Which hotel scheme requires the least spend for top tier status?

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• BJ says:

  15 Apr15 April 05:35

  It seems Hyatt are status matching Hilton, IHG and Marriott at the moment.

  • Harry T says:

    15 Apr15 April 06:05

    I think that’s only in Greater China.

    • BJ says:

      15 Apr15 April 06:33

      Ah ok, just seen a headline elsewhere.

      • LittleNick says:

        15 Apr15 April 08:00

        You got me too excited!

        • BJ says:

          15 Apr15 April 09:48

          Well, at least you enjoyed the moment 🙂

• Timothy Firmager says:

  15 Apr15 April 06:03

  With IHG One Rewards there are a couple of cheaper ways to earn status – a couple of my suggestions below. It would be really interesting to read some follow up articles about tips/tricks to reduce the cost/make faster earning top tier status across all of the loyalty schemes.

  (1) Having Intercontinental Ambassador status (paid for) gives you Platinum IHG status.
  (2) on most paid stays, when making the booking on their website/app, IHG offer bonus point purchases up to a max number per night (usually around £5 for 1,000 chunks), which are qualifying points for status. If you consistently buy the maximum allowed per night (3,000 to 5,000 depending on brand), this significantly reduces the overall cos to get to Diamond.

  • John says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:11

    Many Hotel Indigos are doing £19 for 5000

    While it reduces the cost of status it also significantly increases the cost of the stays as you have to use flexible rates, and often you can convert to prepaid 2-3 days before and still take £20 off the price, so the 5000 points actually cost £39

    • TGLoyalty says:

      15 Apr15 April 09:52

      As you’re trying to hit a spend based loyalty renewal target does it really matter? Especially if it’s your own personal business spend

      Plus prepaid and flexible aren’t the same, not everyone is certain they will stay. I prefer to book flex unless it’s in the next few days but in most case it’s mostly just flex by then anyway.

• Peter Boylan says:

  15 Apr15 April 06:58

  In the last few years I have started staying at Barcelo Group hotels and have managed to reach their top tier status, I presume on spend. However, i don’t know how their status tiers work in terms of requirements, especially on spend. Can you help?

• Tom says:

  15 Apr15 April 07:23

  This rubbish about Hyatt not being for high spenders again….

  I qualified for Globalist last year by spending over $20K, Globalist status is about 10x better than Marriott Ambassador (which I have given up caring about) which requires 100 ‘nights’ plus equivalent spend. Really not clear how Hyatt is not for me, Hyatt is also overwhelmingly luxury skewed so I think you’ll find a lot of people who otherwise stay at MO / FS type properties choose Hyatt as their ‘big corporate chain’ of choice (replacing SPG).

  You haven’t even got the milestone reward bit correct – you earn all the milestone rewards up to the 60 nights / $20K one…

  • Pete says:

    15 Apr15 April 07:34

    Can you please qualify “Globalist status is about 10x better than Marriott Ambassador” – how and why do you hold that opinion?

    • Tom says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:40

      I get better upgrades as Hyatt Globalist than I ever did as Marriott Ambassador (held it for about four years). The basic issue is Marriott is obliged to give an upgrade to everyone who is Platinum, Titanium and Ambassador, which is now 20%+ of guests at most 4.5 star hotels or above these days (probably much higher than this in US). Yes, technically hotels should probably prioritise Ambassadors for suites but many don’t and just give it to the first Platinum with a credit card who kicks off because they didn’t get a suite upgrade. It helps that the Hyatt properties are more my taste also.

      Maybe 10x better is difficult to quantify, but I definitely value Globalist at more than Ambassador.

  • Rob says:

    15 Apr15 April 07:36

    Do you? Will have a dig. Didn’t know that.

    • Stu_N says:

      15 Apr15 April 08:30

      Yes – the milestone rewards are nights/ base points. e.g. first one is 20 nights or 35K base points.

      Hyatt is very much working for me too – am Explorist but have a 100% success rate this year on upgrades and have been given various unpublished benefits like 50% off breakfast at Park Hyatt, club access at a regency and welcome amenity (bottle of wine/ very nice chocolates).

      • Gordon says:

        15 Apr15 April 08:46

        I am a leisure traveler, and Hyatt is my preferred brand, I don’t have any status to talk of, but have 100k points that I have put to good use for redemption bookings this year on Hyatt regency NBO at 9,500 points for standard room or 13,500 points for a club room. The A.I Ziva and Zilara properties are good in the respect that the whole spend is allocated points.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          15 Apr15 April 09:00

          Isn’t the whole nightly rate spend at all properties allocated points?

        • Gordon says:

          15 Apr15 April 09:15

          What I meant, is that an AI is inclusive of F&B so the rate is higher than just a room only, at most Hyatt properties, so it’s easier to get the points in one hit.

        • kpworldtravels says:

          15 Apr15 April 09:27

          Hyatt Regency NBO is vey good by the way. Good value for money (or points)

        • Gordon says:

          15 Apr15 April 09:39

          Yes, I was impressed by the redemption value there, it’s a brand new property with the indoor pool which looks nice.bar opened in may, I believe.
          I have around 6 nights there over my 3 week safari tour as a kind of base in Nairobi, I was going to book one night at each the other two in the same westlands area, “Hyatt house” and “Hyatt place” see what they were like, but they do not open until end of 2024, and I’m there in August/September for the great migration, The Hemingway in the Karen district looks exquisite, but expensive.

