How to get lounge access via priority pass for free for full family - A big worry for many of the credit card users across the world is that the cards they hold can help them get a free lounge access but what about their family when they go on leisure travel. I faced a similar problem when we were travelling with my larger family. 

Lounges are an oasis in heavily crowded places like airports and priority pass being the largest of the lounge programs globally, it is definitely worth having a priority pass in your pocket.Priority Pass runs over 1000 lounges across 400 cities in the world ( extensive network in Asia, Europe & North America)  and your access will be there regardless you fly in economy or business or first class. Lounges often have food and beverages which are complementary in a much relaxed setup along with additional amenities like Wi-Fi, spa, rest rooms, dormitories and showers. It is a great place to recharge and save some money as well. I have never spent even a single penny on food ever since I got hold of credit cards which provide me lounge access. I often have my meals before the flight at the lounges saving on meals outside or at airport restaurants. This amenity can easily save you few thousands on a round trip international visit with family.

So I decided that I will finally do what is needed & get a card which will get my larger family an access too and without any limits. I now hold a YES Bank exclusive card ( read product review here) which gives an option to use a priority pass with unlimited access. While I got this card as lifetime free given my relationship with the bank, I know plenty of friends who were able to get hold of this fabulous card for lifetime free offer. 

Even if you are not so lucky, you can pay 10 thousand annual fee and get rewards points which are equivalent value. Plus you get the Taj Epicure membership. for free for first year. While I dont hold it as part of my YES Bank card, I have it due to another card - the American Express Platinum Reserve card and will write a review about it soon. 

So coming back to the priority pass hack, since the YES Bank Exclusive card gives you unlimited Priority Pass for the primary as well as all add-on cards, all you have to simply do is apply for add-on cards for your all adult family members. This is an amazing perk given that no other card but Citibank Prestige & American Express Platinum charge give such privileges. Earlier in the haydays HDFC Diners Club Black did offer this facility but later last year they did withdraw this, leaving it only for primary card members. While the Citibank Prestige card is 20 thousand per year plus GST and the American Express Platinum Charge is 60 thousand plus taxes. So this is definitely a much more valuable card specially if you dont want to splurge so much for lounge access that you do maybe once or twice a year. 

Oh and I forgot to tell you, the lounge access is not only valid in India but also internationally. Domestically it is supported by the Master Card lounge access program by YES Bank ( right again - no visit limits unlike many other cards). So what are you waiting for, go ahead and apply for the YES Bank Exclusive Credit card, the cherry on the top is that this card gives you a 2.5% reward rate as well and has an aggressive marketing promotion specially during the festive season.

Till next time enjoy your priority pass airport visits with family (free of cost offcourse) - find your lounge list here or download the PDF.

   

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If you are an SPG member and travel very often with Uber, I have a news to share. You can now earn SPG points with your Uber spends. The SPG Uber partnership helps Starwood Preferred Guest members earn starpoints on all Uber rides upto 10000 starpoints in a year. See the video.

Club Carlson, the loyalty program of the Carlson-Rezidor Hotel brand and that includes hotels like Radisson, Radisson Blu, Park Plaza and Country Inns & Suites is offering  a status match (Silver and Gold status matches only) from competing hotel loyalty programs. So what do you need to do if you already have a higher status ( A silver or a Gold equivalent) from some other hotel loyalty program.

First go to the link on the Club Carlson website for status match & then send them the following details. 

Send the email to statusmatch@carlsonrezidor.com (Include “Status Match” in the subject line)

Though Club Carlson’s is offering this benefit, the gold and the silver slabs dont offer many benefits which other loyalty programs may be offering you at comparable levels, but well if you are already getting it for free, no reason to complain. The status match will take a week to reflect & hopefully you will see it updated by the next weekend in your account. 

Cheers PJ

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.