I’m Headed to the South Beach Wine & Food Festival

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival (SOBEWFF®) has long been one of my favorite events. It takes place over several days and offers dozens of events including walk-around tastings, sit-down dinners, educational workshops, cooking demos, and even a drag brunch. The events run from tomorrow, February 23rd through Sunday, February 26th and are spread all over South Beach, Miami, and the surrounding area. This year is the 22nd for SOBEWFF® and it seems to grow every year. This year will feature over 90 events that will draw in over 60,000 attendees. The net proceeds from the Festival benefit the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management at Florida International University (FIU).

Events sell out quickly and tickets are expensive. Most range between $200 and $400. For two people to attend multiple events over the course of four days, you’re looking at a bill over $1,500. And, that’s not including hotels, which are also commanding high prices as SOBEWFF® takes over the area. I knew that we wanted to attend again as it’s not a bad drive from our winter home in Tampa, but I wasn’t looking forward to shelling out all that cash.

Luckily, I noticed that Marriott Bonvoy Moments™ had several packages up for auction with multiple events included. The package I won includes access for two to the following SOBEWFF® 2023 events:

• • A Taste of Italy hosted by Giada De Laurentiis part of the Miami Design District Event Series (Thursday, February 23, 2023, 8:00PM – 11:00PM)
  • Capital One Early Access to Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best sponsored by Capital One (Friday, February 24, 2023, 7:00PM – 10:30PM)
  • Dinner hosted by Esther Choi and Diego Oka part of the American Airlines Dinner Series (Saturday, February 25, 2023, 7:00PM – 10:00PM)
  • The exclusive, invite-only Chef After-Party (Saturday, February 25, 2023, 11:00PM-1:00AM)
  • Capital One Priority Access to the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village featuring Publix Culinary Demonstrations sponsored by Sub-Zero Group Southeast (Sunday, February 26, 2023, 12:00PM – 5:00PM)

I redeemed 248,888 Marriott Bonvoy® points for this package. NerdWallet estimates that these points are worth 0.7 cents each. With that valuation, this cost around $1,742.22. If I were to buy tickets to these events, they would cost:

• A Taste of Italy hosted by Giada De Laurentiis ($175 x 2 = $350, plus taxes and fees)
• Capital One Early Access to Fontainebleau Miami Beach presents Wine Spectator’s Best of the Best sponsored by Capital One ($450 x 2 = $900, plus taxes and fees)
• Dinner hosted by Esther Choi and Diego Oka part of the American Airlines Dinner Series ($300 x 2 = $600, plus taxes and fees)
• Capital One Priority Access to the Goya Foods’ Grand Tasting Village featuring Publix Culinary Demonstrations sponsored by Sub-Zero Group Southeast ($225 x 2 = $450, plus taxes and fees)

The total (not including taxes and fees would have been $2,300.

This does not include the exclusive, invite-only Chef After-Party (which we went to last year and thoroughly enjoyed).

We won’t be staying at a Marriott property for this trip as the rates for my preferred hotels (W South Beach, St. Regis Bal Harbour, and Ritz-Carlton South Beach were all well over $1,200 per night). We’re going to be checking out The Confidante, which falls under World of Hyatt. I booked a Hyatt Privé rate with Live Luxe Travel Co. The guys who own this agency are great and very responsive. With Hyatt Privé, I earn World of Hyatt points, credit for the nights, all of my Globalist benefits, as well as several additional benefits including:

• A complimentary room upgrade, if available (confirmed within 24 hours of booking)
• $100 USD property credit per stay
• Daily complimentary breakfast for two guests per day
• A welcome amenity and letter
• Priority for early check-in and late check-out
• Priority for connecting rooms, if available
• Free Wi-Fi

Stay tuned for a full review of the hotel and each event. We’re also having brunch at one of my SOBE faves, Yardbird.

Anthony’s Take: Marriott Bonvoy Moments™ came through for me with tickets to these great events. This is the second year I won one of the packages and I hope there is another next year. Stay tuned for my takes on the events, hotel, and more.