Author: Mark

Last year. AccorHotels announced that it was going to allow a number of independent hotels to use its booking system. The ‘marketplace’, as AccorHotels calls it, was setup to allow independent hotels to leverage the AccorHotels distribution network. The rollout has now extended to over 500 hotels, including hotels in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. While the partner hotels do not participate in the Le Club Accorhotels program, you may be able to earn points while staying at a partner hotel booked through AccorHotels channels. However, while there are 500 hotels in the AccorHotels distribution network there are far fewer that…

Marriott Rewards has announced the addition of three new features to its program. The features being added are late checkout for Gold and Platinum members, an experiences marketplace, and a concierge service. On the surface, the new features seem to be a result of their recently announced takeover of Starwood Across social media, there was a bit of a backlash from Starwood enthusiasts that are concerned about what the takeover means for the Starwood program. While Marriott and Starwood have confirmed that the programs will be merged in some form, that is down the track, and there are very few…

Velocity has announced some forthcoming updates to its Family Pooling feature within the Frequent Flyer program. The changes, which are slated to take affect from April 27, 2016 are described by Velocity as follows: ‘Pilot Gold’ members will be permitted to participate in a Family Pool as either a contributor or a beneficiary Limitations to the number of contributor and beneficiary changes within a Family Pool will apply as follows: a.) A beneficiary will be permitted to have a maximum of 5 Contributing Accounts in any calendar year b.) A contributor may contribute to a maximum of two Beneficiary Accounts…

IHG Rewards has launched a new promotion offering double points on incidentals charged to your room bill while staying in-house at a particpating hotel.  Participating hotels include InterContinental®, Crowne Plaza®, Hotel Indigo®, Holiday Inn® hotels and resorts across Asia Pacific (excluding China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), Middle East and Africa. Note that Holiday Inn Express is not listed in the particpating brand list. This is normally considered a separate brand by IHG Rewards, so looks to be excluded from this promotion. In order to earn bonus points under this promotion, any eligible incidental spend will need to be charged to…

Qantas today announced two changes to the Qantas Frequent Flyer scheme, to make the program more family friendly. The changes are the introduction of a Status Hold for those on parental leave, and the introduction of more generous limits of Family Transfers. Status Hold Introduced Effective immediately, Qantas is introducing a new Status Hold feature to the program. Under the Status Hold, Silver, Gold and Platinum members will be able to put their status on hold for up to 18 months while on parental leave. Note that the Status Hold feature does not extend to the Platinum One level –…

Several months ago, Marriott launched a takeover bid for Starwood. The intervening months have seen a bit of a corporate saga, with alternate bids from Chinese insurer Anbang being received. This has now all been resolved with the merger of the two companies now having received stockholder support. As a result, the first details of the Starwood Integration into Marriott have been advised. So it is now official – Starwood and Marriott will merge to form a single company. From a timeline point of view, the deal is expected to close mid-year. From the customer point of view, there is…

Velocity has added a new redemption option – the ability to use point to purchase flights with Tigerair Australia. In addition, it is possible to use Velocity Points to pay for other items in the booking process, such as Baggage, Seat Selection, and Food. Note that insurance looks to be an exception, and points cannot be used ofr this. Unlike Virgin Australia flights, there are no specific Award seats put aside for redemption. Basically, if there is a seat avaliable on a flight, then you can use points to purchase the flights. In this respect, it is most similar to…

Flybuys has launched a new travel website, allowing you to earn and burn Flybuys points. You can earn Flybuys points while purchasing Flights, Accommodation or Rental Car services. In addition, there are options available ot redeem Flybuys points for the travel services. As a launch deal, Flybuys is offering 5 Flybuys points per dollar on all spend on Flights, Accommodation or Rental Cards. The promotion is running through until April 19, 2016. After that time, the earn rate will revert to the normal earn rate of 1 Flybuys point per dollar. In addition, you can redeem Flybuys points to pay…

Over the last week or so, Macquarie has been advising holders of a range of cards that they will no longer earn points when making payments to the ATO, or when making BPay payments. The changes, which are set to take effect from May 11, 2016 will affect the following cards: Macquarie Rewards Cards Macquarie Qantas Platinum and Black Cards Macquarie Hilton HHonors card Woolworths Money Qantas Rewards Card The specific wording of the messages has varied, but pretty much contained the same message. For the Woolworths Money Qantas Platinum Card, the advise was similar to the following screenshot: At…

From next year, Le Club AccorHotels will be making some changes (or in Le Club AccorHotels parlance, ‘evolving’) to the way status in the program is determined, as well as making changes to the timeframes that status is valid for. Le Club AccorHotels has set up a page on their website dedicated to the change, and is worth a read to get the full details. Status Calculation In 2017, Le Club Accor Hotels will be introducing the concepts of Reward Points and Status Points. This is a change from the current situation, where all points are created equally, and are…