What's your hotel loyalty path?

[Timtammi]

It makes no sense to chase status unless that status is earned easily or via fast tracks.

You know I have never added up how many nights a year I do but it would have to be at least 50, probably more like 60 or 70. I don't slavishly chase the status, as evidenced by the fact that I'm only HH Gold right now due to a fast track.

 

[ChrisDPom]

I travel overseas regularly and stay ~50 nights or more a year.

It makes no sense to chase status unless that status is earned easily or via fast tracks. IHG Platinum was good for a while as that was easy to earn/maintain and Hilton Diamond and then Hilton Gold via Velocity was also handy but I would not to be spending AUD150+/night for a room when I can get a similar room in a less popular hotel for 3 nights including breakfast.

To each their own.

I am with John here.

Until I retired in April, I was doing 100 nights yearly at European city hotels Oz country hotels/motels, airport transit hotel rip offs etc.

Now I will be skipping the Oz country stuff - no more dugites in the room will be appreciated.

Europe hotels will still be about 2 to 3 months a year and I have 50,000 Accor points to use up at €40 per 2,000 points. Someone mentioned some great Accor promos recently and I took full advantage of them in June

Tried Hilton - blech!! Didn't suit my needs and a couple of poor service issues.

I am out so much during the day and evening that the hotel is mainly a place to sleep.

A good bed and shower is much more important - I always eat out to experience the place I am visiting and will happily wander around for an hour looking for a good restaurant/ pub.

Breakfast is usually a coffee and bun so don't pay the hotel and usually pick them up on the way to my transport.

I plan my trips 6+ months in advance which many others cannot do.

I have various checkpoints on these trips.

I will often decide the dates once I have for a special deal flight. Check 1

I then say where I want to go and list the locations and dates. Check 2

I usually get a Eurail and/or Britpass as I mainly travel by train (get the 1st class and avoid seating hassles and always get x days in 1 or 2 months to give flexibility). There are specials for Germany at present.

I also use Eurostar to Germany via Brussels a lot as I have family in London. Check 3

I may hire a car for a few days (never hire in France as ripoff) - cheaper to hire in Belgium and drive back. Check 4

I budget $100 a night for my Euro hotels, book early on specials, focus on hotels near the station and fill the hotel diary as I go.

If I save on one hotel, I may splash out a bit more on another for special place.

If Accor has a special, great. Otherwise I have no loyalty and will use Leonardo, Intercity or whoever has good deals on booking.com, wotif, hotel.com, last minutes, Oporto etc.

Intercity in Germany offer free local transport tickets which can be very useful if staying somewhere.

If you are not 100% of your location that night, you can usually book a free cancellation option for a few percent more.

Check 5 and final check


I usually get change out of my $100 a night.

I did a calculation on the 2014/2015 tax year hotels in Europe a couple of weeks ago when doing my tax.

48 nights with 4 different chains + 7 different single hotels and a couple of CNL sleeper trains thrown in for convenience (saves accommodation and just pay the supplement for the berth with the railpass).

Total cost saving over $7,000 on the same price if booked 2 weeks in advance !!!

I also picked up 16,000 Accor points worth about $450.


Conclusion: Hotel loyalty is nice but a special deal overrides.

If you can save over 60% by booking early via specials, go for it.

Chris

 

[wooley]

Sadly loyalty paths just don't work for me... I spend 200+ nights away each year however 95% is regional...

I book through Qantas sometimes when there's a 9 points per $$ sale. Otherwise it's through hotels.com to try and accumulate free nights.

 

[Buzzard]

I don't have the opportunity to travel overseas ATM so stay at Hilton as I am Diamond and get Govt Rates. I enjoy the benefits, upgrades etc and +1 and I enjoy the Exec Lounge. Rydges is my backup with membership of that chain too.

 

[Flashback]

For those of you relying on Accor it's now become a little more difficult in the Nordics!

Accor Just Lost Most Of Its Nordic Hotels | LoyaltyLobby

 

[Reise]

For those of you relying on Accor it's now become a little more difficult in the Nordics!

