Small Luxury Hotels launches a new loyalty programme, SLH Club

Small Luxury Hotels of the World is a marketing consortium for 580 luxury hotels in 90 countries. These are primarily independent properties, many of which are well known in their respective markets.

Most Small Luxury Hotels of the World coverage on HfP tends to be in the context of its new partnership with Hilton, and with Hyatt before that.

It continues to thrive in its own right, however, and has just relaunched its own loyalty programme along with a new app.

This is actually the third loyalty scheme that SLH has offered during the lifetime of HfP. When we launched the scheme was called The Club and there was an Avios partnership. In 2017 this was replaced by INVITED and the Avios deal dropped.

Clearly taking their cue from the odd tier names used by World of Hyatt (Discoverist, Explorist, Globalist), SLH called its tier levels Invited, Inspired and Indulged.

What was good about INVITED was that you got decent benefits just for joining.  As an ‘Invited’ base level member, you received free continental breakfast, early check-in if available, late check-out if available and free wi-fi, which was still a selling point back in 2017.

INVITED has now been replaced with SLH Club

Full details of SLH Club are on the SLH website here.

The new schemes retains a three tier structure. The entry level benefits are downgraded but the package at the top end is improved.

Base level members, now called Club 01, no longer get free breakfast. Early check-in and late check-out priority remains, as does free wi-fi. SLH will also plant two trees on your behalf for every room night you book.

Stay four nights in a calendar year and you are upgraded to Club 02 level. Free continental breakfast returns as a benefit, along with potential room upgrades if available. You will also have access to the ‘SLH Bonus Rate’ which apparently offers better deals.

There is a genuine benefit for reaching Club 03 level at 13 nights or $6,000 of spend – you get a voucher for a free night worth up to $300. This is equivalent to $23 cashback for each of those 13 nights, which is a good return.

What I like about this benefit is the way it will encourage you to put in the nights. After all, if you find yourself on 10 nights after, say, a holiday it is VERY tempting to go out of your way to put in another three nights and trigger the $300.

The only snag is that the $300 has to spend on a one night booking. It cannot be used to cover two nights at $150, or partially used with the remainder saved for a future stay.

Be wary with SLH tier upgrades

There is one annoying flaw with the SLH programme which was also in place under the old scheme.

When you hit a new tier, your status nights are reset to zero.

Imagine you have done three nights and check in for a 10 night stay. You would expect to hit Club 03 status after check-out, triggering the $300 voucher, since this requires 13 nights.

Instead, what happens is that you hit Club 02 status (four nights stayed) and your ‘qualifying nights’ are reset to zero. The additional nine nights you stayed count for nothing.

This is confirmed by the terms and conditions:

7.4. The commencement of a new Tier Period in accordance with this Condition 7, whether by way of upgrade, downgrade or renewal will result in any accrued Qualifying Nights or revenue under a Member’s account being reset to zero (0).

There is a new app too

SLH has also unveiled a new app as well a digital magazine called Swoon.

Swoon will also appear in print once per year, with copies available to pick up in SLH properties as well as posted to Club 03 members.

Were you an INVITED member?

Members of the existing INVITED scheme have had their memberships carried over to SLH Club. If you had status in INVITED you will have been matched to the relevant SLH Club tier.

Are you a Hilton Honors member?

If you have Hilton Honors elite status, you should compare the benefits above with the benefits you receive at SLH hotels if you book via hilton.com.

These are surprisingly comprehensive, and better than what World of Hyatt offered its elites at SLH. This is what you get:

• Hilton Honors member (no status): member discount, complimentary standard wi-fi, complimentary late checkout, bottled water, no resort fees on reward stays 

• Hilton Silver: 20% elite tier bonus, 5th standard reward night free, all ‘base level’ benefits 

• Hilton Gold: 80% elite tier bonus, complimentary breakfast for two, space-available upgrades, 5th standard reward night free, all ‘base level’ benefits 

• Hilton Diamond: 100% elite tier bonus, complimentary breakfast for two, space-available upgrades, 5th standard reward night free, all ‘base level’ benefits

Booking an SLH hotel?

There’s one important factor to note if you are booking an SLH hotel.

When SLH partnered with Hyatt, the rates on hyatt.com were often higher than those on the SLH website. This no longer seems to be the case, with hilton.com rates usually matching the SLH website.

Not all SLH hotels can be booked via Hilton, but the majority are available – and are also available for Hilton Honors points redemptions.

You should therefore compare:

• the hotel’s own website for any direct booking offers

• the SLH website, whilst logged in as an SLH Club member

• the Hilton website (for those SLH hotels which participate) for either cash or points redemptions

You can find out more about SLH Club, and sign up, on its website here.

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