There are a lot of benefits which a frequent traveler can avail of by registering for certain hotel loyalty membership programs from late check outs to room upgrades.
The benefits associated with the tier keep changing with time. The below details are based on the information available as of today. Luxury Nirvana will try to regularly update this post to provide the latest information.
It would be just impossible for a person to stay in all different hotel brands in a year and have the elite status of all loyalty programs to get the benefits. One way to have elite status in most of these popular loyalty programs is to have the right credit card which automatically provides the necessary status to enjoy some benefits like late checkout and room upgrades to name a few.
1
Marriott Bonvoy
30 hotel & resort brands including collection brands
Photo: st-regis.marriott.com
Marriott Bonvoy became the biggest loyalty program in the world after Marriott Rewards merged with The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (spg). 30 brands of hotels and resorts including hotel collections ranging from luxury to economy are part of this loyalty program.
There are 6 Luxury & 11 Premium premium brands in the Marriott portfolio.
Membership Tiers
Member
Silver Elite
Gold Elite
Platinum Elite
Titanium Elite
Ambassador Elite
As of today, even though Ambassador Elite is the top status of Marriott Bonvoy. It shares the same benefits with the Titanium Elite status apart from the extra benefits of services called Your24 and Ambassador Service.
- Your24 – Flexibility to choose 24-hour check-in and checkout time
- Ambassador Service- Personal assistance with stays
Based on our research, the latter is not of much value as there is no particular individual assigned for assistance.
If you are from the USA, having the Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card by American Express provides a Platinum elite status. Which is the top tier one can achieve from a credit card. Apart from this Amex Platinum charge card issued across the globe provides a Gold elite status. The advantage of having this card is that it also provides status with a few other hotel brands.
2
Hilton Honors
18 hotel & resort brands including collection brands
Hilton Honors, the loyalty membership program for the Hilton group of hotels is very much similar to the Marriott Bonvoy program but has only four tiers. The top-tier status can be achieved with only 42 nights of stay but in Bonvoy one would need a minimum of 100 nights to achieve the top tier.
Membership Tiers
Member
Silver
Gold
Diamond
In the USA, one can easily get the top status (Diamond) in the Hilton Honors loyalty membership program by getting the Hilton Honors Aspire card from American Express. An alternate is to get an Amex Platinum charge card issued across the globe which provides a Gold status.
3
IHG One Rewards
17 hotel & resort brands including collection brands
PHOTO: sixsenses.com
IHG has 6 luxury and 4 premium hotels and collections brands in its portfolio. It is relatively small compared to Marriott and Hilton in terms of the number of hotels and resorts in the portfolio.
IHG also has an Intercontinental Ambassador program (an exclusive program for Intercontinental Hotel & Resort properties) which elevates one to the platinum elite status of IHG One Rewards. This can be joined with a fee of USD 200 per annum.
Membership Tiers
Club
Silver Elite
Gold Elite
Platinum Elite
Diamond Elite
In the USA, one can get the IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card from Chase bank which is a world-elite MasterCard that comes with the Platinum Elite status benefit. We couldn’t find any other cards across the globe which would provide status benefits in IHG One loyalty membership program.
4
ALL - Accor Live Limitless
40+ hotel & resort brands including collection brands
Accor Live Limitless program has a large number of brands in its portfolio with the majority of them being either luxury or premium brands.
Membership Tiers
Classic
Silver
Gold
Platinum
Diamond
One can buy the Accor Plus membership which would provide one with a Silver status membership. In France, ALL has launched cards in partnership with BNP Paribas and Visa. ALL-Visa Ultimate is the top tier card in this offering which comes with several benefits like complimentary breakfast at some of the luxury brand hotels and room upgrades.
5
World of Hyatt
26 hotel & resort brands including collection brands
Having a World of Hyatt membership one can get MGM Rewards Status through the status match which is can provide benefits at MGM Hotels Resorts.
Membership Tiers
Member
Discoverist
Explorist
Globalist
If one is from the USA, in partnership with Chase Bank, Hyatt provides a co-branded credit card with which one can get Discoverist status along with a few nights depending on the card.
6
GHA Discovery
38 hotel & resort brands including collection brands
PHOTO: kempinski.com
Global Hotel Alliance (GHA) is considered to be the largest alliance of independent hotel brands and their loyalty membership program called GHA Discovery provides benefits at very well known luxury brands like Anantara, Kempinski and other 36 hotel brands.
Membership Tiers
Silver
Gold
Platinum
Titanium
If you are an avid traveler or planning to travel and stay at luxury properties across the globe in the coming day, we strongly recommend you register for all the loyalty membership programs listed above. Also, recommend getting a few credit cards that can give a high-tier status in these loyalty membership programs and maximize the value you can get during your stays.
It is not always possible to stick with a single brand as there might not be hotels from a particular brand where you are traveling. Hence it is a good idea to register for as many loyalty membership programs as possible and get certain elite status through credit cards.
A list of all the luxury and premium hotel brands across the globe compiled by Luxury Nirvana can be accessed from this page – Luxury Hotels & Resorts.
There are many other independent luxury hotel brands and collections which offer loyalty membership programs. A list of selected programs would be published in the next few days.
