With the hikes in airfare and hotel accommodation in most destinations across the world, frequent travellers are now having more financial burdens to bear.
The situation, which is occasioned by the global economic realities, especially rising inflation, has resulted in some cost-cutting measures by corporate organisations and even individuals, giving priority to essential travel or ‘budget travels’.
However, people must travel, especially for business and leisure purposes. Again, the fact that airfare and hotel accommodation gulp about 70 percent of the travel budget, makes travelling on budget imperative now.
But instead of cutting the accommodation budget, one can make the most of his hotel lodging experience by simply joining a hotel loyalty programme.
Sadly, most uninformed frequent travellers hardly see a reason to join a hotel reward system, forgoing the huge benefits of doing so.
Of course, all major global hotel chains run loyalty programmes. From Hilton Honors, Marriott Bonvoy, Radisson Rewards, and Accor Live Limitless, among others, these initiatives are free to join and enable guests to earn points anytime they stay in the hotels that are covered in the loyalty programme network.
For instance, for being a member of Radisson Rewards, members get member-only rates, which enable them to save up to 10 percent on accommodation costs.
The loyalty programme is activated in over 600 Radisson hotels under the Radisson Hotel Group in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia Pacific.
In Nigeria, five hotels under the Radisson Hotel Group participate in the loyalty programme. The good thing is that a guest can redeem his/her points at any participating Radisson hotel across the world.
Meanwhile, Marriott International, with the largest loyalty network of over 8,000 hotels across the world, is offering guests the opportunity to earn points from their spending while staying in the hotel and also redeem them at any of the participating hotels.
Some of the benefits of joining the Marriott Bonvoy include; a guarantee of the best rate or the lowest booking rates all the time, free wi-fi, access to the Marriott Bonvoy™ app and mobile or contactless check-in with the app and using the reward points to book a free night hotel stay or flight tickets.
Guests who stay three consecutive nights get 10 percent off the standard rate, those who stay four to six nights save 15 percent, while longer-staying guests (from seven nights or more) enjoy the most of Marriott Bonvoy with up to 20 percent discount on accommodation.
In Nigeria, you can redeem the points at any of the seven Marriott hotels including; Four Points By Sheraton Lagos, Four Points By Sheraton Ikot Ekpene, Sheraton Lagos Hotel, Lagos Marriott Hotel Ikeja, Protea Hotel Lagos Kuramo Waters, Protea Hotel Ikeja Select and Protea Hotel Owerri Select.
The same discounts apply to corporate clients, who can use the points they earned during a group stay in a hotel to bargain for cheaper rates for conferencing facilities.
In his expert view, Mide Olakunle-Oni, a hospitality expert, explained that hotel loyalty programmes can help frequent travellers save on accommodation and access good deals.
“By becoming a member of a hotel reward club, you can save lots of money on accommodation. For instance, by becoming a member of Marriott Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, and others, a guest is constantly reminded of the hotel’s deals and best prices at all times,” he said.
According to him, at every stay in hotels, you are a member of their reward system, a guest gains points that translate into cheaper accommodation or even discounted flight tickets.
Also, by tracking hotel promotions, one can get a good accommodation deal if the guest takes advantage of the promo.
However, those who are not members of any hotel reward system can always look out for these special promotions and take advantage of them because most hotels sell rooms at half the price during promotions.
In some hotels within one’s vicinity that do not require joining the reward system, then becoming a member of the hotel’s exclusive offerings such as pool club, and fitness club, among others can help you to earn points that can save money on accommodation in the hotel.
So, join a loyalty programme and get more value from your stay by earning points, which can translate to discounted rooms and huge savings, extended stay, and flight tickets, among other benefits.
