Remember to lock in your Marriott reservations before March 29th
I’m sure you are already aware that Marriott has recently announced its plan to introduce Flexible Point Redemption in details. You could find the FAQs here and I would not bore you with many interpretations as it’s already covered by almost every travel blog.
Here are some basic facts:
- The new policy kicks in on March 29th
- Hotels will no longer have a redemption category, nor will they show standard / peak / off-peak prices
- For stays in 2022, most hotels will keep the existing redemption cap, barring 217 properties whose cap will increase by up to 30,000 points
- For stays in 2023, no cap applies anymore to any hotels
- PointSavers and Fifth Night Free still apply
What I want to reiterate is: lock in your redemption now, even if the property you intend to stay with is not on the adjustment list. There are two reasons behind this:
- What remains unchanged is the cap, not what an award night actually costs. For example, a Category-1 hotel costs 5,000 / 7,500 / 10,000 points for off-peak / standard / peak dates nowadays, which may be spread evenly throughout the year. After March 29th however, you may see the hotel cost 10,000 points or near for most of dates.
- Note that there’s no cap for 2023 stays – if you have any potential stays in early 2023, at any property, make some speculative bookings now. On March 29th they could cost an arbitrary amount of points in theory – although to be fair I don’t think they’d be too far off initially at least.
Note that Points Advance bookings won’t lock in you bookings at the current price. You must accrue enough points for your bookings by the deadline.
My review of London Marriott County Hall
Marriott is running a ludicrous promotion for 2022 Q1, which makes retain my Titanium status much easier. My first stop is London Marriott County Hall, a renowned Marriott property in central London.
Although it’s only a Marriott, it’s one the most sought-after hotels in London, even compared to the luxurious brands such as JW Marriott, Edition and W. This is largely thanks to its location – by River Thames and right next to the London Eye!
Hotel entrance is on the south side. It’s a Grade-II listed building and originally served as London’s County Hall in 1922. It retired after 64 years and became a Marriott hotel in 1988.
I’m presented with a glass of Prosecco while waiting for check-in to complete.
It’s a prime touristic location, which explains the red telephone box and many other London icons in the hotel.
I used my suite upgrade voucher for the first time, and it didn’t take long for them to confirm my upgrade to a River Thames View Suite. I think it’s the second-highest room category (only second to the Westminster Suite), but I may be wrong.
The corridor turns orange when I approach my suite – is it the renovated part of the hotel?
I was stunned when I opened the door and saw the living room:
The furniture and the finish are perfectly spot-on, and it’s even completed with a six-seat dining table. However, the most amazing part of the living room has to be its view.
Especially when the sun shines, you are basically looking at a painting!
The living room and bedroom are connected by an curvy hallway.
The bathroom is also very beautiful, with a smart toilet seat.
Here’s the wardrobe:
And finally the bedroom:
If you are tired of the Big Ben view in the living room, have a change of scenery here for the London Eye:
The design of their wellness centre is a bit weird. For accessing the swimming pool, you need to request an access code from the fifth floor, and then go up to the sixth floor to open a gate, which leads you down to the swimming pool.
The pool itself, though, is very impressive – it’s probably the largest I’ve ever seen in a hotel.
Same can be said with their massive gym.
M Club is located on the fifth floor.
The club lounge is quite big, but unfortunately not with enough windows.
The happy hour is a big let-down though. Everything’s table service and canapes are limited to 2 or 3 portions per person, which you have to order from the staff.
Here’s what I got after a 30-minute wait. It’s not a new policy though – I visited the lounge once about three years ago courtesy of a friend, and it was the same arrangement back then.
Breakfast (free for Platinum members and above) is served in the main restaurant. It’s fully a-la-carta and decent.
I’m genuinely impressed by this stay, and rate London Marriott County Hall higher than W Leicester Square and JW Marriott Grosvenor House. The River Thames View Suite and swimming pool are absolutely stunning, and the hotel is a definite must-visit if you are a Marriott fan!
Save Avios with British Airways’ Multi-Carrier Award
The Oneworld alliance has a unique feature called Multi-Carrier Award, which means if an itinerary involves multiple airline partners, the pricing of the award will adopt a different chart, and it could cost significantly less than travelling on a sole airline.
