the event. Her quick response was "of course you can, just send over your Hyatt Gold Passport number." The result was about 5,000 more points in the bank!

Hyatt FAQ page has a whole tab devoted to Earning and Redemption in Restaurants and Spas. The important ones are:

7.

How can I earn points for F&B and Spa when not staying at the hotel? If member is a Hyatt Gold Passport (HGP) member and visit participating restaurants or spas, member will provide HGP account number to the Hyatt Associate at the outlet at time of payment to process the earned points (5 HGP points per $1USD) on eligible charges.

8.

What is eligible for earning at restaurants and spas? Eligible changes vary on a hotel-by-hotel basis, but generally include spa and salon services, spa and salon retail items, and food and beverage expenditures (except at outlets not operated by the hotel). Points will not be awarded on tips, service charges, taxes, gratuities and alcoholic beverage purchases in certain jurisdictions. (Alcohol excluded where prohibited by law). Other exclusions may apply.

Not all charges are eligible to receive points. On our bill, we did not receive points for alcoholic beverages, which were flowing, the tip, DC's outrageous 10% food tax or the parking for our guests and us.

To see which Hyatt hotel's restaurants and spas participate, go to this website.

The luncheon was a major success and the food made love in. It was AMAZING. Here is a peak at our menu, personally customized for the event:

If you have never been to the Blue Duck Tavern, you must go. The service is amazing, the kitchen is open and the food screams in your mouth. The Gold Passport Points are only the cherry on top of the homemade ice cream!

Thank you to whomever wrote about earning points at Hyatt Restaurants!!!!

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