In this post I wanted to address a situation that I think just about anyone who has hotel elite status has found themselves in…
Having hotel elite status & traveling with others
There are different trips for different occasions — sometimes I travel alone, sometimes I travel with Ford, and sometimes our parents are in tow as well. When we’re traveling with family we typically book multiple rooms, and that can complicate things when it comes to taking advantage of hotel elite status perks:
Look, I totally get it, elite perks are generally only for the member and one other guest staying in their room, and that’s not unreasonable. But I also find myself conflicted in these situations:
- Do I just use the executive lounge and have breakfast without my family? I don’t really want to do that…
- Do I pay for breakfast and club access for the second room so they can enjoy these amenities with me? That’s a better option than not having them join me, but sometimes it’s just not worth the money…
- Do I just forgo the perks that I’m usually entitled to, in solidarity?
Fortunately over the years I’ve found that there are better ways to go about things, and in this post I wanted to share my general strategy for getting elite perks when booking multiple hotel rooms.
Best options when booking multiple rooms
Over the past few years I’ve almost always used one of five strategies when booking multiple hotel rooms while trying to maximize the benefits that I get. Here they are, roughly in the order of the frequency with which I use them:
Booking a World of Hyatt Guest of Honor reservation
World of Hyatt Globalist members have a Guest of Honor perk, whereby they can extend their elite perks to other rooms when redeeming their own points.
The person you redeem points for gets all the same Globalist perks you usually would, ranging from free breakfast, to club lounge access, to room upgrades, to late check-out. You can use this regardless of whether or not you’re staying with that other person.
To me this is probably the single best perk offered by any hotel loyalty program. I’m happiest when my family is happy, so when a loyalty program recognizes the value in that, I’m thrilled. It’s one of the many reasons that I love World of Hyatt, and I’ve had nothing but good experiences with this perk.
Using double Hilton Honors Diamond status
Elite recognition for multiple rooms isn’t an issue if multiple people have status, and that’s where Hilton Honors becomes useful:
- Hilton Honors makes it really easy to earn Gold status or Diamond status
- Both of these levels offer perks that people may find valuable, like complimentary breakfast, lounge access, and/or food & beverage credits
Both Ford and I have the incredible Hilton Honors American Express Aspire Card (review), which offers Hilton Honors Diamond status and all kinds of other great perks. If we’re in a situation where we need two rooms, I simply book one room in my name and one room in Ford’s name, and then both rooms get Hilton Honors Diamond perks.
Even if…