Thanks to status matches, challenges, and credit cards, earning top-tier elite status is as easy as ever. Having top-tier status with a hotel chain can save you hundreds of dollars on travel via complimentary breakfast, club lounge access, waived parking/resort fees, and more. However, sometimes you might find yourself without status, in which case there are alternative ways you can still earn elite benefits. Here are four of the best options:
American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts
American Express Fine Hotels & Resorts is known for their incredibly generous booking benefits. American Express Platinum and Business Platinum cardholders get access to an impressive line-up of benefits that mimic elite status:
- Complimentary room upgrade, based on availability
- Daily breakfast for two
- Guaranteed 4 PM late check-out
- Noon check-in, based on availability
- Complimentary Wifi
- On-site food, beverage, or spa credit.
This is pretty much what you can expect as a top-tier elite member, minus the ability to confirm an upgrade ahead of time. But nonetheless, these benefits are great for people who don’t have elite status and still want access to money-saving benefits.
Amex Travel
The Amex Travel website is available to all American Express cardholders. It does display Amex FHR rates/benefits along with the occasional lower hotel rates. What’s interesting about Amex Travel is that it sometimes displays extra perks at hotels that aren’t part of the FHR program. For example, when you look up New York City hotels on the Amex FHR website, the Andaz 5th Avenue is not listed.
However, the hotel does appear on the Amex Travel website…alongside a note that Amex Platinum cardholders are eligible for a $75 hotel credit and room upgrade, based on availability. The same offer is available at the Kimpton Muse Hotel. So while most people think of Amex Travel as a standard booking site, some of the hotels listed on this site (which aren’t part of Amex FHR) still offer elite-type benefits.
Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection
Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection offers the same benefits at pretty much all 900+ hotels they partner with. Eligible cardholders who book through this site get complimentary room upgrades (based on availability) and wifi, daily continental breakfast for two, $25 on-site food and beverage credit and 3 PM status. What does a “continental breakfast” entail? It depends on the property. At the Andaz 5th Avenue, I was told the continental breakfast consists of the following items for each person:
- 1 coffee
- 1 juice
- 1 bakery item (one bagel, one pastry or two toasts)
- 1 seasonal fruit
That’s pretty generous, though all of these items together end up costing more than a hot dish and a single drink. So it would be nice if instead of item restrictions, they offered a credit instead. Some hotels, like The Towers at Lotte New York Palace, offer cardholders daily breakfast credits as high as $100 per day. Several others offer every 3rd and 4th night free. So the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection is no joke. Credit cards that qualify for these benefits include the Chase Sapphire Preferred, Sapphire Reserve, and Bank of America Alaska Card, to name a few.
MasterCard World Travel
Mastercard’s general travel booking site has been down for a while, but MasterCard World Elite cardholders can still get elite-type benefits on this page. Benefits vary by hotel, but generally, cardholders will get late check-out/early check-in, room upgrades free breakfast or a $50 – $100 on-site credit. Participating hotels include the Grand Hyatt Singapore, Intercontinental Bali, and many more. There are also lots of boutique hotels on the list, which is really ideal for those times when you want a change from the norm without giving up elite benefits. Which cards qualify you for these offers? Pretty much any “World Elite” MasterCard, like the Barclay Arrival Plus and Barclay AAdvantage Aviator Red World Elite MasterCard.
Having hotel elite status is certainly valuable, but you don’t need to go out of your way to earn it. It’s nice to be able to get some of these perks just by booking through a specific site. Of course, you’ll want to make sure you’re not paying substantially more for these added elite-type benefits. In my experience, that is usually not the case. That being said, I want to hear from you. Have you booked through one of these websites before in order to secure elite status? I’d love to know what your experience was like at the hotel. Did you get a room upgrade? How was the breakfast benefit delivered?
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Delta® Reserve for Business
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