3points

Hi All,

Probably only relevant for people downunder , unless you are travelling to Australia for period of time or make frequent visits on business. I've been a member of this program for about a month, which seems to be contected to Priority Club Rewards. Its already starting to prove very useful for being able to control my business costs when I travel around Australia and New Zealand, as I have been able to secure 10% of the my bookings online, make savings on dining in the hotels etc, plus earn my PCR points.

I found the site a month ago, http://www.priorityprivilege.com

Any way its food for thought for people trying to control travel expenses and want to save some money on the Food and drinks at a hotel.

Will keep you posted hows its going in the coming months

Regards

3POINTS

p.s. this flyertalk website is a great site for hot tips…I wish I knew about it earlier!!

Keithl

Great 1st post and welcome to FT ^

Savage25

Welcome to FT and thanks for the info ^

Sounds like competition for the Starwood Privilege program.

3points

Thanks for welcome's, as mentioned I will try an update from time to time...Actually heading across to the US shortly, so I'm looking forward to earning some points at couple of Holiday Inns in Boston, plus the 50% extra points for flying on Qantas to get to the US..

Gustaf

Welcome to FT!
I had a look at that web site, it seems like they are extending this program to Asia which is interesting. That food discount offer is pretty good, 50% off the bill when one dines with one guest!
How much does it cost to join? Is this club open to international members?

DCF

In actual fact, this program is dying and I deeply regret having just renewed.

There used to be a large number of 5 star Parkroyal hotels, 4 star Centras and 3 star Travelodges throughout Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific.

At that time, Pacific Privilege (as it was known until last year) was marvellous: my 60% discount vouchers used to get me into overwater bungalows on Bora Bora for $300 per night instead of $750.

But then Intercontinental bought the SPHC chain and everything fell apart. We used to have access to a dozen 5 star Parkroyals across Australia and New Zealand: now we have two Intercontinentals.

Malaysia? Gone.
India? Gone.
Singapore? Gone.
French Polynesia? Gone.
New Caledonia? Gone.

I joined Priority Privilege last year to test it out. I didn't even manage one stay.

This year I should have joined Ambassador instead of Priority Privilege.

My advice to anyone thinking of joining Priority Privilege is as follows....

1) If your stays are just going to be in Australia or New Zealand, forget PP, and join Accor Advantage Plus instead.

2) If any of your stays are going to be in Asia or the Pacific, consider Starwood Privilege instead.

3) If you are going to use Intercontinental hotels rather than Holiday Inns or Crowne Plazas, join Ambassador instead.

3points

Hi Gustaf,
The dining benefits are great my wife and I utilsed this benefit only last weekend while using one of the rate certificates for two nights stay at a Crowne Plaza. In regards to how much I paid, I purchased online for $235 AUD. If you were visiting Australia/NZ or Fiji and you had an address to have it sent to in Australia, I would imagine it would be a handy membership to have while travelling around.
Take it easy
3points

3points

HI DCF,

Have to say the 10% of the flexible rates when staying at either IC/CP/HI, are great value. I was chatting to a someone last week, who was also a member of the PP Program before the recent changes, and they mentioned that they always found it difficult in booking their Accom certificates. Though are happy with how the new program is working. As they can now use there rate certificates more easily, plus the 10% saving off the 14 day and 5 day advance purchase is worth a lot more in value than 50-70% off the full rack rate that was on offer in the old program.

I did have a look at the Ambassador Club it would be good value if I was only planning on staying at IC all the time and was looking for the comp upgrades etc. Most of my travel takes me to places where there are Holiday Inns and Crowne Plaza's, with the odd trip to Wellington.

I guess it is a case of Horse's for Course's!!!

As I make my way towards a gold status, I would have to say I'm actually pretty happy so far with the program, as I've been able to save on my travel expenses, accom and dinning, plus having the added benefits of the great rate certificates (HI/CP/IC) which I have already began to use. Planning to use the IC rate certificate in Syd (heard they have a great Club Lounge).

Have thought of great use for the buy one get one free, will be using it to put the in-laws in at the IC Syd. I know a bit cheeky but worth it!

DCF, you seem like a well travelled person, any hints on what to do in Boston? As I will have a couple of days there next week.

Best Regards
3points

dannyr

In order of use, I will say I use my Accor membership, then my Best Western, and THEN my Priority Club membership.

I wish there were more HI's in Aus - one on the Gold Coast perhaps.

3points

Hi Danny,
Have you stayed at the Crowne Plaza on the Gold Coast?
Regards
3points

dannyr

I haven't as yet - is it worth the cost?

I live on the Gold Coast but still use hotels down here every now and then just for a relax for the GF and I.

Cheapest I can ever find it for is $165 a night [through wotif.com]. Lately I've been staying at the ANA on the Gold Coast for $110 a night and boosting my ANA FF Miles (is it sad that I joined a Frequent Flyer club just because I stay in their hotel, never flown on their airline?)

GibSpmuh

I just noticed that purchase of Priority Privilege membership is available for 30,000 points as well at http://www.ichotelsgroup.com/h/d/pc/...s/asia/rd.html - given the ease of getting points recently, that's not a bad way to spend some points. Also managed to compile a (hopefully somewhat complete) list of hotels that offer Priority Privilege discounts of some sort (some offer 10% off all 14 Day Advance, 5 Day Advance and Best Flexible, some just 10% off Best Flexible). I've been using it throughout Asia and had no problems to this point and received points for all my paid stays as well. The dining options on the other hand are only available at those hotels listed on the Priority Privilege website as far as I've found so far.

DoubleJ

GibSpmuh, I don't see any of IHG's Japanese properties listed on the Priority Privilege list of participating hotels. Where did you find your information?

GibSpmuh

When you join Priority Privilege there's a Reservations page that becomes active on their website (you need to be logged in as a PP member for that page to appear). It links in with the Priority Club website, and puts in the appropriate codes for the PP discount.

The IC Tokyo Bay has discounts for the 14 Day, 5 Day, and Flex Rate.
The CP Metropolitan has discounts for 5 Day and Flex Rate.
The IC The Grand Yokohama has discounts for Flex Rate only.

So for instance on the 1st March 2006, the best PP rates available vs best public rates available are:

IC Tokyo Bay Standard Room - ￥15,120 vs ￥22,000
CP Metropolitan Standard Room - ￥15,300 vs ￥16,000
IC The Grand Yokohama Superior Room - ￥14,400 vs ￥12,000

So obviously the only one offering a significant discount is the IC Tokyo Bay, but if you're usually paying the fully Flexible Rate then all three offer 10% off that rate.

DoubleJ

Thanks for the detailed reply, GibSpmuh. This program appears to merit consideration. :-: