Leaking out in the past few hours: Hiltons new tier requiring $18,000 spend per annum and 80 nights. Somewhat similar to Marriott’s Ambassador level.
Around 2017 we posted that Hilton gave notice of their new Diamond + tier that never materialized, read more on that HERE
Judging from the status codes leaked it looks like Hilton is proceeding with this new tier shortly “tier code P” and the colour goes to Black which coincidentally Diamond had around the same time pre covid.
TL has not run a contest of this magnitude in 10 YEARS !
Tap HERE for our last comp a decade ago. Winner hailed from Thailand.
No purchase necessary.
To enter simply:
1/ follow @traveloyaltyon Instagram and tag @3 of your friends/family/besties + share the comp post on your stories. (each set of 3 tags = 1 entry. You may enter as many times as you wish.
4/ additional entry share the promo post on @facebook
Winner will be chosen on 15th September 2025 via random.org
Winner takes all Prize includes:
Hilton Honors Gold Status + Marriott Gold Status + Star Alliance Gold Status
Additional prizes may be added in the coming weeks and will be put up on Instagram stories.
Terms and conditions:
To enter this contest for a chance to win the prize(s) above you must: Be 18+ years of age. Have local or international identification.
• Winner will be randomly selected from the database of entries from one of the entry options via random.org ( or similar) at management’s discretion and announced on Instagram stories on Monday, September 15, 2025 • Winner will be notified via DM• If the person selected is unable to respond in 7 (seven) days , another winner will be selected. Prize(s) includes: • Star Alliance Gold status valid 4months pending a flight to validity of 12 months• Hilton Hhonors Gold status valid until 2030 • Marriott Bonvoy Gold status valid until 2027. Addiotional prizes may be added during the contest period and will be posted on Instagram Stories. The sponsor may require the winner and the winner agrees by entering the Competition (at no cost), to be identified, photographed, filmed and the aforegoing to be published in any media and the winner’s name and image may be published on http://www.traveloyalty.co.za/ Winners may however at any time decline the use of their name, likeness or image by the sponsor.
OFFICIAL RULES AND REGULATIONS (Terms & Conditions for Contestants): No Purchase Necessary. 1. The Contest “Promotion Period” is from 12:00 a.m (GMT), 15 August, 2025 through 11.59 p.m. (GMT) September 15, 2025. 2. Eligibility: This Promotion is open worldwide except countries where it may be prohibited / restricted. The prize(s) is transferable and cannot be substituted for cash or any other equivalent. The sponsor shall not be responsible for technical, pictorial, typographical or editorial errors or omissions in any marketing materials or these rules. Sponsor reserves the right to modify, extend, suspend, or terminate the Promotion, in whole or in part, if it determines, in its sole discretion, that the Promotion is technically impaired or corrupted or that fraud or technical problems, failures or malfunctions or other unintended circumstances have impaired the integrity, administration, security, proper play and/or feasibility of the Promotion as contemplated herein. If the Promotion is terminated before the designated end date, Sponsor will (if possible) select winner in a random drawing from all eligible, non-suspect entries unaffected by the problem. Inclusion in such drawing shall be each entrant’s sole and exclusive remedy in such circumstances. By participating, you release TraveLoyalty and the other companies, subsidiaries, affiliates, partners, employees, directors, agents, advertising agencies, from any and against any and all injury, loss or damage caused or claimed to be caused by your participation in the competition and/or the acceptance, awarding, receipt, use and/or misuse of the prize. Any information you submit online is to the Sponsor alone. All rights reserved.
No1 : Join TL Concierge, guaranteed if you not on it you paying 2x as much to travel 2x as less with little to no perks nor insights for your worldwide trips.
So this might not be the lowest Umrah we ever scored over the years due to time variations and paying ‘full price fare’ where previously we have flown in for R880 ( yes 8 hundred).
This Off-Peak trip, the breakdown for what we spent can be found on this post HERE.
By far this might be one of the most blessed Umrah trips due to maximising the absent crowds that got less and less each day, the front lines especially ability to reach Hajr Aswad 14x in 8 days.
