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Hilton targeted offers: 4,000 or double points
Hilton hasn’t had targeted offers for a while, but now they are back.
There are two versions that I know:
You must register by December 31st, 2024. Remember these are targeted offers, so most people won’t be eligible.
Should you get Wechat for exclusive hotel offers?
China is a big and important consumer market for many businesses, and the hospitality sector is no differrent. In fact, all major hotel groups including Hilton, IHG, Marriott and Accor treat Greater China as an individual segment, separate from Asia Pacific.
As a result, they occasionally publish exclusive offers for just members in Greater China. You don’t actually need to be residing in China to participate, but the main hurdle is you can only take part via Wechat.
Wechat was at the beginning an instant messenger similar to Whatsapp. However it’s now grown into a massive one-stop shop where you can make payment, buy takeaways / cinema tickets, and book hotels. Many of these are implemented in the form of “mini programs”, which are apps inside the Wechat app.
The aforementioned exclusive offers are delivered in such mini programs. I just got 200 Hyatt points by clicking a button from Hyatt’s Chinese New Year promotion.
And 200 IHG points last week from a similar offer.
Wechat isn’t very user friendly to non-Chinese speakers though. If I remember correctly you need two existing users to verify your identity when you create a new account. Although the app has multi-language support, those mini programs are available in Chinese only.
There’s one mini program called Badazhou that I love and use a lot. It is a travel agency that’s automated their integration with Virtuoso, IHG Luxury and Lifestyle, Marriott Stars, Hilton Impresario plus many other exclusive hotel programs. Booking such rates has been made so much easier, as you don’t need to email or call anyone for anything.
Marriott Q1: double elite credits and 1,000 bonus points
There were rumours last week about a repeating Marriott offer from last year, which turned out to be true. You could sign up to Marriott’s 1000 Times Yes offer here.
- Register by April 15th
- Stay between February 13th and April 29th
- Earn 1,000 bonus points per paid night, plus double elite night credits
It is exactly the same Q1 offer as 2023. If you are wondering why February 13th, Chinese New Year is on February 10th so Marriott expects enough demand and no need for a promotion before that date.
It is a great offer to score some elite night credits for status, the annual choice benefit or lifetime status, but remember that only paid nights count. Marriott awarded its China members many night credits a few months ago and many regretted have stayed too much, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen again this year.
GHA D$20 for completing a survey
(Edit: now fixed and only works for targeted members)
GHA sent out a new survey lately, and it’s your chance to earn some free D$!
To participate, use this link https://bondb.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0q4vCM59tu6Vgai?CUSTOM1= and add your membership number in the end. It’s not a public offer, but I don’t think it’s targeted either.
The survey takes 5-10 minutes to complete, and you’ll earn D$20 as a reward in the end.
The reward will hit your account by February 16th. I’ve had a couple of experiences redeeming D$ now and it’s usually quite easy. My main complaint is, D$ earned though promotions such as this one is usually very short-lived, with a 6-month or even 3-month expiry, and thus very restricted.
New IHG targeted offers: 8K points every 4 nights and more
IHG currently has a double point promotion which ends at the end of January. They have just revealed the next round of promotion, which seems to have different targeted versions.
We have found two versions at the moment:
You check try signing up and see if you are eligible. For both offers, Stay between February 1 and March 31 to earn the bonus, and nights don’t need to be consecutive.
20% off and free lounge access at Japan’s Oriental Hotels
Quite a niche offer I know, but it might come handy when you visit Japan. Smart Traveller, Plaza Premium’s membership program, has an ongoing promotion with Japan’s Oriental Hotels group which gives away upgrade to their Oriental Partner Passport status.
Oriental owns a few hotels in Japan, some branded Hilton, Sheraton and Holiday Inn. Only the Oriental branded hotels are participating though, and there are a handful in Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Okinawa and Kobe etc. You can expect the following benefits at these hotels:
- 20% off best flexible rate
- 25% off restaurant bills
- Free lounge access when applicable
It turns out the room discount can sometimes be greater than 20%, for example at 30%, and is still flexible.
Only three hotels have an executibe lounge:
- Kobe Meriken Park Oriental Hotel
- Oriental Hotel Okinawa Resort & Spa
- Okinawa Harborview Hotel
You must book the special rate for lounge access, and it generously applies to up to 3 rooms!
It seems that you don’t have to be a staying guest to avail the dining discount.
Once you’ve signed up with the link, the upgrade should be added to your account within a few days, after which you could start booking the special rate.
Earn double IHG points in January 2024
You can now register for IHG’s new promotion which is valid for the January of 2024.
- Stay between January 1st and 31st
- Earn double points for all stays
It is quite straightforward and needs no further explanation. It’s not the most interesting promotion but there’s unlikely to be anything else on the table until February at least.
New Marriott / Singapore partnership that fast tracks you to Star Alliance Gold (but with a catch)
Marriott Bonvoy has had long-standing partnerships with airlines including United and Emirates. A new name has just been added to the list – Singapore Airlines. You can view the promotion details and link your accounts here.
[Marriott Bonvoy]
- Gold: Two flights within six months for Krisflyer Silver
- Platinum and Above: instant Krisflyer Silver, and four flights within six months for Krisflyer Gold
- Booking class G and award tickets are excluded
Matched / upgraded status is valid for 12 months. As the challenge starts immediately once you’ve linked your accounts, wait till you have relevant flight plans.
One biggest catch is how a “flight” is defined. I’ve seen at least three response emails from SG already, and here’s one of them on China’s FlyerT forum:
In addition, a few data points concerning the ongoing Infinite Journey promotion they have with Shangri-La confirm that it is indeed based on bookings not segments. This is bad news as you can’t complete the challenge in one return trip of four flight segments.
(Update: we’ve now received a data point and a reader was upgraded after one PNR of four segments.)
If you are based in Singapore / Southeast Asia it is still relatively easy (and cheap).
There’s also a “hack” for European residents, as SQ has a fifth-freedom flight between Milan and Barcelona.
Four one-ways cost about €400 (with the discount offered by Trip.com). KrisFlyer Silver is next to useless. Krisflyer Gold however, gives you extensive benefits including priority check-in, extra baggage allowance and business lounge across the Star Alliance network.
[Singapore Krisflyer]
- Silver: stay three nights within 6 months for Marriott Silver
- Gold: instant Marriott Gold, and stay ten nights within 6 months for Marriott Platinum
If you are currently Marriott Platinum and above, you could complete the Krisflyer Gold challenge, and at some point link back for the Marriott Challenge, if they allow it.
[Shangri-La Circle]
In case you have Shangri-La Jade membership that’s due to expire, you should participate in the Infinite Journey promotion first if you haven’t done so already. Similarly you’ll get Krisflyer Silver and then need to fly three times in four months to upgrade to Gold.
After 12 months you could then re-do the challenge through Marriott’s offer – their terms explicitly say that previous status match promotions don’t preclude you from being eligible.