I think you must have booked through Capital One, which uses a white-label version of Hopper (an online travel agency) to make its hotel bookings. Therefore the rate would have been seen by the hotel (and by us) as an ineligible OTA rate, rather than as a normal travel agency rate like FH&R. These OTA rates are not eligible for earning D$ or tier status, unlike say FH&R rates. So strictly speaking our Customer Care shouldn't have given you any D$ or tier credit for your stay but you seem to have got lucky...

The commercial logic behind this distinction from a hotel point of view is that OTAs charge them very high commissions, often in the region of 20%, whereas traditional travel agencies (including those like FH&R) charge around 10% commission. Hotels would therefore generally like you to book direct with them or at worst case through a traditional travel agency, so most loyalty programmes, including GHA DISCOVERY, don't reward bookings made through OTAs.

I realise it gets confusing when the OTA's identity is hidden behind another entity, as it was here. The safest way to guarantee the eligibility of the stay is always to book direct on GHA's website/app or on the hotel brand's website or app. In most cases you should also be able to get a discounted member rate on these channels, if you are logged in.