Hotel Rewards Program Recomendation in India
 

Need some help for a buddy:

He recently moved to Middle Management and expected to travel for work.

• Mostly Metros, 2-3 Days each and 8-10 times a year.
• His travel budget is not big, so 5K INR per night is the limit set by Finance.

I got him hooked to the FFP world and he asked me for a recommendation on hotel rewards program.

My recommendation was to look for Comfort / Easy of Access due to the following:

1. The amount of travel is not significant.
2. Most of the chains having a rewards program do not have availability in that price range & If available, not present in all metros.
3. The perks (for a Mid-Tier Elite) may not be worth to stick to a chain.

To get the best bang for the buck, is to look for Hotels crediting to Airline FFPs. At least he will get some miles.

Any Recommendations from FT community?

he should sign up for both spg & taj....they have a number of properties that will fall within his price range....

while the taj program is pretty much useless in terms of benefits, they have some decent point redemption options....spg gold is a nice program to have in india....good upgrades & free internet....

Thanks!

Will pass that along.

Surprisingly, except 4/5 Star properties, the hotel sector is highly fragmented - so for a average biz traveler, it's always a Hit/miss.

Looks like few chains like IBIS / Lemon Tree / Ginger are coming up.

my cousin works for lemon tree so if your friend will have regular travel then i can put the 2 of them in touch....maybe your friend can negotiate a deal for cheaper rates or some benefits....

i've stayed at a bunch of ginger properties over the last couple of years & for the price, i am very impressed with what they offer....

Thanks for the offer!

Will ask him to check with his travel team

+1.

SPG in particular has a lot of Alofts already in place (BLR, MAA etc) and several in the pipeline. They also have Four Points Sheratons open already (PNQ, BOM, Jaipur etc) and also several in the pipeline.

Both these brands should work under the 5k budget.

Marriott is also adding mid-tier properties like Courtyard in some of the metros, over and above the JWM brands.