Who won ‘Best Hotel Loyalty Promotion 2019’ at the Head for Points Awards?

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

• RussellH says:

  2 Jan2 January 08:12

  Rob,

  You mention above that you had cancelled your Hilton Visa card, and so missed out on the triple points part of the offer.
  You have often mentioned locking a card away in a drawer, why did you not follow that strategy here?
  Same question to other readers too!

  • Alex W says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:21

    I think I cancelled mine because I believed that too many credit cards was bad for one’s credit rating. If I’d known 4 years later I still couldn’t apply for another one I might have kept it. Hindsight eh. I also wish I’d kept my IHG premium as I got rejected when I reapplied! Luckily Mrs W still has it and just managed to hit Spire purely from CC spending.

  • Russ says:

    2 Jan2 January 08:41

    I kept the card as I didn’t have many cards at the time plus it doesn’t cost me anything to hold. I just wish I’d gotten the other airline cards before they were pulled. As Alex W says – hindsight is a wonderful thing.

    • TGLoyalty says:

      2 Jan2 January 09:17

      The other airline cards were all replaced with other nine points cards though.

      Only Hilton and Marriott are still going from all of the old cards no longer available to new applicants.

      • TGLoyalty says:

        2 Jan2 January 09:17

        *none not nine

  • Rob says:

    2 Jan2 January 10:02

    I had a tidy up a few years ago. I was getting Hilton Gold via Plat and the earn rate was no better than converting Amex MR points.

    • Thomas Howard says:

      2 Jan2 January 10:34

      Are we likely to see Hilton or Marriott Visa/MasterCards launched this year? For me the Creation card is IHGs one redeeming feature.

      • Freddy says:

        2 Jan2 January 10:48

        The earning rate on a creation Marriott card would be a lot worse than the current amex card so hope there is no change there.

        • Rob says:

          2 Jan2 January 11:01

          The Creation Marriott card was 1 point per £1 so not exactly lifechanging vs 3 per £1 on the SPG Amex, albeit there was a £75 fee there.

        • Charlieface says:

          2 Jan2 January 14:08

          There was also 2000 bonus points a year and 10 night credits, it’s a shame Amex don’t offer that.

    • Crafty says:

      2 Jan2 January 11:51

      Wow, you must regret that. I find it an extremely lucrative card. I was lucky that I was between churns at the time it was withdrawn.

• John says:

  2 Jan2 January 10:47

  Hi Rob,

  My IHG status is still Spire despite not qualifying for it since 2016. I bought Amb in 2017 which extended it to end of 2018, and was not demoted for 2019 (which I recall happened to you too). It looks like it has stuck for 2020.

  I have averaged fewer than 10 paid nights at IHG per year and around 10-15 reward nights.

  In other news, thanks to BA for renewing both my and my wife’s Silver following the birth of our son in May 2019. I earned 200 TPs and my wife 0 (our BA year is more or less the calendar year).

  • Pangolin says:

    2 Jan2 January 11:55

    It seems to be an unofficial/unadvertised feature of the Ambassador programme that renewing it preserves your IHG status.

    • John says:

      2 Jan2 January 13:14

      I didn’t renew ambassador. My status should have expired at the end of 2018. So buying amb once seems to have given me “lifetime” status so far

  • The Original Nick says:

    2 Jan2 January 20:03

    John, I think that IHG status’s tend to change around the end of January for the year. Rob can probably confirm this if I’m correct.

• The Savage Squirrel says:

  2 Jan2 January 12:58

  “Note the lack of small print, which is a sure fire way of keeping your members happy”

  This. 1000x this! Complex TandCs that lead to bonus denial annoy members and leave you worse off as a brand than running no promotion at all (and clog up CS agents who have to deal with the unhappy). If your promo is open to abuse and needs a load of T&Cs to prevent it then …. you designed a rubbish promo. Bin it and design a better one!

• John says:

  2 Jan2 January 13:18

  This year Hilton’s IT worked nearly perfectly for me with every stay bar one crediting correctly by 7am UK time the day after checking out, including all the promos. The one stay which didn’t credit was resolved within 24 hours of contacting the diamond email helpline, and I got 3 emails from different managers at the hotel apologising.

• Mr(s) Entitled says:

  2 Jan2 January 17:27

  Says it all about how unexciting the year was when the award itself generates single digit comments.

  • Freddy says:

    2 Jan2 January 19:42

    Totally agree – no wonder hotels.com keeps cropping up with its free night award (equivalent 10% rebate)

    • Ayearinmx says:

      3 Jan3 January 00:46

      I stay over 80 nights a year for work, of which probably 70 are in small places without chain hotel options… So for me, hotels.com is an excellent programme, which I can then enjoy personally. I also used the kaligo and rocket miles promotions found on here.

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