Can now redeem GHA Discovery Dollars when booking stays!!

[JoeCrystal]

I was booking my stay via the GHA website and was surprised by the offer to use my discovery dollars to reduce the cost of bookings. I have not encountered this before so that it may be new. I attached the screenshot below. As someone who gets annoyed with having to get the hotels not to charge me ion when checking in so I can use D$ when checking out, this is a game-changer for me! 🙂 Maybe this is old news but I hope someone will find this helpful!

EDIT: I tried other brands, and it doesn’t seem to work with them, so it may be purely brand dependent, which can be a problem. Sorry to raise a false hope but it does work with Lore Group in London for example.

Here are other information as below

*The D$ you apply will be deducted from your account after you confirm your booking.
D$ cannot be used toward taxes, tips or fees.
*Minimum of D$10 is required.
*Upon booking cancellation, the applied D$ will be refunded to your membership account.
Cancellations must be submitted on the GHA DISCOVERY website or mobile app for D$ to be reinstated.
*No refunds will be issued for D$ beyond their expiry date.
*If the booking is modified, the existing booking will be cancelled and the applied D$ will be refunded to your account (if not expired).

[Rob]

Oooh, interesting. Certainly handy when staying mainly at brands where you are unlikely to be running up a lot of F&B spend and want to lock in a cheaper (if available) pre-paid rate.

It talks about cancellations though, so is this still only for non-prepaid rooms?

[JoeCrystal]

The rate I was looking at was for tonight, so the rate is non-cancellable. The option was still available.

It would be even more handy if one bought D$ at a discount, as they offered some time ago. Hopefully, they will be willing to roll them out to more brands since you can choose the amount of D$ you can spend, as long as it is a minimum of D$10.

[Hbommie]

That is a positive move.

I’ll have a look at my bookings to see if any other brands open up this option.

Thanks for the tip.

[t0m]

Finally! I never actually managed to spend any Discovery $s after finding some hotels (the ones I stayed at) didn’t actually allow you to pay with them at all (always found this out on check-out.. and it’s not documented anywhere!).

[S879]

Can you use your discovery dollars for spa or food if not staying at the hotel? I have a small $75 which will expire in a few months but don’t intend to stay at a hotel.

[dmm27]

S879 wrote:

Can you use your discovery dollars for spa or food if not staying at the hotel? I have a small $75 which will expire in a few months but don’t intend to stay at a hotel.

I think you can. Although I may be confusing this with their “local experiences” freebies. They had a list of things to redeem against and it said whether you had to be a guest at the hotel to use them.

Submit a ticket via you GHA account- they are pretty good at replying promptly (usu within 24hrs)

[JoeCrystal]

I used my Discovery Dollars entirely while booking a stay at One Hundred Shoreditch. I was delighted with the service, and as a welcoming amenity, I received a bottle of wine and a complimentary breakfast as a Titanium member. The invoice works by including the amounts redeemed at the check-in date; I guess the value of Discovery Dollars will change until then. It is important to note that taxes and fees are not included, so be prepared to pay up anyway.

It is not perfect, but if it is rolling across increasingly more brands, then at least it is a way to reduce the cost of the stays in one way or another! Especially with these four new brands coming along. I am especially looking forward to Norwegian hotels!

[dmm27]

JoeCrystal wrote:

I used my Discovery Dollars entirely while booking a stay at One Hundred Shoreditch.

I presume the option to use D$ wasnt available when you booked? (I just tried a dummy booking and to shows as “pay at hotel” but no option to use D$ at the time of booking)>

If so, then it looks like you can use D$ for any stay that allows payment at the hotel, rather than prepay. I emailed them about it, and whilst they didnt specifically answer my question, they did reply:

“We kindly wish to inform you that only a few brands will have this feature available during the booking process as it is still in progress and will gradually be available to all our partner brands.”

[JoeCrystal]

dmm27 wrote:

JoeCrystal wrote:

I used my Discovery Dollars entirely while booking a stay at One Hundred Shoreditch.

I presume the option to use D$ wasnt available when you booked? (I just tried a dummy booking and to shows as “pay at hotel” but no option to use D$ at the time of booking)>

If so, then it looks like you can use D$ for any stay that allows payment at the hotel, rather than prepay. I emailed them about it, and whilst they didnt specifically answer my question, they did reply:

“We kindly wish to inform you that only a few brands will have this feature available during the booking process as it is still in progress and will gradually be available to all our partner brands.”

It was available then, as you can see in my screenshot in post #669770 above. However, I saw a message on FlyerTalk saying that it is still in its initial stages and that they are currently working on the technical aspect of the app. It is currently off, but it should be back soon. I am guessing it is still in development, which is a hassle, to be honest!