Hyatt Flash Sale - up to 30% off Asia-Pacific Properties

If you missed out on the previous Hyatt Flash Sale with up to 40% off Asia-Pacific properties, the flash sale is back with up to 30% off Asia-Pacific properties! Use the promotional code APF30 to access these rates! Albeit not as good, it's still a pretty decent deal if you have somewhere to go and have somehow missed out on the previous sale. 

Click on the following link to follow through to the promotional landing page:
http://www.hyatt.com/hyatt/specials/offers/offer-details_hotels_20.jsp?offerId=54652188

Booking Period: until 20 Jul 2014
Stay Period: until 31 Aug 2014

Save on your holiday with the Hyatt five-day flash promotion. Enjoy up to 30% off at Hyatt hotels across Asia Pacific. Book now through July 20, 2014 and stay by August 31, 2014. 

Starwood (Asia Pacific) - enjoy up to 50% off!

From now until 13 July 2014, take up to 50% off your hotel stays in a participating Starwood property in Asia-Pacific. This offer is valid for stays up until 31 October 2014. 

Click HERE for the promotional landing page. 

I had a rough look at properties in Singapore and the Sheraton Towers Singapore is enjoying 40% off BAR (S$228++ instead of S$380++). On the other hand, the newer Westin Singapore is getting only approximately 22% off BAR (S$304++ instead of S$390++). Do remember that these promotional rate reservations cannot be cancelled and cannot be modified after you make them. 

Up to 40% off Hyatt Properties in Asia-Pacific

Enjoy up to 40% off Hyatt hotels in Asia-Pacific using the promo code APF40 in this five-day flash promotion. You will have to enter this code under the "Special Off Code" box when searching for availability. 

Booking Period: Until 06 July 2014
Stay Period: Until 31 August 2014

Click HERE to access more information regarding this offer. 

If you are interested in new Hyatt Properties, feel free to check out one of the following hotels that have opened quite recently: 

Recent Openings:

• Andaz Tokyo 
• Park Hyatt Changbaishan
• Hyatt Regency Changbaishan
• Hyatt Regency Tianjin East
• Hyatt Regency Suzhou
• Hyatt Regency Chongming, Shanghai
• Hyatt Regency Phuket
• Hyatt Place Shenzhen Dongmen

Remember that this promotion gives up to 40% and therefore this promotion may differ from property to property. For example the Hyatt Gold Passport 5 Day Flash Sale rate at the Hyatt Regency Phuket is only 30% off the Hyatt Daily Rate. It is however a great deal if you're travelling between 02 July to 31 August 2014! 

If you have an existing status in one of the following programs, it may be a good idea to consider a Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Challenge to get complimentary breakfast or a complimentary suite upgrade:

Hilton Honors: Gold & Diamond
Marriott Rewards: Gold & Platinum
Starwood Preferred Guest: Platinum
IHG Rewards Club: Platinum

For more information regarding the Diamond Challenge and some of the cheapest Hyatt properties around Asia-Pacific to complete the challenge, please check out my previous post HERE. 

Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Challenge in Asia

One of the most highly rated hotel loyalty programs is the Hyatt Gold Passport. There are three main tiers of membership with different qualifying requirements in this program:

1. Hyatt Gold Passport Membership - None although sign-up is required
2. Platinum Membership - Five eligible stays or fifteen eligible nights
3. Diamond Membership - Twenty-five eligible stays or fifty eligible nights

The Hyatt Benefits

The Diamond Membership offers generous benefits for the member and here are the ones that matter (to me at least):

• 30% Points Bonus (total of 6.5 points per eligible US$1 spend)
• Upgrade to the best room upon arrival (excluding suites)
• Guaranteed club access with complimentary continental breakfast and evening hors d’oeuvres. Full breakfast is offered in hotels without a club lounge.
• Complimentary suite upgrade (guaranteed at time of reservation) four times annual on eligible paid nights (each upgrade is eligible for up to 7 consecutive nights).
• Welcome point bonus or F&B amenity
• Late check-out (up to 4pm)
• Access My Elite Rate - 20% off the daily rate on any standard room (subjected to availability)

Hyatt Points can be utilised for free stays or for upgrades but the greatest benefit in my opinion is the complimentary suite upgrade that is guaranteed at the time of reservation. If you're planning a special vacation for your family or friends, put your mind at east - you now know that your room will be upgraded to a suite! Although you can only use these four times a year, each upgrade lasts up to seven consecutive nights. 

Hyatt in Singapore

Once again, there are no credit cards in Singapore that give you instant Hyatt status. Qualifying for the Diamond Membership tier is extremely costly as most Hyatt properties here cost a lot. The cheapest room at the Grand Hyatt Singapore on an Advance Purchase rate will cost S$413 (approximately US$330) after eligible taxes a night. 

The Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Challenge 

With all that being said, you may request for a Hyatt Diamond Challenge - 12 eligible nights in 60 days. “Eligible nights” include published rates, corporate rates, AAA rates, senior rates, and even Points + Cash bookings. It is worth noting that you will get instant Diamond status (for the period of the challenge) alongside four suite upgrades that you will be able to utilise. Completing this challenge will give you the Diamond Membership status until February 2016 (02/2016). You will also receive 1,000 bonus points per night for the first six nights during this challenge.

Elite members with the following programs can request a Hyatt Diamond trial. Do note that you will most likely need to register at least one stay with your participating program before it will be approved.

Hilton Honors: Gold & Diamond
Marriott Rewards: Gold & Platinum
Starwood Preferred Guest: Platinum
IHG Rewards Club: Platinum

The easiest way to enrol for this Diamond Challenge will be to contact the Gold Passport team at goldpassport@hyatt.com and simply just ask them about the challenge. Be sure to supplement information from an aforementioned program in your email.

Hyatt Mattress Run in Asia

Mattress running for those who are unfamiliar with the term or concept, refers to staying in a hotel for the sole purpose of promotion qualification or collecting eligible nights towards a loyalty status. Since the only Hyatt property in Singapore (Grand Hyatt Singapore) is pretty costly as mentioned previously, mattress runs are not exactly feasible here. However, if you do happen to be a couple of nights short of completing your Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond challenge, you may wish to consider the following Hyatt properties that have relatively lower average price in Asia-Pacific - usually the Hyatt Regency properties but the Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur which offers great views of the city, is an amazing property for a reasonable price!  

Here are a couple of properties you may wish to consider for mattress runs around the region:

Hyatt Regency Bandung
Cheapest Room Rate (My Elite Rate): 80 SGD+ applicable taxes

Hyatt Regency Yogyakarta
Cheapest Room Rate (My Elite Rate): 95 SGD + applicable taxes

Hyatt Place Shenzhen Dongmen
Cheapest Room Rate (My Elite Rate): 108 SGD + applicable taxes

Hyatt Regency Hotel & Casino Manila
Cheapest Room Rate (My Elite Rate): 117 SGD + applicable taxes 

Hyatt Regency Phuket Resort 
Cheapest Room Rate (My Elite Rate): 145 SGD + applicable taxes

Hyatt Regency Kinabalu 
Cheapest Room Rate (My Elite Rate): 154 SGD + applicable taxes

Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Sha Tin
Cheapest Room Rate (My Elite Rate): 174 SGD + applicable taxes

Grand Hyatt Kuala Lumpur
Cheapest Room Rate (My Elite Rate): 187 SGD + applicable taxes

If there's anywhere else in Asia-Pacific that has relatively low room rates for completing the Hyatt Gold Passport Diamond Challenge, please do leave a message and let the rest of us know! 

My Elite Rate Terms and Conditions: Rate is valid for current Hyatt Gold Passport Platinum and Diamond members for reservations booked and stays actualized by December 31, 2014 at participating Hyatt hotels and resorts worldwide.  To qualify for My Elite Rate, Platinum and Diamond members must sign in to their membership account via Hyatt.com or contact a Worldwide Reservation Center and provide their Hyatt Gold Passport membership number at time of booking.  My Elite Rate is 20% off the Hyatt Daily rate, valid for only one room, and is non-transferrable.  Member must actually occupy the room. 

Hilton Honors (Gold) Review: A Perspective from Asia

Many have tried to quantify the perceived value of a Hilton Honors Point and discuss whether the Hilton Honors Reward Program is a worthwhile one to stay loyal to. However, most of these analysis were done from a standpoint of a traveller from US. This article will evaluate the popular hotel loyalty program from the standpoint of a traveller in the Asia-Pacific. 

The clear difference would be that travellers in this region do not have that many properties to choose. In Singapore, there's only the Hilton and Conrad brands which are a lot more expensive as compared to most Hilton Garden Inns or Hampton Inns. As such, it is much more difficult to obtain (and retain) statuses in this region. With that being said, I understand that there are various other methods in getting a Hilton Gold status without even staying a single night. The most straightforward one would be simply holding a Visa Infinite type credit card. However, such credit cards generally have a high minimum income requirement of S$120,000 and it's not an easy one to meet especially if you've only just started working. 

The usual way to earn the Hilton Honors Gold status is to complete one of the following:

1. 20 stays in a calendar year, or
2. 40 nights in a calendar year, or
3. 75,000 HHonors Base Points in a calendar year.

With that, you will receive the following benefits (some I care about - the good benefits - and the rest I do not really care about): 

The Good Benefits

• 25% Elite Status Bonus - this is particularly useful in Asia-Pacific where earning points is a lot harder than it is with a co-branded credit card. 
• Room Upgrade (subjected to availability) - I have gotten many executive room upgrades with this benefit alone. 
• Complimentary Internet (wireless and in-room) - some properties charge as much as S$29 per day of internet so having that for free definitely helps. 
• Spouse stays free (pay only single occupancy rates) - booking a single occupancy room will save you a little money. 
• Late Checkout (subjected to availability) - gotten up to 3pm usually. 
• 5th Night Free (for standard room reward stays of five nights or more) - haven't actually utilised this yet but this may be useful in a Category 1 or 2 property. 