Accor Just Lost Most Of Its Nordic Hotels | LoyaltyLobby

For me hotel choice is driven by two factors: i) price; ii) proximity; and iii) availability of loyalty program hotels in the chosen destination. I have mega points in IHG (Spire) but they can't be used in Darwin, Brisbane or Cairns which are the three primary Australian destinations that I would like to apply them to. Consequently in these locations I am price driven but if I can pick up a Hilton cheap enough then I will accumulate some points to boot. I do note that IHG will be opening a Holiday Inn Express in Brisbane in the next year or so and hopefully that will work out favourably.

 

[ChrisDPom]

That's 3 points Reise

Heartily agree with all of them.

Chris

 

[celetrum]

For me hotel choice is driven by two factors: i) price; ii) proximity; and iii) availability of loyalty program hotels in the chosen destination. I have mega points in IHG (Spire) but they can't be used in Darwin, Brisbane or Cairns which are the three primary Australian destinations that I would like to apply them to. Consequently in these locations I am price driven but if I can pick up a Hilton cheap enough then I will accumulate some points to boot. I do note that IHG will be opening a Holiday Inn Express in Brisbane in the next year or so and hopefully that will work out favourably.

holiday inn cairns opens in September. Cairns Hotels: Holiday Inn Cairns Harbourside Hotel in Cairns, Australia

 

[celetrum]

We are new to the loyalty side of things both from an airline perspective and a hotel perspective. We have recently joined Velocity and we have also recently joined IHG.
Our travels up to this point have been probably one overseas trip a year and occasionally a few weekends away here and there (but generally by car not flying for the weekends away).

Where we choose to stay will depend on numerous factors including:

- location of where we are going.
- Type of holiday we are doing (we seem to alternate between chill and do nothing holidays (wifes preference) and get in as much activity and sight seeing holidays (my preference)

If its a chill and do nothing kind of holiday we have always paid closer attention to the type of hotel we have stayed at as we would spend a lot more time there. If its an action packed itinerary holiday basically a hotel with comfortable bed and a pool if possible at a good price close to a train station or other public transport is what we have looked for as the key factors. After all we wont be spending much time in it!

However we have now chosen to join IHG Rewards.

Why did we choose IHG. Well on our bucket list was a stay at the IC Sydney with Club Access. For us this is a splurge and definitely the first time staying at a high class hotel. But the trip there will be about the surroundings and enjoying the facilities and pretty much spending a lot more time than we normally would in a hotel. We have been to Sydney numerous times so the tourist things don't need to be done. A weekend away to do absolutely nothing but spend quality time together as a couple.

The Ambassador program cost of US200 (about $270 AUD in todays dollars) will give us an even bigger saving when we use the weekend certificate on our visit to IC Sydney. The nights we are looking to stay if not a member of Ambassador would of cost us around $1160 for two nights advance purchase with no refunds (this factors in the upgraded room we will end up getting). Yes expensive for two nights but this is a real splurge treat for us!

With the BOGOF certificate through Ambassador we will end up paying (1 category less paid with free upgrade and 2nd night free and late checkout of 4pm) $540 . After taking off the cost of the membership we still end up being about $330 ahead! but with a status bump in IHG to Gold thrown in as well for around the next 16 months guaranteed even if we do not renew the Ambassador membership. We save some money and get to tick off something from our bucket list and accrue velocity points as well.

We are going to take this further and spend another $320 AUD to get the dining rewards program which will give us another bump to platinum but the key reason we will join it is the voucher for another nights accommodation at any of the IHG hotels worldwide, a dining voucher and discounted dining. Will probably end up using the dining voucher locally in Melbourne and use the nights accommodation reward in Europe next year! (IC Paris is on the bucket list too!)

Would we stay at IHG on another trip or the next location? The answer will depend on the factors mentioned earlier as to type of holiday etc. The location and type of holiday will dictate everything.
We don't care about chasing the "status" or keeping the status but if IHG has a hotel in those locations around the ball park we are wanting to spend on accommodation then will we choose it over another chain. These additional benefits of paying to fast track to platinum have been a bonus to us but not the reason we chose this program.