Airlines have different definitions of multi-carrier and also different pricing systems. You could find BA’s relevant page here. Basically it applies whenever your itinerary includes at least two Oneworld airlines (whether BA is one of them or not), and the following chart is for economy class redemption:
The only deciding factor is your travel distance, whether it’s one-way, open-jaw or return. In general the longer you travel the sweeter the deal becomes, and for other cabin classes you simply multiply the Avios by a factor accordingly:
- Premium Economy: 1.5x
- Business: 2x
- First: 3x
By comparison, the multiplying factors of BA’s regular redemption chart for long-haul flights are roughly 2x, 3x and 4x, although it’s just approximation and varies by distance.
It doesn’t take a genius to tell multi-carrier awards on business or first class can have tremendous value, although the latter is probably much less practical due to availability. An ultra-long 50,000-mile around-the-globe trip in business class costs only 480,000 Avios, plus other fees.
BA’s website can actually price such awards correctly. For example if you want to book Tokyo Narita – Kuala Lumpur – Singapore:
The first option which is a multi-carrier award, costs 35,000 Avios in economy and 70,000 Avios in business. The second option on the other hand, falls into BA’s regular partner redemption and costs 26,750 Avios and 74,500 Avios respectively.
Unfortunately BA’s award search engine doesn’t handle open-jaw or complex itineraries, which are what multi-carrier awards are designed for. You’ll have to come up with your itinerary, make sure there’s availability for each segment yourself, and than call BA’s customer service to book.
Qatar Airways to adopt Avios as its loyalty currency, and free 2,500 Avios for everyone
Qatar Airways, out of nowhere, has announced its decision to switch its loyalty program currency from Qmiles to Avios.
[Implications]
There are currently four airlines using Avios as their currency:
- British Airways
- Aer Lingus
- Iberia
- Vueling, which is a subdivision of Iberia
Although no more details are disclosed yet, we believe that Avios will work in a similar fashion with Qatar Airways. Qatar Airways will have its own partners and rates for earning / spending Avios, but a member’s accounts between all airlines can be linked and Avios can be transferred between them. Otherwise it makes no sense to have one Avios program totally separated from the others.
Existing Qmiles will become Avios at 1:1 ratio. Qpoints and Qcredits will remain in place.
The new move benefits us in four ways:
First, Qatar Airways has a few airline partners that aren’t part of Oneworld. You’ll soon be able to redeem your Avios on flights with:
- Bangkok Airways
- JetBlue
- MEA
- Oman Air
- RwandAir
Second, Qatar Airways has a different redemption chart with British Airways, and redemptions on certain route may be considerably cheaper. You could move your Avios over from BA and save, like what many are already doing with Iberia’s MAD-JFK route.
Third, Qatar Airways also has some exclusive non-airline partners. For example, you could convert Qmiles to Acoor points, although the ratio isn’t appealing.
Last, if you fly a lot with Qatar Airways, you may want to credit your flights to their Privilege Club instead of BA’s Executive Club to enjoy better benefits, while still earning Avios.
[Promotions]
If you are not a member of the Privilege Club yet, register using this link gives you 2,500 Qmiles straightway, which will become 2,500 Avios at some point. You’ll earn an additional 5,000 Qmiles if crediting an eligible QR flight by September 30.
If you are a student, don’t forget to participate in their Student Club program, which offers up to 20% discount on air fares, plus other benefits including additional check-in allowance and fast track status.
Enjoy free breakfast, room upgrade, $100 credit and more with Mastercard Travel Services
Amex has FHR and Visa has its Luxury Hotel program, and it shouldn’t surprise you that Mastercard runs a similar hotel booking service too.
The service is called Mastercard Travel & Lifestyle, provided by TEN. You must validate your eligibility by entering the card number, and then if approved you could create an account to access more information. It’s unclear what cards are eligible as it’s likely down to the individual contracts between banks and Mastercard, but in general you need a premium card such as the World Elite.
Mastercard World Elite is no longer rare in the UK. I vaguely remember that HSBC Premier World Elite was participating, but it doesn’t work anymore, and I’m not sure if my memory is wrong or the partnership has been withdrawn. My Curve Metal doesn’t work either.
Anyway you should give your Mastercard a go. Finally my China-issued World Elite card works and I gained access to the platform. Similar to Amex they offer priority restaurant reservations and early access to event tickets, but I’ll focus on the hotel-booking part today.
