As a current GHA Titanium level member and Hilton Diamond level member who travels a lot for leisure and work, I can offer a lot of current news on the efficacy of the GHA programme for Aussies.
Generally, GHA hotels are in the highest room rate category of most hotel loyalty programmes. In Canada there are only 3 hotels in their suite of brands. In the US they do not have hotels everywhere. In Europe and South America they rely a lot on NH hotels which do not have club rooms and are of a lower standard to Hilton hotels.
The upgrades are not always available as they are on an as available basis. Contacting a hotel before arrival does not guarantee an upgrade either as it is at the discretion of the hotel when you check in.
It is only recently that GHA is including breakfast at only certain brands within the GHA portfolio. Generally breakfast does not come automatically even with Titanium membership except for certain hotel brands. However, GHA are currently assessing whether they will provide a complimentary breakfast for Titanium members in the future but they have said that this will be an incremental update for such Titanium benefits.
The amenity that Titanium members receive on checking in ranges from water and a few pieces of fruit to beautifully presented boxes of chocolates and maybe cakes. Even though the GHA site mentions that Titanium members receive a bottle of wine as an amenity as well as other goodies, I have only once had a free bottle of wine in my room.
Because Australia is not flush with GHA member properties, the choices are limited. Yes Park Royals are there but they are limited. The main property choice is Oaks which is mainly an apartment and they never offer any additions to members, or very rarely.
The GHA call centre in the Middle East is a waste of time as they always just tell the member to contact the relevant hotel or hotel chain to get an issue sorted which, you can imagine, is not always easily actioned
One of the best benefits I receive is when I book a cruise on Regent Seven Seas Cruises. For each booking I make, I receive $750 in Discovery$ which equates to $750 USD to use within 2 years. Earlier posts have mentioned the Discovery$ which is how you are rewarded for staying at a hotel. Oh and you also receive $50 Discovery$ on your birthday. Discovery$ can be then used to pay your room account or for an activity but cannot be used to pay for drinks (sometimes) or for certain taxes. I earned over $5,000 in Discovery$ in 2024 by cruising and for staying at GHA hotels. I used a lot of this for my stays at different hotels and to give you an example, I stayed at the Parkroyal Collection Marina Bay, Singapore for 3 nights in Jan 2025 and was upgraded to an club room, top floor and had full executive lounge access with complimentary breakfast, a welcome amenity in the room, afternoon tea and evening coughtails and canapés in the lounge. The cost to me was $9.00. Yes only $9.00 (nine $) after paying for everything else using my Discovery$ and I still earned Discovery$ during my stay because Discovery$ are equivalent to USD currency.
We do not have any GHA branded credit cards in Australia because the GHA hotels are not big here but as you can see, there are other ways of earning Discovery$.
The 3 stays at different brands from the GHA portfolio to attain or retain platinum is correct as of the time of this post and when you achieve that you have it for 2 years. However, you cannot gift a Level of membership to another person until you have attained Titanium for a second time.
Anyway, I just thought I would post a bit of how I have found the GHA programme. I really like it but for consistency in what you receive I would stick with Hilton HHonors however to achieve and maintain Diamond it will be hard when I retire imminently.
