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Are the new Amex Platinum Hilton, Melia and Shangri-La benefits worth much?

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As I announced on HfP last week, and subsequently confirmed to cardholders in writing, American Express has added three new hotel benefits to the Platinum charge card package:

Hilton HHonors Gold status

MeliaRewards Gold status

Shangri-La Golden Circle Jade status

However, it is also removing Le Club AccorHotels Platinum status as a benefit from the end of April.

It is worth looking more closely at each of these statuses to see if they are actually worth anything or not.

Here is the ground rule for this article.  Because I am old and cynical, I do not trust anything unless it has the word ‘guaranteed’ in front of it.

There are no circumstances under which I will move my business to a hotel because I may or may not receive a status benefit ‘subject to availability’, which can mean anything.  The one thing you can be sure that ‘subject to availability’ does NOT mean is ‘as long as we can physically manage your request, you can definitely have it’.  That isn’t how it works.

The end game here is when you pull out your mobile phone in a hotel lobby, after being refused a non-guaranteed upgrade because ‘the hotel is full’, to show the check-in clerk exactly how many rooms mysteriously seem to be available for that night – for cash.  If you’ve never done this, I promise you, the day will come.

First up is Hilton HHonors Gold

This is the mid tier Hilton status.  Hilton is generally known for having the best mid-tier benefits package in the hotel industry, which is good news for you.  Gold does not carry a lot of weight in North America, where hotels are overrun with Gold members, but it does often carry some respect in Europe and Asia.

The key benefit here is free continental breakfast.

With the exception of Waldorf-Astoria hotels, you will receive a free breakfast of some sort at all Hilton, Conrad, Curio and DoubleTree hotels.  This is not necessarily full breakfast – at the Conrad New York, for example, I was given a special Gold breakfast menu which allowed me to pick a couple of items from a short list.

(At a Waldorf-Astoria you will get 1,000 bonus points instead, worth £3, or a free in-room movie.  You will also get a handful of points at other brands not listed above.)

You should also receive some sort of upgrade – this is a guaranteed benefit although it is not clearly defined.  You shouldn’t expect too much, often just the best room in the category you booked, but you should get something.  You will also receive two free bottle of water per stay.

Hilton Gold used to bring free internet but that is now available to everyone.  It does not get you free hi-speed internet access, where a paid premium service exists.  This is restricted to top tier Diamond members.

The other benefits of Hilton Gold, which I do not hugely value, are:

  • 25% bonus points
  • late check-out (not guaranteed)
  • 2nd guest stays free (only useful in countries which tend to charge more for two people, eg Germany)

You will also qualify for the ‘book 5 nights and pay for 4’ Hilton HHonors redemption benefit which is offered to all status members.

Overall, because of the sheer size of the Hilton chain and the guaranteed breakfast, and to a lesser extent the guaranteed upgrade, this is by far the best of the new benefits.

You can see the official list of Gold benefits here.

Innside exterior

Melia Rewards Gold

Melia is a Spanish-based hotel group.  The key brands are Sol, Tryp, Melia, Gran Melia, Paradisius, ME and INNSiDE.  Their London team has always been very proactive towards Head for Points, sponsoring a competition a couple of years ago for example, but their scale outside Iberia is not huge.

In the UK, they have a number of impressive but not very well known hotels which you may want to try with your new Gold status:

ME London, the Norman Foster designed hotel on the Strand which has a good reputation.  Think of a hotel like The Trafalgar nearby or a more sophisticated W.

Melia White House, a surprisingly pleasant art deco era hotel near Regents Park

INNSiDE Manchester, the first UK outpost for Melia’s four-star business brand.  The image above is of the hotel.  I reviewed INNSiDE Manchester last year and was very impressed.  Glasgow and Birmingham properties will follow over the next couple of years.

Melia Rewards Gold offers the following benefits:

  • 30% bonus points
  • free breakfast for a companion (so 2-4-1)
  • free wi-fi
  • 3 x 20% off vouchers for room bookings
  • 4pm late check-out at city hotels, 2pm at resorts

Late check-out IS guaranteed but only as long as the hotel is not 100% full.  You will also receive free wi-fi.  There is no upgrade benefit.

Overall, there isn’t much here to persuade me to move a stay to Melia EXCEPT for the ‘almost guaranteed’ 4pm check-out.  That could be important on a short break if you have a late flight back.

Shangri La Shard

Shangri-La Golden Circle Jade

Shangri-La has only a limited presence in Europe via its luxurious properties in London (in The Shard) and Paris.  It has a large presence in Asia, however, and also operates the lower priced Traders, Hotel Jen and Kerry brands.

