escape4

I would not be overly confident. Many hotels have rules and exceptions for room types that don't qualify for elite upgrades.

ParkAve

From my own experiences from the revamp up until now, it find it less vague compared to, exempli gratia, Hilton, where it would be more of opening a surprise box, one day you get a one category upgrade, and the other day maybe six. As I mentioned though, thrice did I came across the situation of booking a too high category room with a GHA property and hence no being able to receive a 2 category upgrade from what I booked, despite them selling rooms that are two categories higher than what I booked. It seems like the hotels don’t share that same view with GHA_Insider on this matter, and would rather their elite members book their cheapest room.

escape4

My upgrades at Hilton remain on average better than GHA for sure. Not to mention breakfast and lounge access at Hilton.

As you mention sometimes at Hilton it's +1 and sometimes it's +6. At GHA it's almost never more than +2 and many times it's zero because they decide the room types do not qualify, otherwise it's +1 which is the bare minimum at Hilton anyway. So on average GHA maybe +1.5 and Hilton's average is definitely better than this at least where I stay. I also find that GHA hotels tend to have too many room types such that +2 is not worth much. Getting +2 is not uniform value - it entirely depends how hotels segment their room types. GHA seems worse at this than other hotel programs, almost as if some hotels planned around this situation to mitigate value.

I would be interested to hear experiences from anybody who thought GHA is superior to Hilton, where they stay, and why.

kaizen7

Pre Covid, and pre revamp, GHA was pretty reliable in giving me +1 upgrade.

The only one failed to upgrade me was Capella Ubud.

Haven't been to any of their hotel again after covid.

seba

Hi, I want to use my D$ in NH Collection, anyone have done it before?

Alawyer

As a GHA Titanium, the Capella Hanoi had extended a +2 category upgrade from basic room to Premier Suite. The front desk seemed willing to go higher but their Opera Suites were fully booked due to the weekend.

No other GHA benefits offered though - not required as well in view of the usual Capella benefits!

kaizen7

Apparently Palazzo Versace Dubai (only) now participating in GHA
The other Palazzo Versace in gold Coast is not.

escape4

kaizen7 I'll take it but GHA did not really need another hotel in Dubai as it was fairly strong there to begin with.

s879

I won D$500 in April. The credits are expiring on 28th October. UK school holidays are such that I want to utilise it on 29th/30th October. Contacted GHA Insider here and GHA themselves for a one week extension but not heard back. To clarify, do they need to be booked for fully used by 28th October? Also, how are people booking? Does it take it off the total online or is it something that is deducted at checkout? I already have a reward stay with a GHA brand so ideally want to use it in the spa and for food. I doubt spa would take money 3 months before the trip so really stuck. Don't want to use at local hotels here in in London. Any advice would be appreciated. I also have D$100 that GHA gave me last year when they were either extending membership or giving credit so it D$600 in total.

onetouchpass

I used my balance at check out. Well actually check in since they gave me the option of paying then, which I took since I didn't want to forget.

kaizen7

Agreed, but then again it might not easy for GHA to get other brands in other market to join them.

s879

Thanks for replying. My check in can't be earlier than 29th October an it expires on the 28th so quite annoyed. Anyway, let's see if GHA Insider can help. It's just a a few days extension I am requesting and not weeks or months.

ParkAve

Aren’t they headquartered in Dubai anyways?

escape4

Correct. There are many regions of the world where GHA is poor and new hotels would help; Dubai is definitely not part of that list. Not to mention that Dubai already has lots of other hotel chains present so it's highly competitive, almost all those chains are far more generous with elite benefits (suite upgrades, breakfast, lounge) so Dubai is one of the last places I would look for to book a GHA hotel.

jonatan

I was informed at the checkin in NH hotel in Madrid, that NH hotels fully migrated from NH Rewards to Discovery program on Tuesday night.
My accounts were merged (NH Gold would be transfered to platinum, but I was already titanium using the same email with Discovery programme and that prevailed).
However I received no benefits, even after asking.
it means no room upgrade, no welcome drink or snack in the room (even usual before with NH hold)… I hope they will do better next time.