Most hotel loyalty programs require you to stay at their properties for many weeks or even months worth of nights each year – or spend a lot of money – to attain top-tier status. But there’s one loyalty program that makes it ridiculously easy to earn their top level of status, and it comes with some great benefits too.
GHA Discovery is a hotel loyalty program that often flies under the radar, as it doesn’t quite have the global reach of the likes of Marriott or Hilton. But it has some great hotels in key locations, and you can really take advantage of the benefits of its top-tier Titanium status, which you can earn by staying just three nights in hotels.
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What is GHA Discovery?
GHA Discovery is the loyalty program of the Global Hotels Alliance (GHA) – a collection of independent brands. The alliance offers members access to over 800 hotels across more than 40 brands, including names like Anantara, Kempinski and NH Hotels, as well as PARKROYAL, Oaks, Pan Pacific and Capella in Australia.
After signing up for the loyalty program via the GHA Discovery website, you’ll be able to earn Discovery Dollars for eligible spend on stays, dining and spa services. These effectively function as cash back for staying with GHA hotels.
The earning rate ranges between 4% and 7% of the total spend, depending on your membership tier.
You can redeem Discovery Dollars towards the cost of a hotel booking, or for dining and other expenses at properties. Each Discovery Dollar is worth one US Dollar. This means you can’t get any outsized value, but it also means there’s no “bad” way to redeem your rewards.
Earning GHA Discovery status
While the Discovery Dollars can be useful, the real value in the GHA Discovery program lies in its status tiers.
GHA Discovery offers four membership tiers, each with increasing benefits and rewards. There are three ways to achieve status: based on night stayed, total spend or unique brands stayed at within a calendar year.
Silver membership is automatically granted when you join the program. These are the requirements to upgrade to Gold, Platinum or Titanium. Note that you only need to meet one of these requirements to upgrade your tier:
| Membership tier | Eligible nights | Spend | Number of stays at unique GHA brands |
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 2 stays | USD1,000 | – |
| Platinum | 10 nights | USD5,000 | 2 stays at different brands |
| Titanium | 30 nights | USD15,000 | 3 stays at different brands |
The night and spend requirements are pretty standard for a smaller hotel loyalty program. But you’ll notice that the brand requirements are extremely easy to fulfil – earning you top-tier Titanium status with as little as three stays of one night each.
For Australians, this is really easy to do – especially if your travel takes you to major cities. In Melbourne alone, you can find four GHA hotel brands:
- Avani Residences
- PARKROYAL (one of the best hotels at Melbourne Airport)
- Pan Pacific
- Oaks
If you split a three-night stay in Melbourne among three of those four hotels (changing hotels each night), you’ll get GHA Titanium! Overseas, you can get access to even more brands – the full list is available on the GHA website.
The benefits of GHA Discovery status
GHA Discovery offers a range of benefits across its four membership tiers, each building on the previous tier.
GHA Silver (base level) benefits
By simply signing up for the program, Silver members get:
- 4% of spend in Discovery Dollars
- Complimentary Wi-Fi
- Member rates
GHA Gold benefits
Gold offers very few incremental benefits over Silver with the only published difference an extra 1% back in Discovery Dollars.
GHA Platinum benefits
Platinum status sees decent benefits, including the below:
- 6% back in Discovery Dollars
- Late checkout to 3pm (subject to availability)
- One-category room upgrade
- Welcome amenity
GHA Titanium benefits
With Titanium status, you’ll get all Platinum benefits plus the following:
- 7% of spend back in Discovery Dollars
- Two-category room upgrade
- Complimentary breakfast at participating hotel brands (note: around half of the GHA brands are excluded)
- Early check-in at 11am (subject to availability)
- Late check-out to 4pm (subject to availability)
- Guaranteed availability up to 48 hours prior
- Status sharing with family
Note that stay benefits such as upgrades and late check-out only apply to the member’s own room.
For Titanium members, the two-category upgrade particularly is particularly good. It even allows upgrades to standard suites, though it excludes specialty suites.
The ability to share Titanium status with one other person is available after you have earned/requalified for the year. This shared status is valid for the remainder of the calendar year plus the entire next calendar year.
This is a great way to get around status benefits only applying to the member room. When you do need a second room, share your GHA Titanium status!
How does GHA Discovery compare to other hotel programs?
The Discovery Dollars system is different to more traditional hotel loyalty programs such as IHG One Rewards.
The GHA Discovery Dollars reward currency closely mirrors Accor Live Limitless, effectively offering cashback rather than points which can be used for reward nights at fixed rates.
The reduced options outside of luxury or independent hotel niches makes GHA Discovery a more specialised program. In terms of elite benefits, though, GHA Discovery is competitive.
Titanium members, for instance, enjoy upgrades of up to two room categories and early check-in/late checkout – similar to benefits provided to Hilton Honors Diamond members.
However, GHA Titanium members only get breakfast at a seemingly random selection of hotel brands, and there’s no club lounge access available through status.
GHA’s Gold tier comes with very few benefits. That said, considering you just need to stay at two brands for Platinum status, it’s unlikely you’ll be there for long.
Additionally, GHA’s footprint – 800 hotels across 40 brands – is quite small in comparison to the global reach of Accor, Hilton, Marriott, or IHG. It has a similar number of hotels to Hyatt, although World of Hyatt is a much more compelling loyalty program with published award charts.
The easiest ways to get other hotel statuses
Earning status with other hotel chains can be also quite easy if you take advantage of options including status matches, the right credit cards or simply paying for memberships.
For example, Virgin Australia status unlocks some easy hotel status matches, which you can do as a one-off after earning Velocity Gold or Platinum status. Velocity Gold maps to Gold status with Hilton or IHG, while Velocity Platinum matches to Hilton Diamond or IHG Platinum.
The American Express Platinum card also offers instant Hilton Gold, Marriott Gold and Radisson Rewards Premium status, along with complimentary Accor Plus membership and plethora of other travel benefits.
The American Express Explorer card, with a much lower annual fee, comes with a fast-track to Hilton Silver status.
Enjoy complimentary hotel status with these cards
- Card Name
- American Express Explorer Credit Card
- Earn
- 2
- Signup Bonus
-
100,000 bonus Membership Rewards Points
- Annual Fee
- $395 p.a.
- Read more
- View Offer
on everyday purchases
- Card Name
- American Express Platinum Card
- Earn
- 2.25
- Signup Bonus
-
200,000 bonus Membership Rewards points
Apply by 11th Mar 2025
- Annual Fee
- $1,450 p.a.
- Read more
- View Offer
on everyday purchases
You can also simply pay for a hotel membership that gives you status automatically. For example, by paying for Accor Plus (or getting the Amex Platinum card) you’ll get 20 free elite nights, automatically granting Accor Live Limitless Silver status.
IHG also sells Intercontinental Ambassador memberships, which grants complimentary IHG Platinum Elite status.
