In January 2026, Starbucks announced major changes to its Starbucks Rewards loyalty program. While I can’t say I’m some diehard Starbucks fan, or that this is directly airline or hotel related, it’s still a major loyalty program, and it’s interesting to see the changes. I’d like to provide an update and reminder, as these changes…
Continue reading: Major Starbucks Rewards Changes Live: Devaluation, But With Elite Status!
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I thought this was a travel blog. What has this got to do with travel? There was no attempt even made to relate it. I suppose some travellers like bad coffee…
@ DRWflyer -- The blog is also about loyalty programs, and Starbucks Rewards is a major program. It's also interesting to compare and contrast trends with travel loyalty programs vs. non-travel loyalty programs.
Also, in the case of Marriott, a person earns double points on purchases during a week in which they have a stay.
DRWflyer ... +1 . Junk coffee will earn nothing but a bad case of gastroenteritis .
This is actually one of his better articles in recent history, instead of recycling the same topic or peddling ads for the same 5 credit cards over and over again.
Almost sounds like a request for a new blog post. Should I load my Starbucks account with Marriott, Delta, Aeroplan credit cards, or something else. It Sounds like you use Marriott, but I suspect that is just a convenient way to use your monthly Chase Marriott food and beverage credit and not necessarily because it is better than Delta or Aeroplan. I am not a big time Starbucks user, but I do link a credit card, mostly for ordering coffee when I am driving long distance. (They almost always have large clean accessible bathrooms.)
The new Starbucks program is so complex. I can't figure it out. It must be Bilt's fault.
Did I get it right, reserve members actually get up to 2.2 stars per dollar -so actually the new program is improvement for them?
I agree with the author that this is a devaluation of the program. I have been a member of the Starbucks Rewards since 2010. I'm not diehard but go often enough to qualify for gold. However, with this new change even with paying by a preloaded Starbucks Card I now only get 1.2 stars per dollar instead of 2 stars per dollar, effectively taking twice as long and having to spend twice as much to achieve the 200 star tier to obtain a customized handcrafted drink. That was enough for me and I cancelled yesterday. I'll go every so often and just pay via cash or debit/credit card.
For me, the worst devaluation was when I had around 3000 stars piled up (I was slow to use them) and then they changed from 150 for a drink to 200 and didn't "true up" those of us holding stars. So just sitting there I lost 25% value... and that was the first set of changes. Its gotten worse over time. and I'm lucky to get even one "offer" a month that is anything I'd actually want to drink or get so even those bonuses are gone.
(Reposting as comment eaten up by blog software)
Is this really a global programme? I would be massively surprised if those points could be redeemed in places like Argentina or Greece where the brand is present but doesn't enjoy a huge market share.
If the programme isn't global/universal, it would be helpful for the post to probably exclusions and differences between countries/territories in the same way as the one about the RJ status match.
I'm not a fan of Starbucks,but sometimes they are the only/least bad option for getting my caffeine fix.
Starbucks is brown sewage water, not coffee. Americans thinking Starbucks is coffee is comical.
Yes, that increase from 150 to 200 for a drink was a devaluation. I wasn't happy. Today's changes seem to reward the heavy Starbucks drinkers (as @polarbear notes). By the time I pull into Starbucks, it's usually my third coffee of the day, so I'm pretty happy with this change.
It definitely isn’t a global program. When I was traveling though Japan and Taipei, I couldn’t use the US app to order or pay for stuff, and obviously there’s no point accrual for purchases.
I don't agree that sbux is a *major* program (especially since they've closed so many stores). It is OK to just say "it's my blog and I'll publish what I want."
Eh. SBUX shut many of their stores where I live under false pretenses. the one store that's convenient is one I use about once/month.
Agree with you. As I questioned not long ago, the writer is running out of topics.
It's quite interesting to observe that the blog prioritises covering some non-travel and/or geographically-restricted loyalty programmes over some rather major travel loyalty ones- e.g. Miles and More which has almost 40 million members, or LATAM Pass which is nearer 50m and has partner airlines across all three major alliances.
Starbucks coffee can be purchased with money, which can also be used for purchasing travel. Got it?
Has Elliott Investment Management infiltrated the Sbux board as well ? Stay tuned for more "enhancements' by 'customer demand', of course !