Etihad Airways and Starwood Hotels & Resorts launch new partnership

Press release

Published July 8th, 2012 - 06:44 GMT

Etihad Airways

Etihad Airways and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide,have launched a new partnership offering members of their award-winning loyalty programmes - Etihad Guest and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) - an array of exiting new benefits.

Etihad Guest members can now earn Etihad Guest Miles when staying at Starwood Hotels & Resorts around the world, while SPG members can convert their Starpoints into Etihad Guest Miles, with each Starpoint equivalent to one mile in the Etihad Guest programme.

SPG members will be given an extra 5,000 miles for every 20,000 Starpoints converted to Etihad Guest Miles.

Peter Baumgartner, Etihad Airways’ Chief Commercial Officer, said: “The Etihad Guest programme, fresh from success at the loyalty industry Freddie Awards, is proud to extend our partner base to include Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

“Starwood shares many of the same guest experience values that we have at Etihad Airways and we believe this partnership will be warmly welcomed by members of the Etihad Guest and Starwood Preferred Guest programmes.”

To celebrate the partnership, SPG is launching a new “Earn Your Dreams” campaign, which offers members bonus Etihad Guest Miles when they stay at participating Starwood properties. The campaign includes earning double Etihad Guest Miles on standard rooms, triple Etihad Guest Miles on deluxe rooms and 3,000 Etihad Guest Miles on suites.

“We are proud to partner with Etihad Guest as we provide our loyal members with more rewards and more experiences,” said Guido de Wilde, Senior Vice President & Regional Director, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Middle East. “The Middle East is an important market for our SPG programme. In fact, here in the UAE we have seen a remarkable 109% membership increase over the last four years.”

Background Information

Etihad Airways

As an airline, Etihad has come a long way in a short time – just like its home Abu Dhabi.

The airline was established by Royal (Emiri) Decree in July 2003 and is wholly owned by the Government of Abu Dhabi with a mandate to operate safely, commercially and profitably.

Company Profile

Starwood Hotels

Starwood Hotels represents one of the world's largest hotel and leisure companies. It conducts its hotel and leisure business both directly and through its subsidiaries. Its brand names include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Méridien, Sheraton, Four Points, Aloft, and Element

Starwood Hotels' business emphasizes the global operation of hotels and resorts primarily in the luxury and upscale segment of the lodging industry. It seeks to acquire interests in, or management or franchise rights with respect to properties in this segment. At December 31, 2009, its hotel portfolio included owned, leased, managed and franchised hotels totaling 979 hotels with approximately 292,000 rooms in approximately 100 countries, and is comprised of 63 hotels that it owns or leases or in which it has a majority equity interest, 440 hotels managed by the company on behalf of third-party owners and 476 hotels for which it receives franchise fees.