Jan
01
2023
Now that the year has reset, so have a number of credit card benefits, and elite ‘tasks.’ Here’s what I went through first thing in the morning on New Years Day.
Here Are My New Year’s Day Miles And Points Errands
elite benefits
Tag Archives for elite benefits.
New IHG Elite Benefits Are Live: Free Breakfast, Club Access, And Suite Upgrades
Jun
08
2022
You can read full benefit details here. Now that benefits are (mostly) live at hotels we’ll start to see how compliant properties are and how the new program works in practice. Regardless, there’s only improvements here in terms of benefits, addressing what has been the key weakness in the IHG program.
The Most Ignored American AAdvantage Status Benefit: Extra Award Availability
Jun
05
2022
United Airlines probably does the best job of making additional award space available to elite members (even Silver) along with cobrand credit card customers. That extra inventory is real.
What a lot of American AAdvantage members don’t realize is that Executive Platinum (and Concierge Key) members also have extra award availability.
American Airlines Elites Now Receive Status Benefits When Flying Gol
May
05
2022
American Airlines took a $200 million stake in Brazilian carrier Gol, after Delta stole LATAM from oneworld and a pending joint venture. Delta had to divest its ownership position in Gol to pull this off.
Gol is American’s exclusive codeshare partner in Brazil, and American is Gol’s exclusive codeshare partner in the U.S. And the relationship doesn’t just come with reciprocal earning and redemption of miles. Elite customers receive benefits across the two carriers.
IHG Already Tweaking Rules, Improving On New Elite Program Announced Yesterday
Apr
14
2022
IHG launched new elite benefits that include free breakfast for Diamonds, confirmed suite upgrades (as a choice benefit, starting at just 20 nights!), and club lounge access (another choice benefit).
There was just one problem I flagged. Not all benefits apply on award stays. The program changes are an improvement for everyone, to be sure, but not for everyone equally. And IHG One Rewards is addressing this.
Award Travelers: Don’t Get Too Excited – Yet – About The New IHG One Rewards Program
Apr
13
2022
While this new program is much more rewarding for chain loyalists, whether at 20 nights a year or 70, they haven’t applied these improvements consistently to treat reward nights rewardingly, so they aren’t yet treating members who earn benefits as valued when they’re cashing in their hard-earned points. Hopefully IHG will see this as a weakness and address and improve it. Terms and conditions matter when expecting hotels to comply, or addressing non-compliance with customer service. If this isn’t what the program intended, they’ll update the terms and conditions of these benefits accordingly.
Complete Guide To The New IHG Elite Program: Confirmed Suites, Lounge Access, And Breakfast
Apr
13
2022
IHG Rewards is now IHG One Rewards with a whole new set of elite benefits to go with the introduction of a new top elite tier, Diamond. I spoke with IHG’s Senior Vice President of Global Loyalty and Partnerships, Heather Balsley, both about the vision for the changes and the to get into the weeds about how new benefits will work.
In theory new elite benefits are better than Hilton’s, and some guests will prefer them over Marriott’s, but how valuable they are depends on the properties members stay at and how well those hotels deliver on promises.
This Marriott Hotel Charges Elite Members A Cash Co-Pay For Their Free Breakfast
Mar
26
2022
Gratuity is part of the cost of breakfast so for a breakfast to be considered complimentary guests must not be expected to pay cash out of pocket when they eat it. But the Delta Hotel Daytona Beach Oceanfront has figured out a way to charge elite guests a cash co-pay for their ‘free’ breakfast.
Extra Legroom Seats Are Now An Elite Benefit Of American-JetBlue Alliance
Mar
23
2022
American Airlines and JetBlue introduced reciprocal elite benefits this past fall. The major omission was reciprocal access to extra legroom seats, largely a function of JetBlue not even offering those to their own elite members.
However JetBlue has been rethinking its elite benefits and now both JetBlue and American elites gain access to extra legroom seats on both airlines along with additional new benefits.
Marriott Elite Breakfast Doesn’t Have To Include Coffee, That’ll Be Extra For Juice Too Ms. Titanium Elite
Mar
06
2022
Your ‘free breakfast’ as a Marriott Platinum, Titanium, or Ambassador member is allowed to come off of a special limited menu. And it does not even have to include juice or coffee.
And here’s the important context. Hotels can get away with virtually anything at Marriott, and hotels in this particular ownership group usually try.
