Originally Posted by
EuropeanPete
I was motivated to move some of my spend to some interesting hotels in good faith, but it seems like the programme is so unreliable at the moment I am inclined to remove it from my list of options for 2023. After warning me that I was about to lose $20 of my Discovery dollars, it didn't tell me that straight afterwards I would lose another $400, so I'm discounting the value of these from the 7% given to more like a 4% rebate which makes it less valuable than something like hotels.com
The strength of GHA is absolutely the quality of the hotels they've attracted to the portfolio rather than the programme itself, which instead seems optimised for guests staying a few times per year rather than actual regulars (you can earn Titanium in just three stays). I use GHA a fair bit these days because their highest end properties (typically those tagged 'ultra luxury' on the GHA website) are pitched at a level which doesn't really exist in the major chains outside of Six Senses, a few Park Hyatts, etc. I have tried most of the non-major chain hotel programmes in the last 12 months and find GHA better than the competition such as Preferred Hotels where you sometimes find out at a check-in the front desk have never even heard of the programme...
Sadly you don't really get any special treatment through GHA status and it definitely isn't a replacement for Hyatt or Marriott if you need to have guaranteed late check out, want free breakfasts, etc. I find it a helpful complement though, and some of the GHA properties are on my regular rotation now.