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GHA Platinum / Titanium match for Mastercard holders
GHA has recently launched its new program, and their status match promotion with Mastercard has also been extended accordingly. In theory it’s only intended for Mastercard holders in Asia Pacific, however it may work out more easily than you think in practice.
[GHA Titanium]
World Elite cardholders enjoy instant upgrade to GHA Titanium:
- Register for Mastercard Travel and Lifestyle Services
- Link your World Elite card to your profile
- Send a request using the same email address with your GHA membership number
Your card membership is verified by MTLS, so you must hold a World Elite Mastercard issued in Asia Pacific to qualify.
[GHA Platinum]
World, Platinum and Titanium cardholders enjoy instant upgrade to GHA Platinum:
- Send a request to [email protected] with your GHA membership number and Mastercard BIN (first six digits)
The match doesn’t go through Mastercard, and you only need the first six digits of a qualifying Mastercard to apply. It won’t be difficult to figure the BIN out, however GHA has always been very generous to match / give away its Platinum status so it’s not a surprising move to be honest.
7,500 Bonus Miles and Qatar Airways Silver Fast Track
Qatar airways has re-launched their sign-up offer from last year. It makes sense to sign up if you intend to fly with them in the next few months.
The offer page is here. To participate you need to enter code OALSMH121 (which is already pre-populated) during the sign-up process.
You’ll receive 2,500 bonus miles straightaway when your account is created. And after your first revenue flight operated and marketed by Qatar Airways, you’ll receive a further 5,000 bonus miles plus 50 Qpoints.
7,500 bonus miles is a good welcome gift, and 50 Qpoints is no doubt an icing on the cake – starting from scratch you need 150 Qpoints to reach Privilege Club’s Silver status.
Qatar Airways has recently reverted its huge devaluation to the Privilege Club program, and it’s not a bad idea to join if you fly frequently with them. You need to sign up by September 30, and take the first flight by December 31.
Success: Hyatt Globalist challenge registration
(UPDATE: I successfully registered for this promotion via Andaz London Liverpool Street)
I wrote about the new Hyatt status challenge offer not long ago, and decided to give it a try myself. Although I don’t see myself being able to stay 20 nights for the bump to Globalist, Explorist benefits are also nice in case I’ll stay at any Hyatt hotels by the end of this year.
I emailed Andaz London Liverpool Street, the reason being I have just completed my first-ever Hyatt stay there in June. The sales department had never heard of this offer so I forwarded the following poster to them:
It didn’t take them long to come back to me, saying that the registration had been done 🙂 The new status was reflected in my account the following day:
So give it a go if you are interested. There’s another similar challenge available to American Airlines elite members, however less generous as you have only 90 days for Explorist trial and to complete the challenge.
Free Ascott Platinum status and 35% off voucher
If you missed our previous articles, Ascott is a Singapore-based hospitality group focused on service apartments operating across the globe. It’s got multiple properties in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as other locations in Europe.
If you prefer serviced apartment to usual hotels, don’t forget to claim your free Platinum status with Ascott. All you need to do is visit this page and sign in with your credentials, and your status will be upgraded immediately. If you do not have an account yet you’ll need to create one.
It’s a promotion for Mastercard World Elite cardholders in Asia Pacific, however there’s no verification at all. Since they are a niche group, and Platinum doesn’t get you very far in terms of benefits, I don’t think they care enough to guardrail this offer.
Platinum members get room upgrade, early check-in and late check-out at participating hotels. You also get free breakfast in Europe (presumably continental only) and airport transfer in the Middle East.
A 35% voucher will also be deposited into your account once you’ve activated the offer. The voucher is valid through January next year and can save substantially if you have a longer stay.
World of Hyatt status challenge relaunches – 20 nights to Globalist
Compared to other major hotel groups Hyatt rarely provides status match or fast track opportunities. Something new has just come out though, and you should take a look if you have any upcoming Hyatt stays.
The following poster has been shared on FlyerT (a Chinese FFP forum), and looks very credible:
In short:
- You need to register by November 30
- You receive an instant upgrade to Explorist upon registration, which is valid through 2021
- Stay 10 nights by December 31 to extend the status to February 2023
- Stay an additional 10 nights by December 31 for an upgrade to Globalist
If you are already an Explorist, you could also register and fast track to Globalist for 20 nights. Given that the standard qualification criteria have been halved for the current year, this offer isn’t actually hugely generous, as you’d otherwise need to stay 15 and 30 nights to qualify for Explorist and Globalist respectively.
Hyatt Explorist enjoys bonus points, room upgrade and late check-out. Globalist receives the enhanced version of them plus free breakfast and club lounge access.
The offer doesn’t look targeted or regional to me, however you can’t register yourself – you must contact the sales representative of a Hyatt hotel and ask if they could sign you up. According to the discussions on FlyerT, some hotels’ sales departments are indeed aware of the offer and happy to help.
Marriott status challenge offer is back
Historically Marriott has offered status challenge opportunities to its members as a way to achieve higher status faster. The route was shut after the SPG merger, and a status match initiative was alive for a short while as an alternative last year. It appears though, that the status challenge has finally made its way back.
Marriott has an official service account on Wechat in China, which has shared the following information (HT @Invic)：
To participate, you must call Marriott’s customer service to enrol. Upon registration, you have 90 days to complete the status challenge.
- The promotion started on May 18
- You must have had at least one eligible stay with Marriott in the past
- You need 8 qualifying nights within the 90 days to upgrade to Gold, or 16 nights for Platinum
- Only paid nights count; Homes & Villas and Marriott Executive Apartments are excluded
Note that your status won’t be upgraded until you have completed the challenge, and if successful, it will be valid through February 2023.
It usually requires 50 nights to achieve Marriott’s Platinum status, and 16 nights is a good discount. Considering the substantial benefits that come with it, don’t forget to sign up if you have upcoming stays with Marriott.
Extend your GHA status by staying just once
If you currently hold GHA Black or Platinum status, there may be an unpublicised perk to easily extend its validity.
There was some sort of fast track campaign from GHA with a Chinese bank last year, and many people attained Black status through it which is valid through the end of 2021. Surprisingly, I’ve been informed by quite a few of them that their status is extended by another year, after just one eligible stay at a GHA hotel.
Not all of them got the status via the bank promotion, so it appears to be working on everyone who holds status. It’s definitely non-official and I’m not sure what’s happening here. One thing we know though, is that GHA doesn’t have any announcement regarding status extension or lowering the requirement for this year yet, so this might just be something they are secretively doing at the backstage.
If you currently hold GHA status (especially Black), you should probably consider staying at one of their hotels for a potential one-year extension. There are xix hotels in the UK:
- Corinthia London
- The Bloomsbury
- The Kensington
- The Marylebone
- The Bristol
- The Machrie Hotel & Golf Links
If you don’t currently hold status with them but are pondering a stay soon, you could always status match or get Platinum status by purchasing a magazine – read more here.
WorldHotels status match campaign
I’m sure you’ve heard of the Best Western hotel chain, but you may not realise that they have a sister chain WorldHotels which is offering status match opportunities.
You can access the offer page here. If you hold elite status with another hotel group, you can send an email to the designated address with relevant information to apply for a match. It’s funny as when the campaign was first launched, you only needed to select your hotel program and status from a dropdown list without showing any proof, and they obviously decided to close that loophole.
The highest status, Diamond Select, presumably requires 50 nights or 40 stays in the competitor’s program. Note that WorldHotels shares the same membership database with Best Western, so there’s no need to participate if you already hold status with the latter.
The matched status is valid through January 2022, and here is the benefit list for different tiers:
Don’t expect much though, as the top-tier gets you no more than priority check-in, late check-out and room upgrade subject to availability. Judging from the stories I’ve heard about Best Western, I doubt these hotels will be very good at recognising elite benefits either.
There are only five participating hotels in the UK, all of which are in London:
- Courthouse Hotel London
- Courthouse Hotel Shoreditch
- Royal Garden Hotel
- The Caesar Hotel
- The Washington Mayfair Hotel
There is a better spread in China, Japan and Germany. I have no idea what sort of qualify you should expect from their hotels, but I do know there are some excellent ones in their portfolio. The White Swan in Guangzhou for example, is well-received and deemed one of the best hotels in this Chinese city.