If you perform a hotel search, you’ll see hotels with a green label indicating that they are part of the Mastercard Luxury Hotels collection:
Apologies for the Chinese text and confusing price in CNY – it seems to be bound by the card issuing country and I can’t switch the language or currency.
There are 37 labelled properties in London, and here are some rate / benefit examples:
Their database of room types seems quite messed up, which is very often inconsistent with what the hotels have on their end. However I don’t think it’s a big deal, and you should have an idea what the room type actually is anyway.
As you may have noticed, the benefits can be quite different from one property to the other. In fact if you are a veteran of the hotel games, you probably would know how it works at this point. Yes, unlike Amex Fine Hotels and Resorts, Mastercard doesn’t own its own program. Instead it acts as a travel agency which can book customers into individual hotel chains’ elite rates, such as:
- Hilton Impresario
- IHG Luxury & Lifestyle
- Marriott Stars & Luminous
- Hyatt Prive
I have talked briefly about such programs before. In general all such rates are on par with the Best Flexible Rate and earn points / night credits. In terms of benefits, they all come with room upgrade and late check-out, and on many occasions free breakfast and $50 or $100 on-property credit as well.
Sometimes these programs offer discount too which Mastercard should also be able to provide. For example, both Hilton Impresario and IHG Luxury & Lifestyle offer widely available 3-for-2 deals at the moment. Marriott on the other hand, offers 20% off for stays of three nights or longer at select properties.
You don’t pay anything to Mastercard. At the time of booking you need to provide a credit card as deposit, and then you’ll pay the hotel directly during your stay.
If you have access to the Mastercard Travel Services, I actually think it’s quite worthy of signing up. Its inclusion of so many hotel programs means it covers many more hotels than Amex FHR, and when there’s an offer like 3-for-2 it can be a really sweet deal. Note that you can’t book these rates without an agency – if you don’t have access to Mastercard Travel or similar platforms, you need to find a qualifying travel agent on Google and contact them, which obviously isn’t as easy or quick.
My review of Gainsborough Bath Hotel and Spa
As I’ve mentioned earlier, I’ve booked to stay at Gainsborough Bath for one night thanks to the $200 credit offered by Amex Platinum. It claims to be the only property in the UK with naturally heated thermal water!
Bath is a small town, and the hotel is only five minutes’ walk from the railway station.
The hotel is affiliated with Small Luxury Hotels, so you can redeem your Hyatt points here too. However it doesn’t come cheap – the hotel is Category 6 so usually requires 25,000 points per night, which is hardly a deal.
YTL is the property owner from Malaysia. They also own the Ritz Carlton at Kuala Lumpur, Koh Samui and Niseko, as well as the Monkey Island Estate and Glasshouse Edinburgh.
The lobby is small but neat, which kind of reminds me of the Marriott Park Lane hotel.
I arrived at 1.30pm and the room’s not ready yet. I came back again after lunch, and the receptionist offered to go and check the room for me, but never returned. The room’s finally ready at around 3.15pm.
The hotel staff are very familiar with FHR benefits. I’m upgraded one level to Executive.
It feels like a proper five-star hotel and I especially like the bedding.
An unadvertised perk is the room view – you can see the pool of a thermal spa next door.
But I also observed some teething issues with the room:
- TV has no signal
- The wardrobe door that triggers the sensor light wouldn’t shut
- There’s a step in the room which could be trip hazard
The experience isn’t complete without a visit to the famous Spa Village. You could pre-book a one-hour slot prior to your stay (highly recommended), and during your stay you may reserve more slots subject to availability.
The main pool:
Massage spots for neck and back:
Two other smaller pools at different temperature:
Sauna and steam room:
Lounge area:
The Brasserie is only open for breakfast at the moment. The service is fully a-la-carte with only three main options: Full English, Eggs Royale and Avocado Toast.
Food is pretty good and the coffee is truly tasty.
The Canvas Room has light lunch and afternoon tea service.
The Gainsborough Bar offers drinks from 6pm.
Despite the glitches my stay is overall positive, and the Spa Village is definitely worth a visit if you are a fan of jacuzzi and sauna etc. But would I spend £300 for a night here? The answer is probably no.
