Hotel programs
Hotel programs, and what they put in the room
The same room, at the same rate, arriving with a credit to spend, breakfast every morning and a better chance of a better room. That’s what a hotel program does, and it happens because the reservation was placed by somebody the hotel has a relationship with.
You can’t join one yourself and you can’t find one as a rate. Here’s how they work, which ones I hold, and when they aren’t worth bothering with.
Bring a property and your dates. Fifteen minutes is enough to tell you which program it sits in, or that it sits in none of them.
How they work
The rate doesn’t change
This is the part most people don’t believe until they check it.
The hotel pays a commission on the room whether you reserve it direct, through an online travel site, or through me. That money is already in the rate. What a program does is attach benefits to the reservation when an advisor with access places it, which is the hotel spending part of that commission on you instead of keeping it.
So arranging it yourself doesn’t save you anything. It just means the credit, the breakfast and the upgrade go unclaimed.
The programs
Which ones I hold
- IHG Destined. A one hundred dollar property credit, daily breakfast and a room upgrade. Six Senses, Regent, InterContinental, Kimpton, Hotel Indigo and Vignette Collection. Published accounts disagree on whether a minimum stay applies.
- Hyatt Privé. Daily breakfast for two, a property credit between twenty-five and one hundred dollars depending on the hotel, and an upgrade confirmed within a day of reserving rather than at check-in. Every Park Hyatt, Andaz, Thompson and Miraval, and selected Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency, Alila and Unbound Collection properties. The full list runs longer and the minimum stay changes with the brand.
- Marriott STARS and Luminous. Two separate programs. STARS covers Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, St. Regis, Luxury Collection, EDITION and BVLGARI and carries a one hundred dollar credit. Luminous covers JW Marriott, W, Westin, Autograph, Tribute Portfolio, Le Méridien, Marriott and Renaissance at selected properties.
- Belmond Bellini Club. A credit whose published amount is quoted two different ways, and the only program here that goes beyond hotels. It reaches the trains and the river journeys too.
- Mandarin Oriental Fan Club. A credit to spend on dining or at the spa, with published accounts disagreeing on the amount, breakfast for two, no minimum stay, and a stated no-walk policy, which matters more than it sounds on the night a hotel oversells.
Upgrades are always subject to what’s free when you arrive, credits vary by property, and none of these applies to a member rate, a prepaid rate or a points reservation. I confirm what actually applies at your hotel on your dates before anything is held.
There are more than these five, including the Auberge Collection, and which one applies comes down to the individual property. If you have somewhere in mind I’ll tell you which program it sits in.
What you pay
One hundred dollars, and the credit usually covers it
A stay that stands on its own is one hundred dollars to place.
That covers reading the property against the program, confirming what actually applies on your dates instead of what a summary claims, and holding it so the benefits attach. The property credit at most of these is also around one hundred dollars, so it tends to pay for itself before you’ve had breakfast.
If the stay is part of a route I’m planning, it belongs to that planning investment and I don’t charge it twice.
When to skip it
When this isn’t worth doing
If the property isn’t in a program I hold, I’m adding nothing and you should reserve it yourself and keep the money. Same for a flight on its own.
I’d rather tell you that on a fifteen-minute call than take a hundred dollars to find out.
Next
Tell me the hotel
Jessica Clark. An independent travel advisor just north of Seattle, working with queer and allied travelers worldwide, on ships and on land.
Bring a property and your dates. Fifteen minutes is enough to establish which program it sits in, what that program actually gives you there, and whether it’s worth doing at all.
Complimentary, and there’s nothing to agree to at the end.