How to Get Hotel Elite Status and Room Upgrades – The Easy Way
Hotel elite status can be a truly wonderful thing. Between room upgrades, free breakfast, priority check-in, and even late checkout, it can really take your vacation experience to the next level. Let’s be honest, who doesn’t love feeling like a VIP when you check-in after a long flight and hear those three lovely words “you’ve been upgraded”.
But if you’re like most people, you likely don’t travel often enough to earn hotel elite status through the number of nights needed in order to qualify.
Luckily, there are plenty of ways to achieve hotel elite status without needing to stay a single night in a hotel to do so…
and that is by using travel credit cards of course!
You see, travel credit cards don’t just allow you to earn points and miles for free flights and hotel stays. They can also come with incredible perks like earning hotel elite status which will not only earn you extra points on stays, but make you eligible for complimentary room upgrades, free breakfast, and late check-out!
So without further ado, here are a few of the cards that will get you on the fast track to becoming an elite member with some of the top hotel groups!
World of Hyatt
With the World of Hyatt card from Chase you’ll receive:
- 4x points per $1 spent with Hyatt, 2x points per $1 on transit & commuting purchases (like Ubers/Lyfts), 2x points per $1 on airfare, 2x points per $1 at restaurants, and 2x points per $1 on gym memberships
- Free anniversary night, plus an additional free night for spending $15,000 on the card in a year
- Receive 5 qualifying elite night credits plus 2 additional qualifying nights for every $5,000 you spend on the card
- Automatic Discoverist status
And with your new World of Hyatt Discoverist status, you’ll receive:
- 10% bonus points on stays
- 2:00 pm late check-out (if available)
- Room upgrade (if available)
- Pearl Status with MLife Rewards
- Daily bottle of water and complimentary premium internet
To earn Discoverist status without the card you just need to stay 10 nights with Hyatt. If you’re interested in the higher-tier Hyatt statuses you can compare them here.
Intercontinental Hotels Group
The IHG® Rewards Premier card earns you:
- 10x points per $1 on all IHG stays, and 2x points per $1 on gas, groceries, and restaurants
- An anniversary free night
- 4th night free on award bookings
- 20% off points purchased with the card
- No foreign transaction fees
- Global Entry/TSA PreCheck Credit
- Automatic Platinum Elite status with IHG
And with your new IHG Platinum status you’ll receive:
- 50% bonus points on stays
- 4pm Late check-out (if available)
- Room upgrades (if available)
- Free breakfast(at properties that offer it)
Getting automatic Platinum status with the Chase IHG Rewards card is a great benefit because you’d normally need to stay 40 nights in a calendar year in order to receive it.
You can compare all tiers of IHG status here.
Hilton
There are 5 Hilton cards that give you Hilton status including:
- Hilton Honors card from Amex (Silver Status)
- Hilton Honors Surpass card from Amex (Gold Status)
- Hilton Business card from Amex (Gold Status)
- Hilton Aspire card from Amex (Platinum Status)
- Amex Platinum card (Gold Status)
Being that 3/5 card options offer Gold, that’s what I’ve discussed below. But you can compare all three status levels here.
With Hilton Gold status you’ll receive:
- 80% bonus Hilton points on stays
- Free breakfast
- Free internet
- 4pm Late check-out (if available)
- Room upgrades (if available- not including suites)
- 5th night free on award stays
Ordinarily, you’d need either 20 stays or 40 nights in a calendar year in order to earn Gold status!
Marriott
There are 4 cards that offer Marriott status including:
- Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card (Silver)
- Marriott Bonvoy Business card (Gold)
- Marriott Bonvoy Brilliant card (Platinum)
- Amex Platinum card (Gold)
With Marriott Gold status you’ll receive:
- 25% bonus points on Marriott stays
- Complimentary enhanced internet
- Room upgrades (if available)
- Free breakfast (at participating properties)
- 4pm Late check-out (if available)
- Crossover Starwood Gold Status
- 5th night free on award stays
Without one of those cards, you’d need to stay 10 nights for Silver status and 25 to earn Gold. If you want to compare each status tier follow the link here.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, earning automatic elite status from a hotel credit card can be a terrific way to get extra bonus points, free breakfast, room upgrades, and late check-outs! If you want to travel like a VIP, you don’t need to spend thousands of dollars staying all those nights in just one hotel group…you just need the right card!
