I often hold up reimbursed business travelers as a sort of platonic ideal of a travel hacker, one who is able to spend her employer's money, accrue elite - qualifying miles with the airline of her choice, and earn top -
tier hotel status on someone else's dime.
First, it will be my only top
tier hotel status.
With the ability to spend your way to Marriott Platinum status with the Marriott Rewards credit cards, this is a fairly inexpensive way to not only earn top -
tier hotel status but low - tier airline status as well.
Globalist continues the legacy of Diamond as arguably the best top -
tier hotel status of major hotel programs.
Under the newly announced reciprocal elite status arrangement, Marriott Platinum grants you automatic SPG Platinum, one of the most rewarding top -
tier hotel statuses out there.
Not exact matches
You are automatically enrolled in high -
tier elite
status across multiple
hotel and airline brands, including Starwood, Delta, Hilton, and IHG.
The next
tier status, Platinum Elite Status, can be obtained by spending at least $ 75,000 annually with the hotel credit
status, Platinum Elite
Status, can be obtained by spending at least $ 75,000 annually with the hotel credit
Status, can be obtained by spending at least $ 75,000 annually with the
hotel credit card.
One must spend nights at
hotels to move up the ranks of this
tier system; for instance, 25 nights at a participating
hotel awards the
status of SPG ® Elite while 50 nights awards the SPG ® Platinum
status.
Recent changes to the program include the ability to count redemption nights toward elite
status qualification and new welcome gifts (points or food and beverage items) at most
hotels in the U.S. for top
tier members.
Dealing with their seemingly strategic carving up of room categories to thwart desirable redemptions, inconsistent
status recognition in their
hotels, and almost comical service gaffes on stays at some of their top
tier hotels left me feeling that they wouldn't need such a generous loyalty program if they just ran a better operation.
Also, some
hotels offer perks if you book through Orbitz and hold a rewards
status tier.
Although none of these are top -
tier statuses, the added perks of Gold
status with these 3 programs can certainly make your
hotel stays (and therefore your overall travel experience) much more pleasant.
Similar to airlines,
hotels have frequent guest programs (also known as
hotel loyalty programs) where guests gain elite
status by reaching specific
tiers.
For your average
hotel credit card, you're typically given lower mid-tier
status (2
tiers away from the top elite
status).
At a valuation of.4 cents per point, this amounts to an 8 % return which isn't very compelling for a top -
tier status compared with other
hotel loyalty programs.
Voilà
Hotels Voila Rewards Contact:
[email protected] with a scanned copy of elite -
tier membership card or a screen capture of the qualifying program's website displaying your elite -
tier status.
I'm in the process of updating my
hotel elite
status comparison chart, and as part of that process I need to collect information on the different award
tiers and the points earned with each stay.
Even if you are completely new to
hotel loyalty rewards programs, with no record of stays with any chain, using the information above you can immediately gain these high
tier status's: SLH Inspired, H
Hotels Gold, IC Black, and Best Western Diamond.
You can also get extremely high returns of 20 % + when you make bookings directly with
hotels if you have top -
tier status, jump on the right promotion, utilize cashback portals, and use the right credit cards.
I hold top -
tier status with American Airlines, with Marriott and with Starwood but, while those
statuses do have an effect on my travel patterns, I get to play around with trips involving quite a few other other airlines and
hotels as well.
Here are my benefits from doing that: 2 free nights as the sign - up bonus (which I used at this
hotel by the way), top -
tier Diamond
status for hitting $ 40K spend, 120K Hilton points since each dollar spent earns a minimum of 3 points ($ 40K x 3 points / $ = 120K points), and another free night on my anniversary for hitting the $ 10K spending threshold.
The Program will not grant
tier status based on performance or
status in other
hotel loyalty programs.
I explained a week ago how I nearly stumbled into a situation where I have a good chance of obtaining top -
tier status in a
hotel program for the first time.
These are just some of the perks of Hilton Gold
status, long recognized as among the most rewarding of mid-level
hotel elite
tiers.
A further consideration that narrowed down the choice of
hotel brands was that I wanted to give us the best chance of getting a good room upgrade — that would almost certainly mean using either Marriott or Starwood properties as I have top -
tier status in both of their loyalty programs.
That means you're roughly 20 % of the way toward top -
tier Platinum
status (including complimentary suite upgrades and breakfast) without staying at a single
hotel!
A Hyatt Credit Cardmember may earn Explorist or Globalist
status in the World of Hyatt program through February 2019 by completing a specified number of
Tier - Qualifying Nights (as defined in the World of Hyatt program terms, available at worldofhyatt.com/terms) at any participating Hyatt
hotel or resort worldwide.
