Originally Posted by
kaizen7
GHA_Insider
I have suggestion for extra feature on GHA apps/website.
Option to use D$ during booking. because as mentioned above, sometimes its not very easy to remember to use the D$ during check out time.
Let member decide how much D$ to be used for the reservation during booking.
Thank you for the suggestion. We are already working on implementing pre-payment with D$ in the way you suggest. You should see this feature by early next year, if not before. We are also encouraging hotels to remind guests about their D$ balance at the time of check-out, so that the member doesn't let any D$ go to waste.
On a related point, if you have any D$ that are likely to expire before you can use them, you are now able to donate them to charity via the GHA DISCOVERY website:
https://www.ghadiscovery.com/driving...g-a-difference
GHA will give the full value of the D$ you donate to the selected charity: USD 1 for each D$ donated.
We are also working on other ways for you to use your D$ in our hotels without actually making a stay. Watch this space...
Originally Posted by
SFO_FT
It’s my understanding that a status member, such as Titanium, booking a travel agency rate (such as agoda) will NOT receive D$ but is supposed to receive the status benefits, such as upgrades, early check in, etc. The terms and conditions appear to confirm this and a Discovery customer care agent told me this. What happens if a brand tells me different (ie, I am not eligible to status benefits)? Will GHA contact the hotel to advise the correct program benefits?
Your understanding that you should still receive the staus benefits is correct and I'm sorry if you have encountered this issue. Also the exclusion on earning D$ (and tier status) only applies to the online travel agencies such as Booking.com, Expedia, Agoda etc. Bookings through traditional travel agencies are still normally eligible for earning D$ and tier status, although the safest route is always to book direct with the hotel brand or with GHA.
If you contact DISCOVERY Customer Care about a specific problem at a hotel then they should be able to advise the hotel and we can highlight a training need to the hotel management.
Originally Posted by
GalaxyChris
I sent a email to the hotel and I get this answer :"Warm greetings from Outrigger Koh Samui Beach Resort. Thank you for your email.
I am pleased to confirm your reservation for stay from Xx June to Xx June. I am also able to add your GHA membership number to your reservation as requested however please allow me to advise that unfortunately as we are not yet a GHA member hotel, there will be no credits, membership tier benefits, nor any record of you stay recorded with GHA. We do apologise in advance for any inconvenience caused to you as a GHA member."
What I find shocking is that Discovery is displayed everywhere on Outrigger website, even the logo global hotel alliance on bottom of the Outrigger Koh Samui hotel page !!! I did not expected that answer at all. 
I've looked into this. Outrigger is of course a member brand of GHA DISCOVERY and operates the Outrigger DISCOVERY loyalty programme at its hotels. However the recently-renovated and rebranded hotel that Outrigger is operating in Koh Samui is using a different Property Management System from the other Outrigger properties, which has delayed its connection to GHA's systems. An interface with these systems is required to send member transactions and member profiles between GHA and the hotel, which is fundamental to ensuring proper member recognition and rewards. Therefore at present the hotel is not able to offer the GHA DISCOVERY benefits and this is also the reason it is not bookable on
www.ghadiscovery.com
We are working with Outrigger on getting the hotel fully interfaced (and the staff trained) but this won't happen before your stay in June. I'm sorry for the disappointment. However, if once you have stayed you send your invoice to DISCOVERY Customer Care with a note mentioning my approval, then we will manually credit you with D$ on the basis of the spending on your stay.