PrestigeMiles: May 2016

Hotel Loyalty Programs

Hotel Loyalty points, is mostly an ignored category of loyalty as most of us dont travel too much. Even if they do, they stay in different hotels, so points accrued on one program remain largely unused and ignored. I too hardly used it during my job which forced me to travel a lot, only lately I realised that it is a powerful tool if you use it wisely. You can even stay free nights and get free upgrades which gives a feel good factor when you travel. There are several hotel chains which offer you loyalty points, SPG,Hyatt,ClubCarlson, Marriott, ITC, Taj Epicure are a few.

Most of the international chains have a very structured program where a frequent resident can upgrade between tiers and get additional privileges. So staying at one hotel chain pays well. I know of friends who have redeemed free stays in Paris and Milan and enjoyed a kind of all expenses paid stay in the city of their dreams.

So what do we do to get those free stays, well firstly you have to stay more. Unless your job pushes you to travel a lot, you would be staying in hotels once in a while, so if thats the case join the membership of a large chain of hotels which you like and try and stay in their properties whenever you travel out of your city. This will ensure that you remain active in the loyalty program and keep on accruing points.

Secondly keep an eye on the emails the hotel sends you, sometimes the emails give you those little details of special offers and point collecting avenues which are pretty easy and can easily fatten your points wallet.

Thirdly, if you can then take a credit card which provides you the option to convert your reward points into hotel loyalty points. Citibank Premier Miles, Citibank Prestige and Diners Club International are a few premium cards which offer you the facility to transfer your points to various hotel loyalty programs. So once you have some points with you in the wallet, you can transfer some from the card to redeem it for a free night stay given that the points you are spending are less in monetary terms than actual money you may have to spend for a night at that hotel.

Moreover, most of these chains run promotions from time to time and give away bonus points, give free points or give you extra points to redeem or buy the points you may need. We will share many such promotions in the near future with you to keep you updated on that front. So go ahead and join a program and dont forget to mention your membership number the next time you check in. Happy Holidaying.

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Airlines Miles

Air India

Airlines since a very very long time have suffered from an acute crisis to fill its dynamic inventory and for the very same reason invented a loyalty or a frequent flyer program. Initially it was targeted for those who travel often on business but slowly over the years as more and more leisure travelers flying, it has been pointed towards the new lot too.

There are around 300 odd scheduled airlines all over the world and most of them have some or the other frequent flyer program ( FFP from now on). These FFPs offer you different miles when you travel destinations based on the distances you travel or the money you spend. These miles can further be used to book flights later for free ( well almost barring taxes) and then you can fly for free.

The world over there are three major alliances of airlines which allow passengers from one airline which is the member of one such consortium to redeem his or her FFP miles onto another partner airline. The three alliances are Star Alliance (*A) with 27 members, Oneworld Alliance with around 15 members, and Skyteam with another 20 members. There are few smaller alliances like Value Alliance about which I will talk later.

For the folks in India, Air India is part of the star alliance, along with United & Lufthansa. Jet Airways though formally is not a part of any of the alliances as of now, talks are hot about it joining one soon, but it has a number of partner airlines including United & Lufthansa.

FFP miles can not only be earned by flying, a number of airlines have tied up with credit card companies where your spends are converted into airmiles or some other hotel and lifestyle partners which give you miles for stay or specific purchases. As for any other program they have their offers too and if you are smart enough to redeem on time, you get pretty good value for your airmiles.

We will be talking about all such offers and strategies in the future posts so keep your FFP numbers ready.

Cheers PJ

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Credit Card Points

airmiles

Credit Cards, the magical piece of plastic which can buy you the world. Well that was the impression which I first had when I first saw an advert on Indian TV where Sachin Tendulkar persuaded us for a Master Card credit card. My experience with a credit card came much much later when I joined the work force and somehow took the plunge.

A credit card is basically a card which can pay for you on credit & the bank whose card you hold agrees to pay the merchant. The bank will expect you to pay later when they send you the bill. Its that simple. However in most parts of the world they have not been as successful as an ATM or a debit card which is linked to your bank account. Anyways I am not here to teach you about unsecured credit which is a minefield if you dont know how to use it but I am going to talk more about the other side of it. Reward Points !!!

All credit card companies want you to use more and more of it so at one point of time when you dont have enough money to pay back, you will pay them interest. Till then you get reward points.

In most offerings you get you will have options like Airline miles, reward points, cashback points, hotel points etc and if you use it cleverly you can enjoy a whole buffet of privileges.
I took my first card some 3-4 years back and today I own almost 10 cards ( I know they are a bit much but then thats my game).

So the first step is to get a credit card from a bank of your choice and then start spending. I am now going to share some of the cue-tips before you just go and apply for one.

1. Never apply for a basic card - reason the point structure isnt good ever. I initially used to be a bargain hunter and get a free or a small fee card. One day one of my friends told me about the fact that a credit card company will never make enough money on the basic card so the reward points arent that great either. So open your wallet and take atleast a mid tear or if you can take a top tier card.

2. There are many banks which offer you a card, take a bank where you dont have a banking relationship like a savings or a checking account. In case of any dispute such a bank may deduct your account immediately. Rather take a card from a new bank.

3. Most domestic banks in India have been a miser in terms of credit card programs, so choose an international bank who are more generous.

4. Dont apply for too many cards at one go as it will hit your credit ratings.Fill your wallet, one step at a time.

5. Choose a card by calculating how much you are going to spend and what benefits will you drive out of the card, ask yourself if you want airmiles or reward points.

6. Begin your credit card journey with the VISA or MasterCard franchise card and not a diners club or American Express card, the latter two arent accepted everywhere and so it will not give you the full benefit till you master the art of making money with a credit card.

So what are you waiting for, get up and be a part of this addictive journey. In my subsequent posts I will share some reviews of the best cards available in the country and how to use them for your everyday journey.

Cheers PJ...