Your Jade status will get you:

  • 25% bonus points
  • “Priority upgrade to the next available best room category, if the reserved room type is not available at check-in” (I have no idea what this is meant to mean!)
  • 11am check-in and 4pm check-out (not guaranteed, and many hotels including London and Paris do not offer it at all)
  • choice of welcome amenity
  • free breakfast
  • partner stays free (in hotels which charge more for double occupancy)

This could work out well for anyone planning to travel in Asia.  The 4pm check-out, if ‘available’ and as long as your hotel is not on the excluded list, is handy.  All you are guaranteed is the free breakfast and a welcome amenity but overall I think you could do quite well from the benefits above if your hotel was playing ball.

Conclusion

The big question is whether these new benefits offset the loss of Accor Platinum.  That is a top tier status (all of the above are mid tier) with guaranteed lounge access at Sofitel, welcome drinks and upgrades.  Overall – and this is a personal thing – I think I will get more out of Hilton Gold than I did from Accor Platinum, simply because Hilton has a bigger footprint.

I don’t put much value on the Melia and Shangri-La cards, to be honest, and I doubt that I will even sign up for them at this stage.  I have enough plastic cards in the house as it is ….

If you are thinking of applying for the American Express Platinum charge card to take advantage of these new benefits, you can find out more in my review here.

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Category

Accor Live Limitless, Hilton Honors, MeliaRewards, Shangri-La Circle

Comments (89)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • Alan says:
    12 Feb12 February 06:20

    Where did you read about guaranteed upgrades for HHonors gold? I’ve been platinum for over a year, and stayed multiple times, but never (ever!) got upgraded. Last time was at the Doubletree in Amsterdam – our friends with no status were upgraded and we weren’t. I then checked online and they still had available rooms for the night at 23:45.
    Compared to Carlson that upgrade us every single time we stay it’s a huge difference!

    • James says:
      12 Feb12 February 06:42

      It says on the t&c’s “space available upgrade to a preferred room”

      Did you ask them why you wasn’t receiving an upgraded room?

  • Nathan says:
    12 Feb12 February 06:38

    Interesting that you mention the Internet at hiltons. I am diamond yet always seem to end up on the very poor standard wifi. Stayed at the Hilton Bankside recently and the premium wifi was showing as a paid for service. I will certainly challenge this in future if diamond members get premium Internet 🙂

    Got a stay at the Hilton in Bangkok on Monday so will report back 🙂

    • Metatone says:
      12 Feb12 February 07:21

      At Bankside I just used the premium wifi and as Diamond they knew not to charge me for it.

    • Daniel says:
      12 Feb12 February 17:59

      at Conrad Dublin they simply removed it from my bill at the end (without asking).

  • Chris H says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:04

    Don’t forget that if you don’t get upgraded at a Waldorf you get both the points and the film. Best to leave the setting to points then complain when you’re charged for the film at checkout…

  • Chelseafi says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:08

    I’m looking at getting the Amex plat, Do you know what you get or might get with a family of 4 staying in one room in a double tree in Milwaukee? I also have the HH Barclaycard working on the £750 spend for my free night as part of my five night stay, am I ok using the free night for family of four in one room, provided a reward room is available? Thanks

    • James says:
      12 Feb12 February 07:29

      Most likely just a room with a better view. It entirely depends I think on what they have available and what the hotel is willing to do, there are no hard and fast rules as I can see. When i stayed at the Hilton park lane I got automatically upgraded to a higher floor (though not an executive floor) and when I have politely asked if I may be given access to the lounge he obliged. He didn’t have to but he did. Definitely a case of ymmv I think. As for the barclaycard voucher it is valid for a standard entry level room I believe.

      • Rob says:
        12 Feb12 February 08:53

        Oddly, when I booked Hilton Park Lane for my brother last year (as a Gold) they gave him a huge suite!

        • Metatone says:
          12 Feb12 February 09:39

          I’ll definitely miss Accor at airports, e.g. at both LHR T5 and LGW they have the best combination of convenience and offering. However, that is a big miss for me! Also, I got lucky with triple offers and piled up a nice set of Iberia points. Always treated well too.

          Have to say not thrilled that we’re getting Hilton Gold instead. Hilton Diamond (or at least Gold with a defined and good value challenge path) would be much more equivalent. Diamond has been good to me so far, but I only got it through status match with Accor. Hilton Gold isn’t going to get much in the way of interesting matches.

          Melia & Shangri-La, really not great geography for me, but it may suit others. Further issue is that the ME/Shard price range isn’t a sweet spot for us. There are some really great boutique hotels which both suit us better and are cheaper.

          I’m curious about the Melia White House though…

          • Metatone says:
            12 Feb12 February 09:41

            Oops, replied to the wrong thread.

            Comment on upgrades, back when I was top tier and well known at a couple of Radisson Edwardians they gave me some insight into the upgrade landscape. Demand in London varies a lot more than we see from the outside. It only takes one block booking to kill off your upgrade potential in a smaller hotel…

          • Rob says:
            12 Feb12 February 10:23

            I’ve no idea what the rooms are like at the White House, for clarity. However, Melia’s London team is based there so I have been in the lobby, restaurant, lounge etc a few times and it is pleasant.