The likes of these are covered in our FREE DIY Umrah Guide from some years back and remain in effect till today.
Flying in:
We used Etihad basic, the sale for these April dates we needed came around the previous December. Approximately R7100 per adult and R6500 per child. (Business outbound on its own was R11,600)
We scored the Space seats, a somewhat premium economy as Gold Etihad Guests, these are the best economy seats in any airline. The tricks with Etihad are many and require some playing around with such as utilising the stopover for 2days, sometimes we have stopped going and coming and playing with fares on the swop country of booking for forex rates. Sometimes we have used Open Jaw options into Cai and take the cheapest 1way flight into Jed on SV or Flynas or Flyadeal. However for this trip the lowest was Jnb-Jed return with a stopover on return in Auh.
Accommodation:
We had to change and split this multiple times due to Haj visa regulations and maximise the Haramain on the quietest times of the year. The end result was Sheraton for 9days 8 nights on discounted cash rates (2500 sar for the period) this basically gave us All Inclusive, a “private executive lounge” and a upgrade to a 3 bedroom Suite worth R12000 per night As top tier members and then onwards Intercontinental for 4days 3 nights, I had to buy points to top up my balance to the tune of R2500, here again we were upgraded to a 1 bedroom suite as Diamond members, the same suite we scored in January Umrah of 2024 ( here we paid R1300 per night peak booking almost a year in advance)
Transfers:
Jed to Makkah cost R960 in a GMC, negotiated direct at arrivals.
Makkah to Madinah took the train on 50% discount with 2 taxis total came to R3400, it would have been cheaper to just take a Staria door to door for R2200 however time and days were the issue.
The transfer from Hotel in Madinah to Jed was R 2200 in a Staria for departure.
For a full dedicated storyline on this Umrah please click HERE.
Onwards:
With Etihad bookings we were given 3x rooms Free in Abu Dhabi worth R10000 for 2 nights. Highlight reel HERE
In Auh we opted to forfeit the last night and do a beach resort with wavepool, lazy river etc.
Earnings:
Due to the low cost of the Off Peak accom we only amassed a total of 20000 points with bonuses and for the airline we credited to SAS to offset a larger earn to the tune of 4900 miles per guest as Etihad gave peanuts approx 600miles for basic tickets. travel #theSMARTERway
Note:
Scoring Umrah has been our forte since pre 2013 when one could book Ramadhaan rooms for 24000 points a night (its now 150000 points per night) depending your pref.
Traveling #theTLway with maximising scoring can and has been used the world over from Hong Kong to Europe to Usa to Hawaii and every country in-between.
Email info@traveloyalty.co.za to get our concierge offers where we work 1 on 1 with each individuals needs from wanting to experience showering in the sky to theme parks to overwater villas in Maldives on repeat.
Scoring free prime accommodation or highly discounting the accommodation is nothing new here at traveloyalty.com, infact we have published all the ways each year since the website began almost a decade back.
Here is one of the older published articles when Hilton in Makkah could have been booked for just 30,000 points (or 24,000 points on 5th night free) per night even during the last 10nights.
Link: http://traveloyalty.co.za/how-to-lower-umra-costs-with-hilton-hilton-double-points-promo-extended/ Most readers flock to Hilton to book discounted or free Umrah stays however as with Hilton’s popularity over the years they have been loading the standard room availability very very late. This year was no exception, loading standard room redemption’s – from 70,000 points – only on the 23rd of February 2023. Last year 2022 Ramadhaan the same availability was only loaded end of February for end of March start.Marriott on the other hand has been loading standard room availability from the word go – from approx 40-50,000 points per free night.
