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I admit I was either an early or late adopter of Uber, depending on who you talk to. I had been aware of the service for quite a while, and requested my first ride back in 2014 (the car got caught in Manhattan traffic and we ended up taking a taxi instead). Out first actual “Uber” ride was in Australia and the Uber was in a taxi because in Australia that’s all they would allow Uber to book at the time.

Since then, Uber has pushed the boundaries and has rattled some entrenched monopolies in the process, including the Mears Taxi and Van service in our hometown of Orlando. I’m a huge fan of Uber (and Lyft) if for no other reason than the taxi monopolies needed to have some competition in order to raise the low service levels they were providing to customers. So when I found out I could earn valuable Starpoints good for the Preferred Guest program just for riding with Uber, I was thrilled. In a comment on Facebook, one of our readers also said something about how they like to earn Starpoints when using Uber, so I thought this tip might be helpful to other readers. 

Starwood currently offers the following when spending with Uber after you have checked in for your first stay of the calendar year. Note that rides from Jan 1-31 will earn points if you had a Starwood stay in the prior year:

• One Starpoint per two dollars spent with Uber
• Two Starpoints per dollar spent with Uber in conjunction with a Starwood stay
• You can only earn Starpoints for your first $10,000 of Uber spending in a calendar year

I know that’s a little complicated so let me try to explain what you need to do so you can earn points.

• Register for the offer here.
• Once you stay at a Starwood hotel, you will earn Starpoints for each Uber ride in that calendar year (including extra points during your stays at Starwood hotels)
• After January 31st of the next year, you will no longer earn points until you stay at a Starwood hotel again.

Fortunately for us, we did spent one night at a Sheraton Suites in Fort Lauderdale in January 2017. This stay allowed us to earn Starpoints for every Uber ride we take for the rest of the year.

When Sharon and I travel together, Uber has totally changed the way that we plan our trips to big cities. For example, when we visited San Francisco, we planned on taking  public transportation, or the BART, to our hotel and then figured we could catch an Uber to whatever location we needed to get to. That’s exactly what we did and we ended up only paying about $25 total for rides over our long weekend trip, instead of renting a car.

Now, we are not by any means heavy users of the Uber service and only call for a ride when it fits into our travel schedule. We are also just as likely to get a taxi or take a form of public transportation. If you haven’t tried Uber yet, I’d strongly suggest you check it out if it will fit into your travel plans. If you sign up with my link, you’ll get your first ride free (or discounted, depending on how Uber feels that day), and I’ll get a kickback as well.

In all, this is a totally painless way to earn some of the most valuable hotel points out there and since you don’t have to sign up every year, this could keep adding points to your account for years to come.

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