In conjunction with her tenth birthday celebration, The St. Regis Singapore has partnered up with Bentley to offer discerning guests an opportunity to experience A Luxurious Journey with Bentley from now until 30 November 2018. Check out what is included in this luxurious room package now!

As some of you may already know, I went to Kuala Lumpur for two consecutive weekends in order to complete a status challenge with Starwood Preferred Guest before the official merger that took place sometime in August. Since I have never stayed in an Element-branded property before and the one in Kuala Lumpur looks pretty nice, I decided to book the One Bedroom Skyline Suites at the Element Kuala Lumpur for the weekend. Honestly the suites are really big and the space feels a little awkward since a lot of it is just emptiness but the low room rates here make this property a great choice for budget-conscious travellers.

I visited Kuala Lumpur a number of times last month to complete a series of mattress runs as I wanted to achieve SPG Platinum Elite before the program merges officially on 18 August 2018. I visited the Le Meridien Kuala Lumpur and stayed in one of the newly-renovated Le Meridien Club Rooms!

In case you have been asleep for the last week or so, the unification of the Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards as well as the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) programmes has happened over the weekend (and is continuing to do so right now). Members logging in to their Marriott Rewards account should now be given the option to 'combine your accounts' - doing so will allow you to pool all those elite nights, points and bookings together.

Marriott Rewards, The Ritz-Carlton Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) now operate under one set of unified benefits and one currency that spans across the entire portfolio of 29 brands - in case you have not realised, you can now merge your SPG and Marriott Rewards account into a unified account so you can get to your next elite status level quicker! Marriott International is also providing members with another way to earn more points (even without a stay) - members are able to earn points across 2,200 participating restaurants and bars in Asia-Pacific. More importantly, members are also awarded with an exclusive F&B discount (up to 20%) based on the status level in the unified Marriott Rewards program.

I have recently signed-up for the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) Platinum Elite Status Challenge which requires me to do 18 eligible nights over a span of 90 days. With the upcoming loyalty program merger which is supposed to happen in August 2018, I wanted to obtain Platinum Elite status since hitting 50 nights might be a little bit of a challenge for me (since I barely travel for work). If you have not done it and would like to qualify on stays instead, Marriott Rewards is offering the opportunity to do 9 stays in 90 days and this will port over to Platinum Premier Elite (instead of a lower-tier Platinum Elite with SPG) in August if your challenge is completed successfully.

This is probably the last time Starpoints are going for 35% off - you have until 20 July 2018 to purchase up to 30,000 Starpoints and receive a massive discount off the regular price. As you should already know, the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program will be merging with Marriott Rewards and Ritz-Carlton Rewards in August 2018 so if you do take advantage of this promotion, the 30,000 Starpoints will be converted into 90,000 Marriott Rewards points in August.

The 150-room (inclusive of 18 suites) W Kuala Lumpur is currently taking room reservations from October 2018 even though the official website still states that the property will be opening on 31 August 2018 at the time of writing.