In order to help business travellers maintain their ‘status’ levels and reward points balance during the COVID-19 lockdown, many hotel brands are making changes to their loyalty programmes.
Here’s a quick round-up of what some of the main hotel chains are doing.
Hilton Honors
2019 Status Extension: All members whose 2019 status was scheduled to be downgraded on 31st March, 2020, whether it’s Diamond, Gold or Silver, will automatically receive an extension until 31st March, 2021.
2020 Status Extension: 2020 member status will extend until 31st March, 2022.
Points Extension: Hilton will pause the expiration of all Points scheduled to expire between now and the end of the year.
Weekend Night Rewards Earned on Eligible Hilton Credit Cards: Hilton has extended the expiration date of all unexpired Weekend Night Rewards as of 11th March, 2020, and all new ones issued until 30th August, 2020, through to the end of next summer (31st August, 2021).
Hilton will make updates to the requirements for earning tier status for 2021, though have not yet announced what the new terms will be.
IHG
IHG Rewards is reducing the Elite membership criteria required (nights or points) this year by 25% or more. Intercontinental Ambassador free weekend night certificates have been extended by six months.
Radisson Rewards
Radisson Hotels is extending its point expiration policy by 6 months, effective 1st March, 2020. They have also extended the Elite status to February 2022, for those that would have expired February 2021.
In addition, e-certs earned using the Radisson Reward Visa card can be redeemed up until 30th June, 2021.
World of Hyatt
World of Hyatt has extended elite tier status and award expiration dates for qualifying members residing in Asia Pacific. At this time there are no plans to extend those exclusions to members from other countries, but we’ll keep our eye on this and update you as their position changes.
Hyatt will be suspending the forfeiture of points until 31st May, 2020. Under normal circumstances, World of Hyatt points expire after two years of inactivity.
The hotel chain are postponing the introduction of Off-peak and Peak point redemption (originally planned for March this yea) until 2021. This means that free-night redemptions will continue to be at standard rates for the rest of 2020.
Marriot Bonvoy Rewards
At the time of writing this blog, Marriott Bonvoy has not announced updates to tier status requirements or date extensions for members outside of Asia. Bonvoy has paused Points expiration for those scheduled to expire between now and 31st August, 2020. No changes will be made to the Points expiration date and Points will remain in the Member’s Account until the end of August 2020.
Free Night Awards (as part of a credit card benefit, Annual Choice Benefit, Promotion or Travel Package) with an expiration starting 1st March, 2020 will be extended until 31st January, 2021. The system will automatically complete the updates by the end of April 2020.
Suite Night Awards with an expiration date of 31st December, 2020 will be extended to 31st December, 2021. The system will automatically complete the updates by the end of June 2020.