Not sure why. I used a voucher last time, didn't have any problems using it to pay for my stay at the hotel. (Hotel C-Stockholm).
The advantage of the vouchers is that they don't expire.

Stayed in 2 Preferred Hotels in Japan

Royal Park Hotel Iconic Shiodome
Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyu

The Royal Park is a fantastic hotel. Location is also relatively good. Tokyo is a spread-out city so you can't be close to everything but this hotel is near a major station and in a good location for eg. Ginza & Odaiba.
They have an iPrefer hospitality desk in the lobby. I got a welcome drink in the room (full bottle of French wine) but there was no card with a message so I made a call to the reception to verify if it was indeed a welcome gift.
Asked for a late check-out but they charge a fee per hour and I didn't want to beg, bring up the status etc. Just worked for a few hours in the lobby.

Sapporo Excel Hotel Tokyu: Nada, nothing. No mention of status, no welcome drink, no upgrade
Individual hotels might give you something extra for your status but I have the impression that chain hotels only see their own status members in the system and don't really keep track of iPrefer.
The points do always post without problems. I'm not sure how this works but I think the hotels don't have to do anything for this. Points usually already post on check-in.

kcaluwae appreciate the post (can't like your post for some reason). Am planning something for JP under Iprefer. Were you offered any rm upgrade at Royal? Thanks.

No, wasn't offered anything. Didn't ask for it either. They didn't mention anything about iPrefer at check-in, that was one of the reasons I double-checked if the bottle of wine was indeed a welcome drink.

Maybe this only applied to the hotel I made a reservation at, but so far the biggest bonus of iPrefer has been the fact that by booking directly you have breakfast included (and iPrefer happened to have the lowest rate too).

On a side note, do check the price of the same stay a day earlier (or until the last moment you are able to make free changes) as the price can drop considerably. By changing the reservation you can make quite a substantial savings...

Anybody happen to have any feedback on Preferred Hotels in New York or Boston?
(mostly regarding the benefits you get as an iPrefer member in those hotels)

Thanks to kcaluwae 's recent review for Royal Park Hotel Iconic Shiodome. Decided to stay here. Booked a king room. Huge king bed btw cal king maybe? Asked for an upgrade as an Elite iPrefer and they moved me to the highest floor same room type. Received a bottle of wine in the room and drink vouchers for entire stay. Room was clean. Concierge was helpful. Toiletries are very complete. Location is amazing. Will stay here again.

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b53bb34d_z.jpg

Elite Member
 

As an Elite member, have you had to ask for hotel room upgrades or are they given at check in, no questions asked? I’ve now stayed at two properties with Elite tier and haven’t been given an upgrade when there are rooms available. I’m used to having the front desk acknowledge my tier and offer whatever amenity is included with that, but that doesn’t seem to happen with I Prefer.

At the Pulitzer Amsterdam, breakfast is also not even included which seems like a missed perk.

That was my experience as well.

That's what they gave me too. Slightly disappointed it wasn't straight to Elite - I wonder if I should have used Marriott Plat instead (but that's a lifetime status).

Discovered I Prefer by accident when I found the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo, and they have many properties worldwide that I want to stay at.

Does anyone know if they will status match? I am LT Titanium with Marriott, LT Diamond with Hilton, and Globalist with Hyatt. Thanks

Any experience with the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo? They seem to have very nice restaurants in the hotel.

I did a status match a few weeks ago. Screenshot of my LT Titanium and emailed that as proof.. Matched to titanium in a day or two. Staying at Fullerton Singapore next week. Hoping for an upgrade rather than being Bonyoyed.

I would to stay at the Fullerton in Singapore! Let us know how things turn out for you

Does anyone know if you can use your hotel status benefits while booking via iPrefer? Specifically, I'm looking at booking Virgin Hotel in NYC, and Virgin Atlantic Gold status should = free breakfast. But anyone with any experience of accessing hotel status benefits with an iPrefer booking?

So are bookings made via Preferred Hotels/iPrefer direct bookings, as far as the Hotel is concerned? And so you would get any benefits that you have via status with the hotel?