The Rest

• Express Checkout - might be good if you're working but I've never spent more than 5 minutes at checkout before.
• Complimentary Access to Fitness Centers and Health Clubs - all the hotels I have stayed in come with pool and gym access. 
• Two Complimentary Bottles of Water - these can be easily refilled by asking housekeeping and is definitely not a Gold benefit.
• eCheck-In - you're probably better off in scoring an upgrade at the actual check-in time but this may be great to see what is available or if you are simply having one of those days where you do not wish to speak to people. 

That being said, you can almost definitely expect more from participating properties in Asia for being a Hilton Gold member. Personally I've stayed in the Hilton Singapore multiple times (due to its proximity to Orchard Road) and I've (almost) always gotten an upgrade to an Executive Room (with lounge access). At the Conrad Centennial Singapore, I've gotten a one-tier upgrade into the Executive Room (with lounge access) for booking the Business Room. I will be staying at the Conrad Bangkok pretty soon and I've heard from seasoned travellers that they usually accord a two-tier upgrade to Gold members - much like the Hilton Singapore! Full breakfast has also been given to me at all the Hilton properties that I have stayed in in Asia. I have an upcoming stay in Melbourne (Australia) soon and we'll see how that goes. 

Credit Cards for HHonors Points in Singapore

Conversely, I have also heard that the Gold status does not work as well in many countries which include the United States of America. This can be possibly attributed to the ease in obtaining a Gold status through the application of a credit card. As mentioned in a much earlier post, earning Hilton Honors Points can be comparatively difficult in Singapore where we do not have a co-branded credit card. For earning 4 HH Points per S$1 at eligible departmental stores and merchants, we have the Citibank Rewards Card. There isn't really one card that we can utilise for all other purchases that earns HH Points at a decent rate. The Citibank Premiermiles Visa gives you 1.8 HH Points per S$1 (effectively) while the American Express version of this card gives you 2.1 HH Points per S$1 of local spend. If you spend a lot in foreign currency, the Citibank Premiermiles American Express gives you 3.75 HH Points per S$1 but you do have to put up with less than ideal currency conversion rates. Otherwise, the American Express Rewards Card gives you 1.875 HH Points per dollar if you hit the minimum S$5,000 annual spend. 

For those of us in Singapore who are keen on mattress runs can consider the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Johor Bahru next door which is scheduled to open in July 2014. Being a Category 1 property, room rates start at MYR 334 (incl. taxes) for an Advance Purchase. Free nights can be redeemed at 5,000 points per night. However, this option is currently not showing any availability - I have previously been able to access Points & Money Rewards rate but I am unable to find them as of this moment. 

On the other hand however, Hilton always offers a range of offers for properties in Asia-Pacific - you can even enjoy up to 40% off hotel stays by taking advantage of Hilton's current promotion.

Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) - Going for GOLD

The Westin Singapore officially opened its doors (again) in November last year after an absence of 12 years. To many frequent travellers, the addition of a new Starwood property spells excitement as there is more to choose from. Like other Starwood properties, The Westin Singapore participates in the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program which allows you to earn Starpoints on eligible hotel spend. 

There are three main tiers in the SPG program - Preferred, Gold and Platinum. Within the Platinum category, there are further sub tiers to reward the frequent and business travellers. Unlike other hotel programs that expire with every year (through a re-qualification process, you may reach a lifetime status under this program, disabling the need to re-qualify for Gold or Platinum statuses - a major incentive to remain to SPG! However such lifetime statuses are difficult to qualify and usually requires a minimum period of 10 elite years. 

Amongst other benefits, the SPG Gold tier allows for a 4pm late checkout, an upgrade (that does not include suites) and a welcome gift (in the form of bonus Starpoints, a welcome drink or complimentary internet access). Full details on the Gold tier benefits can be found here. The usual qualification process requires 10 eligible stays or 25 eligible nights in a calendar year. However, if you hold a World MasterCard in the Asia Pacific region (excluding Japan), you can qualify for the Gold status with as little as just one eligible night stay.

You may sign up for this promotion here.

Upgrade to the Gold status will take up to 4 weeks after your stay. For a cheap way to gain this status, you may consider the Aloft Kuala Lumpur property at Kuala Lumpur Sentral or the Sheraton Singapore if you do not wish to leave the country. Do remember that you need register for the program first, and you have to book directly with the hotel (not through Agoda or online travel agents) in order to qualify for this promotion. Also do note that status earned after 1 April of each year will last longer in absolute terms. 

Additionally, if you book before 6 April 2014, you may qualify for the Book Early or Stay Longer promotion (in Asia Pacific properties only), giving you up to 50% and 10% off respectively. So go on and get your well-deserved Gold status with SPG and enjoy your Gold benefits for a year.