So as per yearly usual here are the mathematics breakdown on staying 5x nights cash vs 5 nights points (redemption’s get every 5th night FREE):
Staying Cash for 5x nights
Conrad Makkah – sleeps 4 adults
Almost 20,000 Riyals for 5x nights = Zar 98,500
vs Staying on points for 5x nights:
A free 5x nights stay at Conrad Makkah will set you back 320,000 Hilton Honors points
Buying the points:
If you have not earned the points free from preferably using a Diamond status membership that yields plenty in bonuses you can buy the points:
Some targeted accounts ( esp those who have bought in previous years can buy 160k and get 160k free for $1600 )
So in essence buying the points costs $1600 or ZAR 29,650 vs paying cash rate of Zar 98,500 yielding a saving of R68,850 per 5x nights
Marriott Jabal Omar – Staying cash
thats 10,565 Riyals for 5 nights or ZAR 51,874
vs staying on points
A free 5x nights stay at Marriott Jabal Omar will set you back 234,000 Bonvoy points
Buying the points:
Buying the full Bonvoy points ( may need 2x acc )will cost you $2089 or ZAR 38,715 and in turn saving you ZAR 13,159
points to note:
Buy points on a sale only, Hilton regularly offers 100% bonuses and Marriott 40-50% bonuses.
Accounts are limited to buy a certain quantity of points per annum.
With elite level status 5th nights are free, and so are breakfasts and lounge access where available. This will save you many hours standing in food que’s.
When you use points you DON’T pay taxes.
Maximising Ramadhaan rarely works over night, we work with our clients 1 on 1, sometimes from July the year before to attain the goals and max all the points promos and sales that comes up.
Accounts need to open for a set duration in order to buy points.
You can buy, gift, transfer and even pool points from other accounts into yours for no fee. Do note: they can be instant, they can also take 1-2days and in some cases up to 10days.
Night by Night Rates:
1. Staying Cash
Hilton Convention:
The cash rates for MARCH 2023 at Hilton ConventionThe cash rates for APRIL 2023 at Hilton Convention
Hilton Conrad – sleeps 4 adults per room
The cash rates for MARCH 2023 at Conrad The cash rates for APRIL 2023 at Conrad
Marriott Jabal Omar
The cash rates for MARCH 2023 at Marriott
Take note all cash prices are still subject to 20% taxes and fees after.
2. Staying free on points
Hilton Convention
The points rates for MARCH 2023 at Hilton Convention The points rates for APRIL 2023 at Hilton Convention
Hilton Conrad – sleeps 4 adults per room
The points rates for MARCH 2023 at Conrad The points rates for APRIL 2023 at Conrad
I can send you info on our elitist loyalty concierge, where you book
Diy (per room not per person) at the worlds largest branded hotels, get
all the amazing upgrades, free breakfast, free extra guest,
complimentary lounge access, free nights ahead and best of all bulk of
spend back in points to travel the world free as you may have seen on
countless of our post on YouTube and Instagram (@traveloyalty),Umrah
included, not forgetting how to do 1st class and Business class for pennies through the hundreds of tickets highlighted on our social media above. If this intrigues you or in your future let me know :
January 1 – April 30, 2023, we’re giving you two ways to earn. Enjoy Double Points on every stay, plus 1,000 Bonus Points each time you stay with a different brand within the Hilton portfolio.
Sign up everyone you know to our free newsletter, tell them about our world exclusive offers, like us on Facebook, follow us on Twitter + Instagram+ subscribe on Youtube and NEVER miss a great deal.
All @traveloyalty
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the links in yellow to make sure you never late on getting a breaking
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Book until January 31st, 2016 for stays until December 30th, 2016.
Tip: Check the extra rate options for the room as some hotels have the excluded breakfast rates here which are complimentary for Gold and Diamond HHonors members.
2) Marriott buys Starwood – now the worlds largest hotel group.
Amazing, cant wait to see the perks in store when the loyalty programmes are fully merged. 30 Brands!
The most wise way to go on holiday is to have your spend as an investment with plenty to show and use for after check-out. All other travellers get nothing on check-out. Travel wisely. Travel the TraveLoyalty way.
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A new Marriott in Makkah has recently opened and requires only 20,000 points for a free night. Marriott Gold and Platinum gets every 5th night free when redeeming points, complimentary breakfasts and executive lounge access. The hotel has 426 rooms and 52 suites. Subscribers have reported superb giant upgrades at JW Marriott Marquis, Dubai and other top level Marriott brands over the past few months and im sure this hotel will be no exception.
The most wise way to go on holiday is to have your spend as an investment with plenty to show and use for after check-out. All other travellers get nothing on check-out. Travel wisely. Travel the TraveLoyalty way.