In the end we will look at where we want to go. Have a look at IHG first, then other partners of Velocity (and could end up signing onto other hotel loyalty programs for the sake of having another card into the mix for small perks here and there) and then finally probably Agoda (but Agoda through Virgin seems slightly higher priced than normal Agoda!).
If IHG is comparable with others in terms of what we want in a hotel for that trip it will probably win (thanks to the new found status!) but if not wont hesitate to give it the boot for another chain or a boutique hotel or even something a bit less fancy! All depends on our mood, the level of activity on the trip and realistically how much time we would end up spending in a hotel.

Another poster mentioned that like to throw in some luxury either at the start or end (or both) on holiday. We tend to do that as well on our trips. We are fairly laid back people so spending time in the high class hotels can be great to relax before or after a long flight but we also like to come back down to earth in the middle! We find the high level of service demanded by some and expected in the high class hotels quite annoying to us to be honest! (but probably because we aren't used to it).

 

[Deleted member 29185]

Our travels up to this point have been probably one overseas trip a year and occasionally a few weekends away here and there (but generally by car not flying for the weekends away).

If you buy the airfares at decent sale rates (they do occasionally pop up), you may find it costs little more to fly away for a weekend, over the driving weekend. You are starting to enter the world of opportunity and it sounds to me like your status jaunt, may be an interest (hobby?) to you both as well. It can pay good dividends. As an example, my wife, youngest daughter and I took a holiday at the start of the year. It was a week long driving holiday in the UAE, a week of relaxing in the Maldives and a further week divided between Sri Lanka and Singapore. All up, the airfares and accommodation cost us about $1500 in cash (from memory) and the rest was on points. We started with lounge access at OOL and EY lounge access at SYD thanks to VA status, flew SYD-AUH in a VA 777 on VS points which were largely earned due to Hertz, we stayed in Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras al-Khaimah and Al-Ain in both IHG and Hilton properties on points (and pay) deals and managed upgrades at all of them (suites for many of them) thanks to my IHG Platinum Ambassador and Hilton Diamond status and furthermore, at all the Hilton properties we had complementary breakfast to start the day and many had executive lounge access in the evenings. We had a triple category Europcar upgrade to a gold 7 series Beamer due to my Europcar Elite status, flew AUH-MLE with EY on VA points including EY lounge access in AUH. Met at MLE by Conrad staff and whisked away to the Conrad airport lounge to be pampered and plied with food and massages whilst awaiting sea plane connections to Conrad Rangali where we had seven glorious nights in a beach villa that sells for around $1400 a night......and that was on Hilton points. We actually paid a minimal upgrade fee (about US$500 I think) for a few nights in the premier over water villa which sells for about of US$3500 a night and due to my HH diamond status (gold is the same) we enjoyed complementary breakfast each day and evening canapés in a most delightful setting. We then flew (at minimal cost) to Sri Lanka, where we stayed a couple of nights at Hilton in Colombo (I can't remember if it was points or pay in the end??) which of course included breakfast and executive lounge. We hired a driver to take us via Galle Fort around to Yala National Park, which was excellent value (but fairly rushed) before flying SQ (on VA points) to Singapore for a couple of nights in the IC (which although we could have used points, I ended up paying for as I wanted club access). The only other expenses consisted entirely of our spending money. In all, a holiday where points and status paid for a heck of a lot of our expenses.....leaving more of our cash for my +1 to spend! There are lots of AFFers who have done very similar holidays and well worth a read of their trip reports and destination reports.

You won't regret IC SYD. It's our favourite hotel there......so far. The club views are excellent.

 

[Jacques Vert]

We are going to take this further and spend another $320 AUD to get the dining rewards program which will give us another bump to platinum but the key reason we will join it is the voucher for another nights accommodation at any of the IHG hotels worldwide, a dining voucher and discounted dining. Will probably end up using the dining voucher locally in Melbourne and use the nights accommodation reward in Europe next year! (IC Paris is on the bucket list too!)

Be aware that while the free night is available anywhere in the world (I used mine at the IC Budapest), the rest of the benefits are only available at "participating hotels" of which there are not many and none in Europe.