Select company employees can save 30% on their hotel stays with Marriott’s BreakAway program
Marriott sometimes offer fast track programs to select corporate partners. They have another scheme called BreakAway which offers discounted rates to employees from companies that presumably have corporate deals with Marriott.
You could view the offer page here. There are more than 200 names on that list, so if you work for a big company, it’s likely you are already eligible even if you aren’t aware. Some of the participating companies are: Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Siemens, Bosch, HP, Barclays, Citigroup, Accenture, Deloitte, PwC, Nike, L’Oreal and Estee Lauder.
The terms and how to use the rate are:
- Valid for stays from Thursday through Sunday
- Stay must include Friday or Saturday
- Promo code is XML
- Discount is up to 30%
- The rate is eligible for points and night credits
Note that BreakAway is a special rate that Marriott voluntarily offers to its partners, which is different to the individually negotiated corporate rates that these companies may be entitled to. The rate should be for personal (leisure) use only, which is why the weekend-stay restriction, although it’s mentioned that some hotels may waive it.
I’ve checked some hotels and listed the rates for comparison (BreakAway v.s. other best available rate):
- London Marriott County Hall £297 / £343
- London Marriott Marble Arch £153 / £177
- AC Hotel Manchester City Centre £102 / £103
- Aloft Birmingham Eastside £89 / £74
- The Glasshouse Edinburgh £229 / £218
- W Barcelona €325 / €329
- Hotel Bristol Vienna €210 / €255
- The Ritz-Carlton, Istanbul €207 / €247
- St Regis New York $737 / $818
- The Westin San Francisco $187 / $198
- Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre C$187 / C$222
The discount against Best Flexible Rate is more often closer to 10%, which makes it not competitive at all since most hotels would also have pre-paid rates or other deals. However there are also many generous hotels – Hotel Bristol Vienna for example offers a discount of 40%.
If you work for an eligible company, it’s something worth keeping in mind when you need to book a Marriott hotel. Remember that you need to show the business card / ID when you check in.
Introduction to Expedia’s rewards program
Like many other travel-booking platforms, Expedia also has its rewards scheme which provides members exclusive discount, perks and point-earning opportunities when you book with them.
[Membership Tiers]
Expedia Rewards has three tiers:
- Blue: entry level; benefits include 10% extra discount on participating hotels
- Silver: 10 trip elements required; benefits include 100% bonus points, VIP Access at select hotels and special customer service line
- Gold: 25 trip elements required; benefits include 200% bonus points, enhanced VIP Access at select hotels and special customer service line
The partnership between a hotel and Expedia is very different to one between them and say, Hilton or Marriott. Expedia doesn’t add any branding value or management assistance to the hotel, therefore you can’t expect them to provide substantial benefits to Expedia customers.
One trip element could be a flight ticket, a hotel room night, a holiday rental night, a car hire or an activity ticket. It’s relatively easier to move up the tier ladder, as bookings made for other people also count.
For a family of three, one flight booking earns three trip elements (note that return flight counts as one trip element only), and same for three attraction tickets. Note that however, trip elements are subject to a minimum spend of £20 per element.
If you are an HSBC Premier customer, you can upgrade to Gold immediately.
[Earn and Spend Points]
Expedia’s earning scheme is quite simple – you earn 1 point per £1 spent on hotel, car-rental, activity and flight & hotel package bookings, and:
- Silver members earn 1 additional point
- Gold members earn 2 additional points
- Bookings made in the app earn 1 addition point
- VIP Access hotel bookings earn 1 addition point
1 point is equal to 1p when redeemed against your future bookings. Note that for flight-only bookings you only earn 1 point / £5, and no bonus is applicable.
The most a Gold member can earn is 5 points / £1, which is equivalent to 5% cashback. It’s not ludicrous, but is the icing on the cake if you have good coupon codes.
[VIP Access]
Expedia has a collection of VIP Access hotels, where Silver and Gold members can enjoy exclusive perks when staying with them. Watch out for the VIP Access logo when you browse the search results:
If you are a user of Hotels.com you are probably already familiar with the concept, as both of them belong to the same company. It’s unclear what each individual property offers, but generally you could expect one or more of the following:
- Free breakfast
- F&B discount
- Room upgrade
- Early check-in
- Late Check-out
Since benefits are not outlined on paper, your experience might vary even for staying at the same hotel.