Some people take their memberships in hotel loyalty rewards programs very seriously and with good reason. At its basic, benefits for loyal travelers usually include accumulation of points with each stay that can be redeemed for free nights and flights on partner airlines. Other benefits may include early check-in and late check-out, complimentary upgrades, discounts, and more personalized service.
In celebration of their Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) benefits launching March 1, Starwood polled nearly 10,000 SPG members who travel 25 times or more per year on their travel habits and feelings toward hotel loyalty rewards programs. Some of the surprising finds are:
- If they could only take item with them when traveling, 73 percent of respondents would rather take their benefits in a hotel loyalty rewards program than their spouse or significant other.
- Half of respondents said that hotel loyalty programs are more important to them than credit-card (19 percent) and airline loyalty programs (13 percent).
- More than half of respondents (65 percent) said that losing their hotel loyalty program status is scarier that losing their luggage (12 percent) or missing a flight (11 percent).
Considering that those polled are frequent travelers who probably rack up a lot of points, their fervor for hotel loyalty rewards programs is not surprising. But are such programs worth it for people who don't live their lives on the road? The answer is, for some programs, yes. Here are some hotel loyalty rewards programs that are free to join and provides it members with instant benefits, even if you stay just once:
Enroll in the Fairmont President's Club and you'll get complimentary in-room Internet access, health club access (not including spas), daily delivery of a newspaper, express check-in and check-out, in-room delivery of workout gear and equipment, airline miles, exclusive savings on Fairmont getaways, discounts on spa treatments and products, and much more.
Some of the perks that Omni Select Guest Program provides members include free Wi-Fi, a beverage on night of arrival (may be alcoholic), morning beverage delivery (nonalcoholic), bottled water nightly, early check-in and late check-out, newspaper delivery, evening housekeeping service, and room upgrades.
Benefits immediately available to members include free internet access, free domestic long-distance calls, and express check-in.
With these instant perks, you will save a few bucks and feel a little more special for doing nothing more than filling out a form. There's really no excuse to not join the programs above if you plan on staying at one of their properties in the future. Pretty soon, you may be so hooked that your membership card trumps your spouse!
Want instant notification of travel deals and news? Subscribe to be alerted when there is a new article.
Comments