 

[Deleted member 29185]

holiday inn cairns opens in September. Cairns Hotels: Holiday Inn Cairns Harbourside Hotel in Cairns, Australia

Thanks for posting that. I wasn't aware HI were returning to CNS (or I'd forgotten )

They don't seem keen to attempt to attract government business. I just did a dummy search and they're $65/night dearer than Doubletree and $31/night dearer than Hilton.

 

[k_sheep]

We are new to the loyalty side of things both from an airline perspective and a hotel perspective. We have recently joined Velocity and we have also recently joined IHG......

Great post, I'm about to go see if I can't extract some value out of this program! After 2 years of heavy fellowship exams, all my hotel statuses have dropped to zilch (previous Accor platinum, SPG and HHonors gold) so I'm starting fresh again I was actually eyeing off the Hhonors credit card for instant gold, but looks like for a similar cost (annual fee $300), this gets a BOGO and longer gold membership. Hmmm ...

 

[k_sheep]

Be aware that while the free night is available anywhere in the world (I used mine at the IC Budapest), the rest of the benefits are only available at "participating hotels" of which there are not many and none in Europe.

........ umm Budapest isn't in Europe these days? Or do you mean none in western europe?

 

[Nizar]

........ umm Budapest isn't in Europe these days? Or do you mean none in western europe?

I could be wrong but as I understood it, he used his free night in Budapest but didn't get access to the other benefits because like many other ICs, the IC in Budapest is not a "participating hotel"

 

[celetrum]

I could be wrong but as I understood it, he used his free night in Budapest but didn't get access to the other benefits because like many other ICs, the IC in Budapest is not a "participating hotel"

No the reference was to the second program I mentioned being the dining rewards card. There is limited hotels to get the dining discount but the list is growing.

 

[celetrum]

Great post, I'm about to go see if I can't extract some value out of this program! After 2 years of heavy fellowship exams, all my hotel statuses have dropped to zilch (previous Accor platinum, SPG and HHonors gold) so I'm starting fresh again I was actually eyeing off the Hhonors credit card for instant gold, but looks like for a similar cost (annual fee $300), this gets a BOGO and longer gold membership. Hmmm ...

for $595 you can buy your way into IHG Platinum.

first join IC Ambassador (about $275 AUD depending on exchange rate ) which bumps you to gold.
then after 1 Jan 2016 I am joining the Dining rewards program. An extra $320 AUD. reason after 1 Jan I will then retain platinum until end of Dec 2017. Retain status until end of following year with IHG. All without actually having stayed at a hotel yet.

from this I get at a minimum the following:

1 welcome pack with ambassador which includes 5000 bonus points, BOGOF weekend voucher, luggage tags, ambassador key ring and some other little bits.
IHG dining reward platinum card and welcome pack (as I will be bumped from gold to platinum) which includes another 5000 points voucher, a voucher for one free night at any IHG location, a $70 aud dining e-voucher loaded onto your membership and 25% off discounted dining (including drinks) at selected Participating restaurants. Also a one off 25% off best flexible rate booking and permanent 10% off Best Flexible, Advance Purchase & Advance Booking room rates

I did say at a minimum as there are mixed reports (and if your lucky. Some say they got it some say they didn't ) you might get another ambassador welcome pack for reaching platinum status with IHG to give you a platinum ambassador card. This is usually in a welcome pack so maybe get another BOGOF voucher.

And sorry to the original poster if we hijacked your thread !

 

[Flashback]

For £99 in the UK you can get IHG Plat too simply by getting the credit card :mrgreen:

 

[Jacques Vert]

........ umm Budapest isn't in Europe these days? Or do you mean none in western europe?

Of course Budapest is in Europe; and as I said the free night is available anywhere in the world; pick an expensive city to get value from the joining fee.

But... what I was saying is that the OTHER BENEFITS (that is, 25% once-only accommodation voucher, 10% standard accommodation voucher, pre-loaded dining voucher of $50/70/100 depending on your personal deal, and the 25% standard dining voucher, are only available at participating hotels; of which there are none in Europe and also none in many other countries for that matter.

JV