[Updated on 09 April 2020]

With the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spreading rapidly, many travellers have put their travel plans on hold - plenty of conferences and international meetings have also been placed on hold in view of that. Hotel occupancy rates in affected cities and countries are at an all-time low and as such, some of the major hotel loyalty programs announced automatic elite status extensions for members residing in affected areas. World of Hyatt and Golden Circle used to have the most generous status extension policy but Hilton Honors has just announced that elite statuses will be extended for all members globally.

Hilton Honors - Status Extended until 31 March 2022 (or 31 March 2021 if you did not qualify in 2019) for All Members!

All Hilton Honors elite members will now have their status extended by another 12 months - if your status was due to be downgraded on 31 March 2020, it will now be extended until 31 March 2021. If you have qualified for 2020 and was supposed to have it valid until 31 March 2021, you will now have it through to 31 March 2022!

All eligible Hilton Honors members with an address in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan on and before 19 February 2020 will get to enjoy an extension to their elite statuses as well. If you are an affected Hilton Honors member who did not qualify for status in 2019, your status will now be extended until 31 March 2021 (from 31 March 2020). If you did manage to re-qualify last year, your elite status will last until 31 March 2022.

Shangri-La Golden Circle - Status Extended until 31 December 2021 for All Members Globally

Shangri-La Group has just announced that they will be extending tier status for all Diamond and Jade members globally - this is regardless of where your residential address is. All elite members in the Golden Circle program will maintain their current elite tier status and benefits until 31 December 2021 and this extended validity will be reflected in your profiles with immediate effect. It goes without saying that this is the most generous offer amongst all the hotel loyalty programs. Additionally, Shangri-La Group will also extend its cancellation waiver policy for all guests travelling to any of our hotels in Greater China, and for guests who plan to travel from Greater China and Korea to any of our hotels globally, on or before 31 March 2020. The Group will waive the cancellation charges regardless of booking channel for bookings made prior to 1 March 2020.

Accor Live Limitless (ALL) - Status Extended until 31 December 2021 for All Members

All Accor Live Limitless members will now enjoy a status extension through 31 December 2021. Additionally all status nights and points awarded between 01 July 2020 and 31 December 2020 will be rolled over to 2021 to allow you to earn elite status faster for the year ahead.

Accor Live Limitless members with a registered address in Mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR or Taiwan as of 15 February 2020 will have their elite statuses extended until 31 December 2021. Additionally, ALL Rewards Points with expiry between 01 February 2020 and 31 January 2021 will have their expiry halted and any expired points will be reinstated for affected members.

Photo Credit: World of Hyatt

World of Hyatt - Status Extended until 28 February 2022 for All Requalified Members

Hyatt hotels is giving all its World of Hyatt loyalty programme members a one-year extension on the elite benefits they earn.

While Hyatt did not officially announce a cut-off date, they made the announcement on 19 February that elite status in the World of Hyatt program will be extended for all eligible members with residential addresses in the Asia-Pacific region. Qualifying World of Hyatt Discoverist, Explorist, and Globalist members will see a refreshed tier expiration of 28 February 2022, instead of 28 February 2021 if they have qualified in 2019. These updates are expected to be reflected in affected members' accounts by 31 March 2020. Expiry dates on Suite Upgrade Awards, Club Access Awards as well as Free Night Awards will also be extended until 31 December 2021 for affected members.

IHG Rewards Club - Status Extended until 31 January 2022 for All Members

IHG Rewards Club will be extending the status of all elite members (Gold, Platinum and Spire Elite) through the end of January 2022.

If your registered address in the IHG Rewards Club program was in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan before 17 February 2020, your elite status (Gold, Platinum or Spire Elite) with the program will be extended until 31 December 2021.

If you have purchased or renewed an InterContinental Ambassador membership between 01 January 2019 to 30 June 2019, your membership (along with your free weekend night voucher) will be extended for another six months. All IHG Rewards Club points will also expire on and after 01 January 2021 regardless of status activity - it will be extended for another 12 months from your last date of qualifying activity.

Marriott Bonvoy - Status Extended until 28 February 2022 (or February 2021) for All Members

It only took Marriott Bonvoy a few weeks more (than her competitors) to announce a status extension for all members globally - earned status in 2019 (which were initially supposed to expire in February 2021) will be extended to February 2022, giving you an additional year of elite benefits.

Marriott Bonvoy members with addresses in Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan on and before 01 February 2020 will get to enjoy a status extension until 28 February 2022.

Many hotels in the Asia-Pacific region have been suffering with the COVID-19 outbreak. Some restaurants in hotels have closed, staff have been forced to go on leave and occupancy is at an all-time low. It would be interesting to see whether any of the aforementioned loyalty programs (apart from World of Hyatt, which has been the most generous of them all) will extend this perk to members in the Asia-Pacific region.