Which traveler do you want to be?
Let’s call this the tale of two travelers. Traveler A has $350 to spend on two nights of hotels. Traveler B also has $350 to spend on two nights of hotels. Traveler A doesn’t have elite status with any hotel, and books a hotel at the best rate they find on the hotel website, with no benefits – like breakfast or anything else.
Traveler B is reminded that Chase has a Luxury Hotel collection website, and scores the same price at the same hotel, but with free breakfast, complimentary afternoon tea, a room upgrade and early check in. If it sounds too good to be true, it’s not.
Who
You, if you have one of many eligible Chase cards (Learn More). Chase has a dedicated Luxury Hotels and Resort Collection website, just like Amex. The site allows customers with almost any Chase credit card to unlock easy perks, just for booking through them. And YES – you can still get your elite status nights and points credits. MilesToMemories reminded us of this, with a great article yesterday.
What
Benefits vary slightly by property, but in general, you’ll get the “elite status” guest treatment, even if you’ve never stayed in a hotel before, including free daily breakfast for two, early check in, late check out, afternoon tea or a food and beverage credit or spa credit to use during your stay. You’re essentially unlocking $100’s in value, for potentially the same price as booking without benefits.
Where
Worldwide. The list is fairly limited in some cities, but if you’re generally a 4/5* hotel fan, many are included. In many cases, it could actually be worth booking with one of the hotels listed on the Chase Luxury Hotels and Resorts site, since you can end up saving tons of money during your stay, which can of course go to other fun travel experiences. Of course, if you have a favorite hotel, and it’s not on there – carry on.
Chase Pricing
The big asterisk question, now that you already know you can still get elite status credits and full points for booking through Luxury Hotels and Resorts – is pricing. There are going to be examples all over the spectrum. Our first ever search of the newly updated site registered a mere $5 pricing discrepancy for the Park Hyatt Bangkok. For $5, you’re going from no breakfast to breakfast, from no benefits to huge benefits and even a highly sophisticated afternoon tea service included too.
We found examples where there was more than $100 of difference for a two night stay, and many others with no difference at all. Search direct, and compare on Chase’s Luxury Hotel & Resorts site.
I have the CSR but wasn’t (fully) aware of this, thanks for the reminder.