From Starwood: 25,000 Miles for Stays in Paradise

To me, there's always been something incongruous about rich loyalty bonuses for luxe vacation trips.

I understand the business logic, of course. Hotels have to fill rooms in Tahiti just as surely as they do rooms in downtown Chicago. But earning extra miles or points for a sun-and-fun trip seems like getting free ice cream when you order chocolate cake—almost too much of a good thing.

Perhaps I'm just a Puritan at heart.

Those at any rate were the feelings raised by the new Starwood bonus offer for stays in the quintessential leisure locale, Hawaii.

Offer Details

Members of Starwood's Preferred Guest program who stay five or more nights at one of Starwood's 11 Hawaii resorts by December 23 will earn 25,000 bonus miles in Hawaiian Airlines' HawaiianMiles program.

Qualifying stays must be booked by August 15, either on Starwood's website or by calling 1-866-716-8140 and requesting rate plan HA25K.

Deal or No Deal

While 25,000 is a whole lotta miles, they are miles in a small program that isn't likely to be the best fit with the needs of travelers who don't live in Hawaii.

On the other hand, those HawaiianMiles miles can be redeemed for a domestic award ticket on Delta. So you can view the relationship with Hawaiian's program as a temporary marriage of convenience.

As always when using a specified rate code in conjunction with a promotion, double-check to see if there are better room rates available without the bonus. It may be worthwhile paying slightly more to earn those miles, but be sure not to overpay.