          • Andrew (@andrewseftel) says:
            12 Feb12 February 11:02

            I’ve stayed a couple times at the White House (albeit ~3 years ago). Wasn’t massively impressed: unacceptably long queues at check-in and check-out for a business traveller, rooms a bit small, dark and dated with poor noise proofing, breakfast started out good (unusually for a London hotel, even used to have cava) but declined in quality over the ~2 year period, bar expensive even by London hotel standards.

            I ended up shifting my business to the Radisson Grafton a few mins away. The base level rooms are tiny, but I almost always got cracking upgrades as a low/mid-level CC member.

  • Nick says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:12

    Anyone know if the Business Platinum Card will get any of these benefits?

  • Mr Bridge says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:19

    loss of accor for me, is enough to end my plat amex membership.

    • Sebastian says:
      12 Feb12 February 07:56

      Same here, Accor is a handy status as I always get a great upgrade, lounge access when there, drinks and most of the time 4pm checkout. For me, whilst it is nice to get Hilton Gold (I am a diamond) as back-up if I lose my diamond membership, I know that this is incredibly easy to win owing to the amount of status challenges Hilton offer on it. The Accor status is a massive loss and with the Plat Amex at £450 per year, I am disinclined to continuing paying, especially when the earning rate is only 1for1, there are FX fees and the concierge is nothing of the sort.

      • Ben says:
        12 Feb12 February 09:43

        My thoughts exactly. I’ve experienced a consistent welcome at Accor hotels all over Europe (bar one), with Novotel being particularly good – free espresso machine in the room! The one bad apple was the snooty MGallery Molitor in Paris – Accor’s home turf – which was clearly too posh to recognise status 🙂

        I pay the Platinum fee because I need my business travel to ‘just work’ – and the loss of Accor status is a big blow to that. The excellent, hassle-free car hire cover and travel insurance are the only things left that I use. Mid-tier status at a couple of unknown chains? Shabby.

        • DeltaCharlie says:
          12 Feb12 February 10:18

          Exactly the same here. With FHR the only real benefit above the insurance.
          I don’t really like Hilton as a brand and I am Diamond anyway, the other 2 are offering nothing. It getting hard to justify the £450.00 this year!

  • James says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:33

    I like Hilton but the upgrades are more miss than hit… Even when rooms are available for cash. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t be bothered to challenge most of the time.

    Am Diamond now so will compare this year (only one stay so far – no upgrade :P)

    • Simmo says:
      12 Feb12 February 11:00

      I’m really surprised by this! – I cannot ever remember not having an upgrade as a HH Gold.
      My 2015 Gold stays were 100% upgrades. also 2015/16 as Diamond been 100% too.
      I have Vienna, Wembley, Phoenix, Phuket, Bournemouth booked so far in 2016, and the Wembley one has been upgraded already.

      Hilton have taken 70% of my 2015/16 hotel reservations, over a 2014 at IHG and limited upgrades as Platinum.

      Diamond:
      Malta – Booked exec – Received Large Two room Suite with 3 Terraces with lounge
      Gatwick – Booked Standard – Received Exec with lounge
      Reading – Booked 3 Standard rooms – All 3 received deluxe

      Gold:
      Wembley – Booked Standard – Received Corner Suite
      Wembley – Booked Standard – Receive Exec Room with lounge access
      Wembley – Booked Standard – Receive Wembley view with lounge access
      Phuket (Karon) – Booked Sea View Junior Suite – Received Full suite with lounge access
      Bangkok Doubletree – Booked standard – Received Superior
      Bangkok Sukhumvit – Booked Deluxe – Received Executive with Lounge
      Bangkok Millennium – Booked Exec – Received huge Suite with lounge
      Heathrow T5 – booked Standard – Received Exec with Lounge
      Heathrow T5 – booked Standard – Received Exec with Lounge
      Reading – Booked 2 Standard rooms – All received deluxe
      Prague Old Town – Booked Exec – Received Exec Premium

      • James says:
        12 Feb12 February 16:21

        You did a lot better than me! A lot of my stays were in the USA or motorway Hilton’s in the UK. Am at the Conrad Dubai at the weekend so fingers crossed for a suite 🙂

        • Sebastian says:
          12 Feb12 February 22:48

          US you’ve got no chance of an upgrade as pretty much everyone in the building has Gold status.

  • NickM says:
    12 Feb12 February 07:40

    Every time this year I mull over the thought of cancelling my AMEX Platinum. With the c£400 due next month the removal of Accor again makes me wonder whether its really worth it. I use Accor all the time because of this benefit, plus use airport lounges and the travel insurance. But thats it. With it being taking away I might tell Amex to stick the card. The new benefits don’t seem to suit UK users of the card. I am surprised there wasn’t another price hike when the letter dropped this week outlining the benefits.

    • Rashad says:
      12 Feb12 February 15:30

      Just to mention in regards with VIP lounge card, AmEx cancel it immediately upon cancelling your AmEx platinum, but does not cancel your Accor Platinum status

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