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With very little ( or no information) given from SAA Voyager, the awards for Star Alliance redemptions has already been changed for much higher amounts of miles. Initially the awards devaluation should only come in to play on 1 Dec 2015, SAA call centre staff finally confirmed this after consulting their management for the past 2 weeks.
Here is the old Voyager Star Alliance chart:
Here is your new updated Star Alliance chart:
What does this mean?
You will have to earn a chunk more of miles per person and pay the high taxes and fuel surcharges on top of that. Do the math on your methods of earning Voyager miles whether it be credit card spend, their re-invention earning or transfer. Europe for eg: from 60, 000 to 105,000 is a 45,000 mile increase. Times that by R6.00 per mile you may earn and you might think you in a bad dream.
What alternatives are there?
SAA Voyager has not changed their upgrade amounts on the Star Alliance network nor have they changed their amounts on their SAA metal network ( they did this in February) nor their partner network ( Emirates, Etihad, Virgin, Jet, etc – good luck finding availability here). JourneyBlitz table seems to be the same as before as well.
For months I’ve been writing on which airlines are the best vs the worst to earn, burn and credit to.
What does TraveLoyalty advise?
I credit to Etihad because of their low threshold of miles needed + low surcharges.
New York for R1065 in taxes … Im on this !
Mumbai First Class Suite Apartment, best cabin in the sky, available from May. Im booked.
Etihad First Class.
After emptying my account for a few First class flight redemptions with only 80 AED / R260 tax before July 8th changes. I’ve quickly gained many more from their lucrative promos with 2x, 3x and 4x miles promotions and family bonuses. Read my First Class tripHERE.
The most wise way to go on holiday is to have your spend as an investment with plenty to show and use for after check-out. All other travellers get nothing on check-out. Travel wisely. Travel the TraveLoyalty way.
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Emirates has a instant offer for top tier cardholders of a competitor airline. The worlds biggest airline who turned 30 years old last month and subsequently rolled out a 50% off skywards miles redemption offer seems to be wanting a increase in loyalty awareness after the award gutting and high surcharges it implemented in November 2014.
This must be the second time I’ve seen Emirates offer instant match to top tier. They have always offered one tier card upgrade with certain conditions up to gold level only. My article on this HERE.
For subscribers who have taken top tier packages over the recent months or are existing platinum cardholders with competitor airlines and have cards in hand, you may be eligible to qualify. Emirates cut off date for applications is 30 November 2015.
Our offer pre-advertised on the July 22nd Newsletter HERE.
I’m not the greatest of Skywards Loyalty fan due to the high taxes and high mileage redemptions implemented compared to other airlines.
However, I am a fan of their superb platinum lounge. One may never know when a platinum card may come in handy in the future, especially when its offered for free.
Read my review on the 1st class / Platinum lounge in Dubai HERE.
Emirates often upgrades it’s platinum members, especially on busy routes.
As with most Platinum frequent flyer cards you can gift Gold status to another as a perk bonus. The 75% bonus skywards miles will also seem very popular to paying more for most flights to some.
If you have any platinum competitor card, contact me and I will give you the finer details to getting it done.
The most wise way to go on holiday is to have your spend as an investment with plenty to show and use for after check-out. All other travellers get nothing on check-out. Travel wisely. Travel the TraveLoyalty way.
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1) Trip to Seychelles, HiltonLabriz on Silhouette Island.
Upgrades, jungle hikes, world class fishing, world class dining, blue ocean, mountains, clocking HHonors promotions for future free nights and so much more.
There is a bunch of airfare sales happening for November and Jan – June’16 please follow and check TraveLoyalty on Instagram , Facebook and twitter for up to date breaking deal posts. Best I saw was Dubai for R5200 on Qatar.
The most wise way to go on holiday is to have your spend as an investment with plenty to show and use for after check-out. All other travellers get nothing on check-out. Travel wisely. Travel the TraveLoyalty way.
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IHG (Intercontinental Hotels Group), the worlds largest hotel and loyalty programme has released a full hotel list for booking on October 26, 2015.
