If you are enrolled in the Delta and SPG crossover rewards program, you are probably aware of the benefits that are offered as part of the program. I wrote about the benefits of crossover rewards last year, so for now I will just mention that one of the big benefits of the program is that you have the opportunity to receive incremental miles from Delta and points from SPG based on how much money you spend with the other program.
As a Delta Platinum Medallion and SPG Gold Preferred Guest, I am eligible to earn points and miles for my travels with either program, which works out to be a nice subtle benefit for each program. Since I almost always flew Delta out of my former home airport of MSP, every paid flight I took for business trips would receive Starpoints from the crossover rewards program.
With hotels it’s a little different for me. While I do have gold SPG status based on my stays from 2013, when traveling on business trips and for conferences, there is rarely a choice of hotel chains. I usually end up paying for a “conference rate” at the hotels or choose the hotel closest to my meetings.
To be honest, I rarely think about the potential for earning Crossover rewards during my travel, save for a push to earn Gold SPG status last year in order to get over the earning hump.
That’s why I was pleasantly surprised the other day when SPG sent me an email detailing my earnings so far in 2014. While the nearly 2,000 incremental Skymiles earned doesn’t do much for me, an extra ~4,500 Starpoints isn’t anything to laugh at. While many people will debate the exact value of a Starpoint, let’s say they are worth 2.3 cents per point (gotta love the Google Knowledge graph trying to find the best answer).
At or near that rate, the benefits of joining the Crossover rewards program have been worth over $100 in free travel for me.
I don’t know about you, but that is a nice little bonus for doing next to nothing.
Mrs. Jeffsetter is doing even better, receiving over $200 in value from Crossover rewards to date.
How about you, have you benefitted from Crossover rewards?
Oh yes. I do a LOT of long haul international Business Class Travel. So far this year, I have picked up over 36,000 Starpoints on reimbursable travel. And I have another 2 or 3 trips to go.
I was upgraded to Business class last week on a flight from Atlanta-LAX. That is a nice bonus for doing nothing.