As with a lot of
hotel loyalty programs Shangri - La Gold Circle has three
status levels, Gold, Jade and Diamond (the top -
tier)
Most
hotel loyalty programs give their top -
tier elite
status holders the same benefits regardless of how they qualified for their
status.
No Points or credit toward
tier status will be awarded for «no show» situations when a Member has made a reservation guaranteed with a credit card but then does not check in to the
hotel — irrespective of whether or not the Member's credit card is charged for any portion of the reserved stay per the
hotel's «no show» policy.
Status Match... No Catch ® offer («Offer») is open to new and existing Best Western Rewards ® members («Members») who reside in a participating country, territory, or region and wish to upgrade their new or existing Best Western Rewards Elite Status Membership level to a level equal to, but not higher than, their current elite tier / status level in any other competing hotel chain's loyalty program («Competitor Loyalty Program&ra
Status Match... No Catch ® offer («Offer») is open to new and existing Best Western Rewards ® members («Members») who reside in a participating country, territory, or region and wish to upgrade their new or existing Best Western Rewards Elite
Status Membership level to a level equal to, but not higher than, their current elite tier / status level in any other competing hotel chain's loyalty program («Competitor Loyalty Program&ra
Status Membership level to a level equal to, but not higher than, their current elite
tier /
status level in any other competing hotel chain's loyalty program («Competitor Loyalty Program&ra
status level in any other competing
hotel chain's loyalty program («Competitor Loyalty Program»).
Members can earn or maintain
tier status based on qualifying
hotel nights in any rolling 12 - month consecutive period.
No point or stay credit or credit toward
tier status will be awarded for «no show» situations when a member has made a reservation guaranteed with a credit card but then does not check in to the
hotel — irrespective of whether or not the member's credit card is charged for any portion of the reserved stay per the
hotel's «no show» policy.
Without a staying a single night at a Hilton
hotel, you can earn top -
tier status just through credit card use.
To match your
status with Hilton HHonors Silver, Gold or Diamond
status, you must provide your Hilton HHonors account number and proof of current
tier status with Starwood Preferred Guest, Marriott Rewards, IHG Rewards Club, Hyatt Gold Passport, Choice Privileges, or other
hotel loyalty program by June...
Hyatt's loyalty program was once considered one of the better
hotel programs around with top -
tier elites treated especially well (I loved Hyatt Diamond
status for the year that I had it).
You can even spend your way to top -
tier status with both airline and
hotel credit cards by channeling all of your spending onto one of these cards.
And who wouldn't want to have top -
tier status at a
hotel without worrying about qualifying nights or minimum spend?
It turned out that, not only was Hyatt happy to match
status from another hotel group, but they were matching to their top - tier Diamond status — and you didn't even need to have top - tier status with another loyalty program to get Hyatt Diamond S
status from another
hotel group, but they were matching to their top -
tier Diamond
status — and you didn't even need to have top - tier status with another loyalty program to get Hyatt Diamond S
status — and you didn't even need to have top -
tier status with another loyalty program to get Hyatt Diamond S
status with another loyalty program to get Hyatt Diamond
StatusStatus.
So for a bottom
tier status, Discoverist gives you a very decent return on spending when compared to other major
hotel programs.
In June, Marriott
Hotels and Resorts announced a similar policy, albeit without the exemption for those with top -
tier elites
status.
Here's an overview of the different
tiers offered by five of the major
hotel programs and a look at how you could earn
status with these
hotels.
First, the fact that I can earn more value with BonWi than I'd earn with top -
tier elite
status is significant on its own since you wouldn't ever think that an OTA would be more lucrative than having top -
tier status with a major
hotel chain.
Sometimes, the
hotel will even allow you to experience the benefits of the elevated
status tier while you're working your way to complete the challenge.
Most
hotel loyalty programs have a
tiered loyalty system where you are given more perks and benefits as you spend more nights at their
hotels and are awarded higher
tiers of
status.
+ gold is the top
tier status in this program, you can get exclusive benefits like spa discounts, travel offers, Room upgrades, flexible check - in and many more at + VIP
hotels.
Starwood says that the new
tier of
hotels will also motivate other Sheraton properties to step up their service and appeal so that they may gain Sheraton Grand
status as well.
All IHG Business Rewards bookings will also count towards achieving IHG Rewards Club Gold or Platinum
tier status, when the same member books and stays at an IHG
hotel.
Finally, I don't want to downplay the value of the Hilton Honors Surpass card, which stands out as the only
hotel card that can offer you top
tier status based on your spending alone.
Since I touched on elite
status, it's worth noting the window for accumulating
tier points and benefitting from elite
status is different with M life than with many traditional
hotel programs.