How to earn Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer miles from hotel stays

There are a large range of hotel partners where you can earn KrisFyer miles when you stay.

KrisFlyer miles can be used towards award redemptions with Singapore Airlines, Virgin Australia, Air New Zealand, and other Star Alliance partners.

This guide is intended as an overview of the various options for those wanting to earn KrisFlyer miles when staying at select hotels when travelling for leisure or business.
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A guide to the InterContinental Ambassador paid membership program – room upgrades, a free night and other benefits at InterContinental hotels worldwide

The InterContinental Ambassador program is $200 USD paid membership with a number of benefits specific to InterContinental Hotels globally, and which requires nothing more than cash to procure, making it ideal if you have an upcoming InterContinental stay.

Here we dig into the benefits of the Ambassador program and cover some ways to maximise the value from it.
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InterContinental Hotels Ambassador upgrade policies – maximise your room upgrade with your Ambassador membership

One of the main benefits of the InterContinental Ambassador program is the complimentary room upgrade when staying at IC hotels. However, you have to be well informed to make best use of it.

It is always confusing to figure out what upgrades you are entitled to with your Ambassador program membership. Different locations have different upgrade policies, and one location might give you Club access while others might give you a full upgrade to another room category, plus a few bells and whistles.

We’ve contacted some of the InterContinental hotels in the region for their policies and worked up a table of room types and amenities on offer with Ambassador membership. Continue reading…

Getting started – which hotel loyalty programs should you join?

We started out by looking at the top frequent flyer programs for Australians to join, and his post goes quickly into the handful of hotel loyalty programs for which you should do the same.

Hotel loyalty programs are useful to understand and engage with, as they are usually more flexible than frequent flyer programs by allowing you to transfer the points out to a range of frequent flyer partners.

Alternatively you’ll be able to redeem the points for hotel stays or credit for future travel.

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A contrasting experience – moving up in the world to stay at the Club InterContinental Fiji

On our second day at the InterContinental, we decided that we could actually afford to stay an extra night, shifting our flight from an early morning departure to one later the following day. This gained us about 30 hours additional time at the resort.

This was handled by booking into a Club InterContinental room which had the few remaining rooms in the resort, and after IHG Ambassador status upgrades kicked in we were staying in a 2 Bedroom Club suite. Given my previous write-up on the main resort area and a pair of Ocean View rooms , this one focuses on the Club InterContinental specifically. Continue reading…

20% bonus on points transfers into Etihad Guest with American Express and the major hotel loyalty programs

I love a simple promotion – there’s not heaps of use for this one, but if you have an Etihad Guest award in mind, this is a good way to get more value out of your American Express Membership Rewards points (or other hotel program points, excluding Starwood).

Etihad will kick in 20% on top of any transfer from the programs listed here until the 30th November (the say 31 November on the offer page, but all sane people know that November doesn’t have 31 days…) with the points crediting within 7 days of the transfer. Continue reading…

How to get big savings at InterContinental & Holiday Inn Hotels – a guide to the Priority Privilege program

I’ve joined and used the Priority Privilege membership program a couple of times over the last few years, and used the benefits sporadically, but to great effect, over the course of 12 months membership each time.

Update: at this point (in July 2014) it looks like the Priority Privilege program is being closed down to new members, with existing member benefits continuing for the duration of membership. I’ll update this guide when I hear more.

What is the Priority Privilege program

Priority Privilege is a paid membership scheme that gives members a set of vouchers and discounts to use for significant savings on stays at hotels in the InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and InterContinental) hotels, across Australia, NZ and some other countries across Asia/Pacific, including Fiji and Vanuatu.

For the last year I had membership, here’s how I used the Priority Privilege benefits, and what I saved: Continue reading…