Hyatt announced this morning that they’re rolling out Gold Passport earning and redemption at Hyatt property restaurants and spas even when you aren’t a registered guest.

This may seem like a small matter, but it’s something I’ve wanted for a long time. Starwood Preferred Guest offers points earning at hotel restaurants when you aren’t staying, and that’s great. In my home town of DC there’s the J&G Steakhouse at the W and Adour at the St. Regis that are worth visits in their own right. And since my office is right smack next to a Westin, that’s really convenient. Now, I’ll have one of my favorite restaurants in DC as a points-earning option, Blue Duck Tavern at the Park Hyatt.

They’ll be rolling out this benefit at some properties beginning this month, to be chain-wide by August, and with participating hotels updated at hyatt.com/diningandspa. Elite bonus points will apply.

Interestingly, Hyatt says they’ll require a photo ID to earn points. Starwood doesn’t, and you don’t even have to provide your number at a hotel restaurant, you can always forward your receipt later for retro-credit (or the receipts of your friends, hah!). Unlike Starwood, if points don’t post Hyatt says you’ll need to work the issue through the venue where you earned the points rather than through Gold Passport.

I’m a big fan of the earning option. This is a big incentive to choose a Hyatt restaurant, or head over for happy hour. And for those of you choosing a business reimbursable venue, your choice is obvious. Especially when it’s a good venue, like Blue Duck Tavern.

I haven’t yet looked into the redemption rates, though I’m skeptical they’ll be attractive, redeeming airline miles for anything other than airline flights is almost never a good value and redeeming hotel points for anything other than hotel room nights (or transfers to miles for some programs) is almost never a good value. That’s because airlines ‘sell’ award seats at a deep discount, and hotels sell their marginal room nights to their loyalty programs at a deep discount. But when redeeming points for merchandise or for in-hotel charges, the hotel program is effectively just buying the meal or service from the property, and generally not at anything close to a similar discount. I’d love to be wrong on this one.

So go forth and earn, like Starwood (and many don’t know that benefit exists!) you’ll be able to claim points for dining, drinks, etc. as a local or when meeting up out of town at other than your own hotel. More earning options are, of course, better!