Finding an air, car and hotel loyalty program that works for you can seriously impact your business travel and even generate rewards that you can use for your own personal travels. Most hotel chains will offer a loyalty program for their guests and the perks vary drastically between chains. These perks range from priority check-in to regular room upgrades, to free minibar or hotel credits.
Here are five tips to help you find the right hotel loyalty program:
1) Hotel loyalty programs vs generic booking loyalty programs
Many businesses have preferred hotel
As hotel chains continue to grow their portfolio or brands and hotels, joining a program such as Accor’s Le Club means you can be rewarded for staying in their 19 hotel brands 1 or the Hilton Honors program that can be utilised across their 15 hotel brands 2. These reward programs will often award points for hotel stays to redeem free nights with the hotel brand or activities with their reward partners. As you achieve the various status tiers within the reward programs, perks such as free WiFi, complimentary room upgrades etc. will become commonplace and make your business travel far more comfortable.
If you prefer (or are required to) stay in a number of different hotels that do not fall under a single hotel chain, you may find it beneficial to join a program such as Hotels.com where you “Collect 10 nights, get 1 free” or Expedia Rewards which acts like an airline loyalty program, giving points for each booking and additional perks for frequent travellers.
2) Book direct with the hotel chain to earn hotel loyalty points
Often, to receive recognition toward a hotel loyalty program, you are required to book directly with the hotel – using a third-party system such as booking.com, expedia.com etc. will not earn you points or status and you will not receive the benefits of any existing status you have with this hotel chain.
Booking directly with the hotel is usually a sensible choice as most hotels will guarantee to have the lowest advertised price or they’ll match any advertised price. Hotels are often far more flexible with booking adjustments if you’ve booked direct – having recently booked directly with a hotel for the wrong dates, they were able to accommodate the changes without any additional fees – it would be highly unlikely that these changes could have been
3) Ensure your loyalty program has appropriate spread
Before choosing your loyalty program, ensure that the program will cover the majority of your travels. While the Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is a great choice, especially if your travel is predominantly in North America, if you are travelling a lot within the Asia Pacific region, there are fewer hotel choices within the Wyndham brand. Ensure that there are appropriately branded hotels for your regular travel locations.
4) Find a program that works with your airline loyalty program
As with all loyalty programs, there is often opportunity to double or triple dip on reward points. There are many hotel loyalty programs that have alliances with airlines and allow for air miles to be earned on hotel stays or even allowing hotel loyalty points to be transferred to your airline loyalty program.
An example of this is the Marriott Rewards program which has partnered with over 40 airlines to allow you to choose between Marriott Reward points or
5) Choose a program that works for your personal travel
One of the best perks of business travel is being able to bank loyalty points and rewards for your own, personal travel. While some hotel loyalty program favour perks for paid stays only, other programs offer travellers the ability to redeem free nights of accommodation. If you favour free nights of travel, ensure your loyalty program offers a generous rewards system for redeeming free nights – and that these free nights are simple to book. In contrast, other programs may allow you to earn a level of status that provides regular room upgrades and hotel credit that can be utilised for your personal travel.
Finally, it is worth investigating whether your loyalty points have an expiration date and whether you’ll be able to redeem these points before they expire.
A table providing a sample of popular hotel chain reward programs
| Hotel Chain | Reward Program | High-end | Mid-range | Low-end |
| Accor Hotels | Accor Rewards | Sofitel Fairmont Raffles | Pullman Swissôtel MGallery The Sebel Mercure Novotel | ibis Formule 1 |
| Hilton Worldwide | Hilton Honors | Waldorf Astoria Conrad Hotels | Hilton DoubleTree Canopy by Hilton Curio Collection | Hilton Garden Inn Homewood Suites by Hilton Home2 Suites |
| Hyatt Hotels | World of Hyatt | Park Hyatt Grand Hyatt | Hyatt Regency Hyatt Hotels | Hyatt Place Hyatt House Hotels |
| InterContinental Hotels Group | IHG® Rewards Club | InterContinental Regent Hotels & Resorts | Crowne Plaza Hotel Indigo EVEN Hotels Staybridge Suites Holiday Inn Select | Holiday Inn Holiday Inn Express Candlewood Suites Avid |
| Marriott International | Marriott Rewards | JW Marriott Hotels Le Méridie Luxury Collection Ritz-Carlton Sheraton St. Regis Westin Hotels and Resorts W Hotels | AC Hotels Aloft Hotels Courtyard by Marriott Fairfield Inn by Marriott Four Points by Sheraton SpringHill Suites Residence Inn by Marriott | Protea Hotels TownePlace Suites |
Appendix
1: Accor Hotel brands: Raffles, Banyan Tree, Fairmont, Sofitel, Rixos, MGallery, Pullman, Swissôtel, Angsana, Grand Mercure, The Sebel, Cassia, Novotel, Mercure, Mama Shelter, Adagio, ibis, Adagio access, Thalassa sea & spa
2: Hilton Hotel brands: Canopy, Conrad, Curio Collection, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites by Hilton, Hampton by Hilton, Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations, Home2 Suites, Homewood Suites, LXR Hotels & Resorts, Tapestry Collection, Tru by Hilton, Waldorf Astoria