Changes to the Priority Guest Rewards Program

The Priority Guest Rewards program has just announced a series of changes to the program. Priority Guest Rewards is the loyalty programs of the Event Hotels group, which includes chains such as QT, Rydges and Atura.

There are a whole raft of changes being made. These changes include:

• a new silver lever as the entry level
• changes to the qualification criteria for the various status levels
• the qualification period moving to a rolling 12 month period
• changes to the way you earn and redeem points

The changes are set to come in effect from 20 August 2024.

Priority Guest Rewards Changes August 2024

New Entry Level – Silver

At present, the basic membership level in the program is the Gold level. As from 20 August 2024, a new Silver level is being introduced. This new level will have limited benefits in the new program – even less than the existing base level Gold.

Qualification Level Changes

With the introduction of the silver level, PGR are changing the qualification requirements for the other levels.

In the case of Gold, there are no criteria at the moment, as it is the entry level. From 20 August, you will need to stay at least 2 times, and have at least 5 hotel room nights. These requirements are not onerous, but are a step up from no requirement at all. It is worth noting that you do need to achieve both the stay and nights requirements.

Platinum currently kicks in after you have had at least 5 stays or at least 10 room nights. This will be changing to requiring 4 or more stays and at least 10 room nights. While this reduces the number of stays by one, it is worth noting that you need to have both 4 stays and 10 room nights. This is a change from the one or the other situation. Whether this makes it easier or harder to attain Platinum depends on your stay patterns.

Finally, the Black level will move to an invitation only level. At present this requires 10 stays or 30 room nights. While the benefits of black are quite good, the move to an invitation only level is likely to help PGR control numbers at this level. As such, I think this will be a harder level to attain.

Benefit Changes

The new basic Silver membership level sees lower levels of benefits than is currently the case. At the silver level member will be offered a 5% discount on F&B (Gold is currently 20%). In addition, member rates will be available for online bookings, however it does not appear to be a guaranteed discount. Members on the introductory level will no longer receive a welcome drink. In addition, they are not eligible for early check-in, lat check-out or room upgrades.

Members at the Gold level will not be eligible for early check-in or room upgrades.

Changes to Qualification Period

At present, qualifications for a particular tier are based on a calendar year. From 20 August, PGR will be moving to a 12 month rolling period. As such, PGR will assess your tier based on 12 month periods. This will apply to both qualifications and renewals of status. That means that whenever you go up a level, you will then have 12 months from that date to retain your level.

Points Earning

At present, the points you earn are determined solely on your tier level. At the entry level you earn 10 points per night. Platinum level members are offered 15 points per night. Finally Black level members are offered 20 points per night.

This will be changing to a more complex arrangement that takes into account the hotel you are staying at. PGR have divided their hotels into 5 groups. Well, there are actually 4 groups as group 5 has no member hotels. You will then earn points based on both your tier and the hotel that you stayed in.

The silver tier forms the base earnings level for each group, and the other levels are given a bonus on top of the base earning. For Gold level members there is a 25% bonus, platinum level members get a 50% bonus, while finally those on the Black tier get a 100% bonus.

The earnings rates are as follows

Redeeming Points

The number of points needed for a free night will also be based on which group the hotel is in. Group 1 hotels will require the most points, as shown in the following table

Final Words

While these changes affect all members, the biggest changes are at the two ends. That is those on the entry level and those on the Black tier. For those on the entry level, benefits are being wound back. At the other end of the spectrum, the Black tier is becoming an invitation only level.

It is worth noting that members will retain their current status level on 20 August. From that date, they will have 12 months to renew their level. If they fail to do so, they will drop a level in August next year.