          Were you happy with your stay?

        • TGLoyalty says:

          15 Apr15 April 09:53

          @Gordon so Hyatt exclude F&B spend in the hotel for status base spend if it’s not AI?

        • Gordon says:

          15 Apr15 April 10:10

          @TGLoyalty, I’m not saying that, as I know that is not the case! What I did say is that I prefer the A.I properties, as I can pay one price and get one bill for everything, (I’ve had issues previously getting points credited for F&B which I purchased separately which is not worth the hassle tbh) which in my case I prefer, i would also add the staff and customer service at these properties is on point, not hit and miss at some Hyatt properties!

          That’s my preference, not everybody’s.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          15 Apr15 April 11:25

          Get you. Genuine question can count my Hyatt stays on one hand and those I spent any actual F&B with on a single digit.

        • Kpworldtravels says:

          15 Apr15 April 17:15

          @Gordon – I grew up in Nairobi and live in London now. As Im a travel agent Ive had clients stay at various properties. I wouldnt recommend moving around for 1 night stays in Nairobi as you will spend a lot of time in traffic. Hemingways is great but an older property. Sankara in westlands is good and so is the brand new JW Marriott which opened last month. If you have any questions about Nairobi or Kenya feel free to message me. I’m sure Rob can provide my contact.

        • Gordon says:

          15 Apr15 April 17:38

          @Kpworldtravels – Thank you for your reply, I am only using the Hyatt Regency as a stop when we fly into Nairobi and In between our flight to MBA And EBB as we need to fly to these destinations from NBO, and a couple of nights before we fly home, so basically just a rest stop. I will also look at your recommendations,
          Thank you for your offer of travel tips, I will approach Rob, as I just have a couple of questions.

• BSI1978 says:

  15 Apr15 April 08:52

  Find Hyatt works well for me also, currently Globalist and currently in Malta where I’ve been upgraded without fuss/issue (couple of recent London based stays wasn’t quite as smooth).

  Lounge access and breakfast both go a long way, and like Tom above, find the majority of Hyatt’s much more to my liking but appreciate this is all personal. Just wish they’d improve/increase their UK/regional footprint. Not one in Scotland aside from Schloss!

  • Stu_N says:

    15 Apr15 April 08:57

    There is a Hyatt Centric being built in Edinburgh; part of the Haymarket development.

    • Rob says:

      15 Apr15 April 09:16

      That’s nonsense as Leeds x2 opens this year and I’ve got a hard hat tour of PH London booked in.

      • Gordon says:

        15 Apr15 April 09:26

        The below sentence, as soon as you open the link gives that away. So not a clear indicator!

        “Hotels marked as pipeline do not reflect all hotels in Hyatt’s pipeline”.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        15 Apr15 April 09:57

        We all know that just funny how off it is for the U.K. … there’s that Hyatt Place in Paddington too so Atleast 4 more meant to be opening this year.

  • Rob says:

    15 Apr15 April 09:02

    Article tweaked, thanks for feedback.

    No-one disagrees that WoH is great. This article is more about where someone spending relatively large sums in one go could direct that spend to earn status – and it is clearly harder with Hyatt.

• BBbetter says:

  15 Apr15 April 09:25

  Which chain would people recommend for more chances of late checkout?

  • TGLoyalty says:

    15 Apr15 April 10:06

    Pretty sure only Marriott and Hyatt are the only two that guarantee late checkout.

    Personally great success rate with Marriott 4pm check out.

    IHG “subject to availability” is hit and miss and Hilton’s is non existent

  • Gordon says:

    15 Apr15 April 10:13

    You could always try booking through Emyr Thomas, for early check in or late check out, no guarantee though.

    • Rob says:

      15 Apr15 April 10:39

      Hyatt Globalist and Marriott Platinum and above guarantee 4pm check-out (Marriott excludes ‘resorts’ and ‘convention hotels’.)

      Any hotel booked via Amex Fine Hotels & Resorts – if you have a Platinum card – comes with guaranteed 4pm.

      InterContinental Ambassador gets you guaranteed 4pm at InterCon’s if you pay $200 to join.

• John says:

  15 Apr15 April 17:37

  Of course the cheapest way by far to get Hilton Diamond status, if you qualify for it, is the $550 annual fee on a Hilton Hhonors Aspire Amex card.

  You do not have to charge anything to the card nor spend anything on stays either. Just having the card suffices.

  Need a US address, SSN and credit rating of course. But it serves to show how easy getting status is for Americans compared to here.

• Victor Charlie Ten says:

  17 Apr17 April 10:27

  Good article but no mention of Wyndham Rewards? This often promotes itself as the most generous programme so would be good to see how it stacks up against the others.

  • Rob says:

    17 Apr17 April 10:29

    When they get more than a handful of hotels (mainly all rubbish) in Europe we might bother!

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