Uber partners with Starwood Hotels to give riders points

Uber, riding a wave of relative quiet after ample troubles in the recent past, has been busy rolling out perks and announcing positive things for users, and the newest to be revealed is a partnership with Starwood Hotels. Under this partnership, users who take a ride with Uber will earn Starpoints that'll be available for use with future stays at one of the Starwood hotels. Out of all the incentives Uber has rolled out, this is one of the more exciting ones, particularly for those who do a lot of traveling.

This new perk works similarly to how frequent flier miles work, only they give incentive based on how many dollars are spent on Uber. Starwood Preferred Guest members will get one Starpoint for every dollar spent on Uber. Those who are new to Starwood will need to sign up for an SPG membership first.

After signing up, they'll then have to make a "qualifying stay" at a Starwood hotel before the points can be collected. Of course, the SPG account also has to be tied to one's Uber account, otherwise there won't be any points being added.

This follows yesterday's announcement that Uber has partnered with Safetipin; under this arrangement, some of the ridesharing service's drivers in certain locations will attach camera-equipped phones to the side of their car and drive around taking images of different city regions, all of which will then be used to determine how safe an area is.

SOURCE: Uber Blog