If you are un-familiar on how to stay for free at top end Intercontinental and Crowne Plaza Hotels kindly read on:
What is Pointbreaks ?
Pointbreaks is the hotel industry’s most economical ( un-matched and un-rivalled) promotion as 140 hotels ( out of 4900 +) are available for the redemption of a mere 5000 points.
How do you earn IHG points ?
You can earn points from stays at hotels or taking up their super lucrative challenges every quarter ( earn minimum 50,000 points by merely spending ZAR 4000 ) 50k in points can be worth a potential ZAR 60,000 if redeemed at expensive Intercontinental brands on Pointbreaks.
If you don’t have points, Traveloyalty can show you how to manufacture points using this method HERE at a rate of $35 per 5000. ( That’s half the rate the website sells them at ).
You can also buy points on sale offers during the year and earn up to 100% bonus on purchases and end up “paying’ $28 per room
If you see a property you like tomorrow MAKES SURE you have sufficient points in you account immediately as the best hotels tend to get booked out very quickly.
Secret Tip: On Monday 26th October 2015 the list will only go live on IHG website here mid afternoon South African time( 9am -11am EST) BUT you may log into the property you wish to book earlier as they tend to upload the specials individually before loading the full live list on their website.
As per recent change in IHG terms and conditions you may only make 2 reservations per hotel.
Bookings are mostly cancellable up to day of check-in, so if you cant make the journey – cancel it. Your points will come back into your account. YOU CANT LOSE.
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1) Exclusive access to the worlds largest hotel suite.
This is where famous monarchs, certain presidents of countries and perhaps a few of the top A – list celebrities book into.
The suite spans double volume ( maybe triple) and over 1500 square meters ( 16,146 square feet) in size. It also retails for 70,000 AED ( ZAR 260,000) per night. The concierge manager assigned to my stay at the Waldorf Astoria, The Palm in Dubai really treated me to a unforgettable trip including a full exclusive tour of this palace like Royal Suite.
Scroll down to Part 2 if you’ve already read Part 1 previously.
2) Etihad threw some heart stopping airfares last week.
While touring India last week, Etihad loaded some crazy fares on their .com/za (South Africa) version of their site. Sure enough it was taken down quickly as I’m sure many called into the offices frantically. Read this guide on mistake fares HERE.
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1) Emirates Skywards 1week 50% off sale. Flights from 7500 miles.
Book by 19 October and travel between 1 November and 30 November 2015.
50% is a huge saving but I’d be concerned of the taxes and fuel surcharges at the checkout.
Here are the terms and conditions:
This offer is only available on return Economy Class Saver rewards. Taxes and fuel surcharges are excluded and must be paid in full.
**This offer applies to flights from and to all Emirates destinations except: Delhi (DEL), Kolkata (CCU), Mumbai (BOM), Ahmedabad (AMD), Hyderabad (HYD), Chennai (MAA), Bengaluru (BLR), Kochi (COK), Thiruvananthapuram (TRV), Cairo (CAI), Guangzhou (CAN), Cape Town (CPT), Denpasar (DPS), Phuket (HKT), Islamabad (ISB), Istanbul (IST), Jeddah (JED), Lahore (LHE), Mauritius (MRU), Peshawar (PEW), Riyadh (RUH), Shanghai (PVG), Toronto (YYZ). Flights to and from Australia and New Zealand are not included in this offer, with the exceptions being trans-Tasman flights between Australia and New Zealand, which are included
– All other terms and conditions for reward flights remain the same.
***Based on 50% fewer Miles between Dubai and Middle East.
The most wise way to go on holiday is to have your spend as an investment with plenty to show and use for after check-out. All other travellers get nothing on check-out. Travel wisely. Travel the TraveLoyalty way.
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Sale started yesterday afternoon even though it was advertised for the 5th October. If you have only received this news now make sure you hook up with TraveLoyalty on social media to get the updates early. Sale ends 11/10/15 for stays until 31/01/16.
Tip: Check flexible dates option and check one day at a time to get insight in case of fluctuations over peak periods and always click in the 1st rate your see as the rates might become even lower in rate options, I’ve also found availability outside the participating hotels.
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