I test how to spend your GHA DISCOVERY Dollars at The Wolseley!

As I revealed in my interview with Global Hotel Alliance CEO Chris Hartley in July, GHA has signed a deal with The Wolseley Hospitality Group.

You can now earn and redeem DISCOVERY Dollars, the loyalty currency of Global Hotel Alliance, at any restaurant in The Wolseley family.

In another tough assignment, I headed down to Piccadilly to try it out.

You are probably familiar with The Wolseley on Piccadilly, which is one of London’s best known all-day cafe-restaurants.

The broader group includes The Wolseley City in Monument, The Delaunay in Aldwych, Brasserie Zédel in Soho, Colbert in Chelsea, Fischer’s in Marylebone, Soutine in St John’s Wood, Bellanger in Islington and Manzi’s in Soho. All of these let you earn and redeem DISCOVERY Dollars.

I won’t go into how Global Hotel Alliance works as full details are in my interview with Chris Hartley here. It is a grouping of over 40 hotel brands, including Kempinski, Corinthia, NH and Anantara, which share one loyalty scheme.

It is a revenue based programme with members earning, based on status, 4% to 7% of their pre-tax spend back in DISCOVERY Dollars. These are to be spent on future stays, but now you can also use them for meals at The Wolseley and its sister restaurants.

The flagship Piccadilly site is a classy but friendly venue. Here are a few things we had, starting with dressed Dorset crab:

…. and calf’s liver with bacon, with melted onions and Sauce Robert:

…. and a berry crumble for dessert:

When you come to pay, it’s a simple process.

You don’t need to tell anyone in the restaurant that you intend to spend (or earn) DISCOVERY Dollars. Book, order and eat as usual.

On our table was this small metal marker with a QR code on it:

The QR code incorporates your table number so you don’t need to ask for it. Your bill is immediately pulled up.

Paying with DISCOVERY Dollars?

Click the very clear Global Hotel Alliance banner which will appear on your phone and log in to your account to use your DISCOVERY Dollars:

Here is the key thing you need to know. You cannot pay the VAT or the service charge element with DISCOVERY Dollars so some cash will be required.

After our meal, we had a bill of £211.60 (there was some champagne involved too, not pictured!):

When I logged in to my GHA account, I was able to pay £153.40 using $206 DISCOVERY Dollars, leaving a balance of £58.20 (the VAT and service charge element) to pay.

There is no dubious FX rate used here. $206 was pretty much equal to £153.40 last Thursday.

Earning DISCOVERY Dollars?

It’s an identical process.

Scan the QR code on your table and click the GHA banner pictured above which will appear on your phone screen.

Log in to your GHA account. Select ‘D$0’ to link your booking to your DISCOVERY Dollars account without redeeming.

You will earn DISCOVERY Dollars at the same rate as you would from a hotel – between 4% and 7% of your pre-VAT, pre-service charge balance, depending on your GHA status.

Find out more

If you have some DISCOVERY Dollars to spend, or want to top up your balance next time you eat out, you can learn more about spending and earning at The Wolseley Collection on this page of the GHA website.

Thanks to GHA for topping up my DISCOVERY Dollars balance to allow us to try this out!

PS. GHA has just launched a paid status match to most major hotel and airline programmes – click here. A British Airways Gold member, or a top tier member of any major hotel scheme, can get a match to top tier Titanium status for $150. This is valid until the end of 2026. You will get $75 back in DISCOVERY Dollars to spend on your next stay – or at The Wolseley Collection!