Starwood Hotels Adds Foursquare to Loyalty Program [News]

Foursquare has partnered with Starwood Hotels and Resorts to begin offering members of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) loyalty program additional points, badges and rewards for their checkins at participating hotels.

Beginning Tuesday, Foursquare members who connect their SPG and Foursquare accounts will earn 250 bonus Starpoints when they check in with a confirmed reservation at one of more than 1,000 hotels.

Starwood first announced the new program Tuesday morning via its SPGInsider Twitter account, tweeting: “Checking-in just got even more rewarding. Link your SPG acct with foursquare and earn bonus Starpoints, visithttp://bit.ly/SPG4Square.”

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to work with Starwood on what will be one of the widest reaching loyalty integrations on any location-based service,” says Tristan Walker, director of business development for Foursquare. “Foursquare is focused on helping businesses reward loyal customers, and few companies truly understand customer loyalty like Starwood, so the partnership is a natural fit.”

Starwood properties include the St. Regis, W Hotels, Four Points, Westin, Le Meridien and Sheraton hotels.

The promotion runs through July 31, 2011, and members who check in during the promotion period will be eligible to win a resort getaway. SPG members will receive one entry per checkin.

Starwood is also hiding a Free Resort Night Award at some hotel locations. SPG members may find and unlock the reward by checking in between now and May 31, 2011.

SPG members who check in frequently at Starwood locations may be anointed as the “SPG Mayor.” Each month, Starwood will declare the member with the most checkins across all its properties as the SPG Mayor. “Mayoral duties will include sharing your favorite insider travel tips and destination hotspots with fellow frequent travelers around the globe,” according to Starwood promotional materials.

Starwood plans to kick off additional Foursquare promotions in August, but details are unknown at this time.

The partnership furthers Foursquare mission to reinvent loyalty programs and most closely resembles a similar program it started with Safeway last year.

More to come …