What I learned about Ascott Star Rewards on a day out at Wimbledon

Ascott Star Rewards probably isn’t a name you are familiar with. However, it is becoming better known in the UK after Chelsea FC signed a four year deal with the Singaporean hospitality group to be its official hotel partner.

As part of the deal, Ascott is managing the two hotels inside Stamford Bridge which, after refurbishment, will be rebranded under Ascott’s ‘lyf’ brand.

To help get the word out, Ascott invited me to Wimbledon for a day of tennis and to meet some of its members and management.

Acott is best known for its serviced apartments, which in Europe primarily means the Citadines brand.

London outposts include Citadines Barbican, Citadines Holborn Covent Garden (which has just been fully refurbished), Citadines South Kensington, Citadines Trafalgar Square and Citadines Islington. There is also a Citadines in Liverpool.

Ascott has a hotel operation too, albeit not a large one in the UK. The main London site is The Cavendish hotel which has just been refurbished. This is part of Ascott’s The Crest Collection. The hotel is on Jermyn Street, just south of Piccadilly, and is where our group met for breakfast before our trip to Wimbledon.

A room photo is below – it is smarter inside, post refurbishment, than the 1960s exterior suggests!

There is also the Stamford Bridge Hotel London at the Chelsea football ground which is currently unbranded until it is refurbished.

In Edinburgh, it has the Mount Royal Hotel Edinburgh on Princes Street which is part of The Unlimited Collection.

What is Ascott Star Rewards?

Ascott Star Rewards covers 14 Ascott brands including Citadines, The Crest Collection, Oakwood, lyf, The Unlimited Collection and Somerset.

It is a no-brainer to join if you are booking one of their properties due to the 10% member discount offered. In fact new members get a voucher for a 25% discount off Best Flexible Rate for their first online booking.

As with most loyalty schemes from smaller hospitality groups, it is a revenue based programme.

You earn 10 points per Singaporean Dollar (S$) spent, before taxes, with 20% to 60% bonuses for elite members. S$1 = 58p at the moment.

You redeem points for full or part-payment of your bill at check-out at the rate of 1,000 points = S$2.50. This is equivalent to a 2.5% return for a base level member, rising to 4.0% for a top tier Platinum member. Bonus points promotions can increase this.

There is also a partnership with Singapore Airlines. You will receive 500 KrisFlyer miles when you spend S$1,000 or more on a single stay. This is on top of your Ascott Star Rewards points. You can see more details here.

What are the status requirements?

Details of the status tiers are here. Silver status requires S$1,000 of spending, Gold requires S$3,000 and Platinum requires S10,000. Platinum members will receive breakfast at European properties, 3pm check-out and an upgrade.

You also pick up milestone awards as your spending increases over the year:

• Spend S$500 for 500 bonus points
• Spend S$2,000 for 25% off your next stay
• Spend S$3,500 for 5,000 bonus points or 15% off a stay
• Spend S$5,000 for a S$25 voucher or 30% off a stay
• Spend S$8,000 for a S$50 voucher or 35% off a stay
• Above $10,000 of spending you receive one complimentary airport lounge pass for every 10 nights

Ascott Star Rewards will match your current hotel status

If you have status with any major hotel group, Ascott will match it. This will allow you, if top-tier Platinum, to get free breakfast, 3pm check-out and an upgrade from your first stay.

There is an online form here.

How do Ascott’s ‘Signature’ experiences work?

Whilst it is now common for hotel groups to offer members access to concerts and top sporting events, Ascott does it differently.

You cannot redeem points for hospitality events. Members are specially chosen to be invited, based on their elite tier and where they are based, and attend for free:

• Gold level members can be invited to smaller scale ‘ASR Local Signatures’ events

• Top tier Platinum level members can be invited to ‘Ascott Privilege Signatures’ events such as our day on No1 Court at Wimbledon – photos from recent events are here

Whilst it is, in some ways, frustrating that you cannot redeem points to guarantee a place on these events, it is very generous of Ascott to offer totally free hospitality tickets to members.

(Ascott also sells, for cash, some places on these events. It could be attractive because it is more interesting than buying a standalone hospitality package – in our case, you spent the night before at The Cavendish, had breakfast and transfers to Wimbledon included and you could mingle with Ascott executives and other members.)

The identical package we had (Treehouse hospitality plus No1 Court tickets on Day 1) costs £2,800 + VAT for two people for 2026 if you buy it from Wimbledon directly. When did British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Hilton, Marriott etc last offer you a gift of such high value in return for your loyalty? Almost certainly never.

There were around 50 of us in the Ascott group, and I suspect 40 were top tier Platinum members and partners. The rest were media, such as myself, and Ascott senior management.

If you’re wondering what the picture is below – the ‘Treehouse’ hospitality tent at Wimbledon has a slide! Sadly it was so hot on the day we were there that it was closed for safety reasons – that metal tube really heats up ….

Conclusion

‘Surprise and delight’ invitations – at no charge – aren’t widely used by UK loyalty programmes, so it was interesting to meet some Ascott Star Rewards members and the Ascott team and see how much people appreciated the day (despite the 30+ degree heat!)

We will be doing more coverage of serviced apartments on Head for Points because over the last year the apartment and hotel sectors have started to get closer:

• Sonder joined Marriott Bonvoy
• Cheval Collection joined Global Hotel Alliance

Serviced apartments aren’t just for long-term business stays either. Most accept short-term bookings from one night and they can work well for families who need multiple bedrooms or kitchen facilities. We’ve agreed to visit the refurbished Citadines site in Holborn for a tour to see what it offers.

We’ll also be covering Ascott Star Rewards a little more as it gears up for the relaunch of the two London hotels at Stamford Bridge.

You can learn more about the programme on its website here.

Thanks to Gan Hup and Philippe for the invitation.