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Marriott discontinues Travel Package, and will refund in points
There was a blip in Marriott’s terms and conditions last week which mentioned the discontinuation of travel packages on January 19th. It was quickly removed, but now confirmed again with more details.
You can read Marriott’s help article here. Basically you can no longer make a travel package redemption, and if you hold an existing travel package you must reserve by February 28th.
What’s interesting is, if you decide not to redeem your package or later cancel your reservation, the hotel portion of the package will be fully refunded in points, and
The refund will be based on the current Points redemption category levels and will equal the sum of the Peak Points Redemption Rate per each Night of the Travel Package Award, at the highest category for which the Award was eligible.
In other words, you may be in for a treat if you have an unredeemed travel package.
- Cat 1-4 Hotels + 100k Miles cost 330k points, and you are entitled to a refund of 30k*7=210k points. You are buying 100k miles for 120k Marriott points
- Cat 7 Hotels + 100k Miles cost 750k points, and you are entitled to a refund of 100k*7=700k points. You are buying 100k miles for 50k Marriott points
For United miles there was additional 10% bonus so the deal is even sweeter. If you have a travel package and don’t have a strong intent to use it, you may just want to wait till March and cash it out.
BREAKING: IHG revamps the rewards program, Silver tier introduced, Spire renamed to Diamond
(EDIT: you can now find the official announcement here)
IHG has, very quietly, released its plan to introduce a new Rewards Club program in March.
I got hold of a pdf file with some more details. The file is in Chinese, and to be honest doesn’t contain much useful information. Here’s a summary of what’s happening:
- New elite tiers will come into effect in March
- a new Silver tier is introduced, and from its qualification criteria it matches to the old Gold tier
- Gold tier now has higher qualification criteria and probably enhanced benefits
- Spire is renamed to Diamond to be inline with industry convention
Note that IHG elite status has all been extended through February 2023. I assume that current Gold / Platinum / Spire members will be matched to Gold / Platinum / Diamond directly when the new program launches regardless of your activities in the last year.
In the new program, it’s significantly harder to retain status via elite qualifying points.
In terms of benefits, welcome drinks for Club members in Greater China is being cancelled. So is the choice benefit of Spire Elites, but hopefully they are replacing it with something more exciting.
It’s mentioned that new benefits will be introduced too, however we don’t have any details yet – hopefully free breakfast and lounge access for Diamond elites?
New: join InterContinental Ambassador and earn 20k bonus points
You may recall that there’s an ongoing bonus points offer for Ambassador renewals. The offer has now been extended to new sign-ups too.
There’s a promo page in IHG’s weixin mini-program:
The terms appear to be exactly the same with the renewal offer:
- Join InterContinental Ambassador by March 31st
- Stay two paid nights at any participating hotels by April 30th
- Earn 20,000 bonus points
Stays booked using the weekend BOGOF voucher also qualifies for the bonus. The official tnc page isn’t updated yet, so for your peace of mind you may want to wait for the update before enrolling.
Hilton status match is back
Hilton started an official status match program a few years ago and it has been on and off since, whereas the rules have also changed multiple times in the meantime. The website just went live again with a newer version of the offer.
You can access the offer here. To participate you need to be an elite member with one of the following hotel programs:
- Marriott Bonvoy (Gold+)
- IHG Rewards Club (Gold+)
- World of Hyatt (Explorist+)
- Best Western Rewards (Diamond+)
- Choice Privileges (Diamond)
If your program is not listed you could still select Other and provide the details. Some of these statuses are extremely easy to obtain – take IHG for example, you can simply pay $200 to join their Ambassador program (which is well worth it) and be upgraded to IHG Platinum straightaway.
Once your application is approved you will be upgraded to Gold for a 90-day trial period. During the trial period, you can:
- Stay 7 nights and keep the Gold status, or
- Stay 12 nights to upgrade to Diamond
If you fulfil any of the challenge, your status is valid through March 31, 2024, which is more than two years from now.
The rules are tougher than last year, as back then you only needed 5 nights / 9 nights respectively.
If don’t have status with Hilton and have an upcoming stay with them, it’s a no brainer to sign up to this status match promotion. Gold status gets you free breakfast right away (except in the U.S. where you only get a credit) and room upgrade, and if you can stay enough to achieve Diamond, you will enjoy guaranteed executive lounge access at most of Hilton’s branded hotels.Facebook Twitter WhatsApp
My review of Great Scotland Yard Hotel, London
It was almost the end of 2021 – although I didn’t plan to complete my Hyatt Globalist Challenge, there were still a few £100 cashback offers on my Amex cards. I decided to use these offers on the Great Scotland Yard hotel, which is part of the Unbound Collection.
I booked the Hyatt Prive rate under the ongoing 3-for-2 offer. Hyatt Prive includes free breakfast, $100 credit to spend on property, room upgrade and 2pm checkout. The total comes to £690 for three nights pre cashbacks – remember that you’ll only get two night credits for the stay though.
The hotel is very centrally located, just a couple of minutes’ walk to Embankment and Charing Cross stations. The building is on a quiet lane though so you don’t need to worry about noises.
