SPG Twice as Nice Dining Promotion
Starwood has a new “Twice as Nice” promotion to encourage dining at hotel restaurants, even when you’re not traveling.
At first I was pretty underwhelmed by this, but then I realized a few of the restaurants and bars I really like in DC are located in Starwood hotels. If I was already going to go, at least I’d get double points. One of them was even offering 10% off for SPG members.
And then I started really overthinking it — could I stack other promotions?
You can make reservations on Open Table for many of the restaurants listed, earning 100 points per visit (roughly $1 in dining rewards). Some of the restaurants even offer 1,000 point timeslots ($10 in dining rewards).
I could also pay with Starwood American Express and get 2 Starpoints since it would show as hotel spend. Or pay with my Chase Sapphire and get 2x points on dining spend. If I went on the first Friday of the month, I’d get 3x points through their First Friday promotion (though Fridays don’t typically qualify for Open Table’s 1,000 point offers).
And if any of the restaurants happen to participate in an iDine or Dining Rewards program, then I could earn extra miles or points if my credit card was registered.
None of these are reasons to dine if I wasn’t already planning to, And really the only difference from before was that one extra Starpoint, but sometimes that’s enough to influence my choice on the margin. An early dinner at J&G and I could be earning 2 Starpoints + 2 Ultimate Rewards per dollar AND a $10 dining rewards on Open Table.
What I like about the promotion is there are a lot of international options as well, although the US doesn’t have the broadest range of options. Some cities have more than others (list of those with 3 or more below):
