Sunwing Vacations’ STAR Program is officially back, with Berkeley Payment Solutions as its new payment provider.
The program rewards travel advisors for eligible Sunwing bookings, turning those bookings into STAR Points that can be redeemed for cash.
STAR redemptions had been temporarily paused since the spring while Sunwing transitioned the program to a new provider. Now registrations are open again, redemptions have resumed, and Sunwing is celebrating the relaunch with a STAR Party Promo offering advisors up to 10X STAR Points at more than 100 participating resorts.
For advisors, STAR is back. Behind the scenes, Berkeley is helping power the payment experience that makes those rewards possible.
Why the payment experience matters
Rewards programs are built to create loyalty. But the reward itself has to work.
Points that can't be redeemed don't build loyalty. They build frustration.
That’s why the payment infrastructure behind a rewards program matters just as much as the program mechanics themselves.
Sunwing has described the move to Berkeley as part of an updated payment experience for its advisor community, with the goal of getting STAR back up and running and continuing to reward advisors for their ongoing support.
What’s new for advisors
- Up to 10X STAR Points: Advisors can earn up to 10X points at more than 100 participating resorts for eligible bookings made October 6-20, 2026.
- Registrations are open: Advisors who couldn't register while enrolment was paused can now sign up through the Sunwing Agent Portal.
- Rewards are back: Advisors can continue earning STAR Points on eligible Sunwing bookings.
- New STAR Cards: Physical STAR Cards will be mailed after an advisor completes their first redemption of STAR Points to cash.
Berkeley’s role
Berkeley is the new payment provider behind the STAR Program.
Our role is to provide the payment infrastructure that turns earned rewards into usable payouts, including the card experience that follows a successful redemption.
For the advisor, the experience should be straightforward: earn rewards, redeem them and use them.
The complexity sits behind that experience.
Rewards are payments
There’s a bigger idea behind the STAR Program.
At some point, every rewards, incentive or loyalty program becomes a payments program.
Points become money. Money needs to move. That means funding, cards, compliance, transaction processing and program operations all need to work together.
When they do, the complexity disappears for the person receiving the reward.
That’s the experience Berkeley is built to support.
The same infrastructure can support businesses that reward agents, partners, employees or customers, giving them a way to build payment programs without having to assemble and manage every piece of the infrastructure themselves.
For Sunwing, that means an updated payment experience behind STAR.
For Berkeley, it’s another example of what happens when payments infrastructure is built to operate in the background, so the reward can stay front and centre.