The hotel sits on the original site of the (Old) Scotland Yard which is where the name comes from. It’s a total rebuild though so has nothing to do with the old MET office.
Its public space is full of classy and graceful decorations, and they are truly beautiful.
And of course there’s a Christmas tree.
The wall arts in the corridor are funny British humour.
I’m very impressed by the enamelled door – it must be expensive to make.
I’m upgraded one-level to a room with city view, which isn’t much of an upgrade. The Explorist status has been virtually useless to be honest, even combined with Hyatt Prive which supposedly enhances the room upgrade benefit.
The room is – unsurprisingly – small, however it feels very tasteful. It reminds me of Marriott Park Lane, although the styles are quite different.
The bathroom is very beautiful too, equipped with a smart toilet seat.
The welcome letter is wax-sealed.
At the same time, I have quite a few complaints as well:
- No bottled-water provided
- No bathrobe provided
- The toilet smells really bad
- Bed is very uncomfortable for me
Also calling the room one with city view is probably way too euphemistic.
Breakfast is all a-la-carte, which is unusual but very welcomed.
The food is good, but not on par with Marriott Park Lane or the Andaz.
I have £75 credit to use on property, which isn’t easy. There’s only one restaurant Ekstedt but I don’t fancy it, and ended up having two meals in the pub 40 Elephants instead.
The dinner is average and nothing to write home about.
The hotel features no spa or swimming pool. There’s a small gym, but if you want a jog Green Park and Hyde Park are just around the corner.
The hotel has very impressive interior design and the room is pretty, and in the meantime its rate is not excessively high. If you are Hyatt Globalist and can fare a suite upgrade, I think it’s a good choice for central London.
Why you SHOULDN’T claim the Marriott Annual Choice Benefit straightaway
Once you’ve stayed 50 or 75 nights with Marriott in a calendar year, you can claim an Annual Choice Benefit which gives you a few different options varying from night credits, suite night awards and a free night voucher. You have until January 7th to make your selection, otherwise the suite night awards will be deposited into your account by default.
If you have stayed 75 nights and are interested in choosing the free night voucher though, there is an oddity that you should be aware of. Looking at Marriott’s terms and conditions, regarding its expiry it says:
The Free Night Award (up to 40,000 Points) must be redeemed for a stay that occurs no later than December 31 of the year following the year in which the additional benefit is selected
Whereas for the suite night award:
Suite Night Awards expire on December 31 of the year following the year in which they were earned
If it’s not clear enough: for suite night award the time you make your selection is irrelevant, as the award earned in 2021 will expire on December 31st, 2022 regardless. However it makes a difference for the free night voucher – if you select in 2022, then the voucher will have one more year’s life and expires on December 31st, 2023.
It may not be super useful, but a good catch to keep in mind for the future.
Have you fallen victim to Hyatt’s “complimentary night” trap?
If you are a Hyatt customer and don’t stay with them very often, there’s a catch that you should know about which may otherwise come up as surprise in the future.
It’s not uncommon that hotel groups have the so-called “Complimentary Night” offers, for example Complimentary Third Night, or Stay 4 Pay 3. It’s no secret that they are actually just a form of discounted rates (in this case 33% off and 25% off respectively), but their marketing department knows how to make those nights sounds free and thus more eye-catching to customers.
Hyatt is no stranger to such practice, which is most usually seen in their Hyatt Prive program but also in standard rates offered on their website too. However they really are a nasty player in the game – after my first Complimentary Third Night stay, I found that my account was only credited two qualifying nights instead of three:
I thought it was a system error at the beginning, but after multiple communications with different CS agents from online chat and Twitter, they all came to the same conclusion that the third night was free and therefore ineligible for credit accrual. They are not lying – if you look at the rate details, the third night is indeed not charged:
And there are numerous online reports from people who’ve had the same misfortune, and you can only count your luck on an untrained CS agent or admit defeat. I know it’s in Hyatt’s terms, but they are letting their customers pay for their marketing tricks, which is kind of disgusting.
Missing one night credit may cause a lot of hassle to the plan of a Hyatt member, but how on earth does it actually benefit Hyatt? I wish they can just come to their senses and stop this malpractice – I’ve stayed on the same rate with Hilton and IHG many times and never once encountered any issue with my night credits.
My review of London Marriott Grosvenor Square
My last Marriott stay in 2021 is at London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square. The hotel is conveniently located 3 minutes’ away from Bond Street station. Don’t get it confused with JW Marriott Grosvenor House which is also in the area.
The lobby is a bit basic.
I’m upgraded to a Superior Room with Grosvenor Square View.
The room’s setup is very similar to Marriott Hotel Park Lane, except that it feels a lot cheaper and definitely not as classy as the latter.
It’s on the first floor and there isn’t really much of the view. The Christmas lights in the garden are pretty though in the night.
As a Titanium member I have access to the M Club at the -1 floor.
The lounge is big.
Breakfast is only free in the lounge which has poor quality. You must pay to have breakfast in the restaurant.
Happy hour starts at 5:30pm. Food options include three types of hot items:
- Samosa
- Onion bhaji
- Chicken and potato mash
Gym is located at the same floor.
The hotel and the stay are mediocre at best, and at its price point there are many better choices in central London.