Plaza Premium launches loyalty program, Citi Prestige and HSBC VI holders take note

Plaza Premium is a contract lounge operator that has more than 140 lounges across 35 airports in 16 countries. The quality of contract lounges can vary greatly, but Plaza Premium is generally one of the better ones- their new lounge in Hong Kong, for example, wouldn’t look out of place for a top tier airline.

Plaza Premium has partnered with Arrture to start its own free-to-join loyalty program where you earn points every time you visit a Plaza Premium lounge. Note that although there are 140+ Plaza Premium lounges, not all are currently participating in this loyalty program. 37 currently are (including, importantly, the one in Singapore) and you can see the full list here.

The program is still in its infancy, but right now the deal is that you earn 100 points every time you visit a Plaza Premium Lounge, and once you hit 2,000 points you can redeem a free Plaza Premium Lounge coupon.  As per their website, they plan to offer other redemption options in the future. At the very worst you could gift that coupon to someone else. You can’t sign up for Arrture online, unfortunately, as you need to pick up a physical form from a participating Plaza Premium lounge.

Why is this interesting? Because Plaza Premium lounges can be accessed through the Priority Pass program, and a lot of miles earning credit cards in Singapore will offer a handful of free visits a year.

Not too long ago I did an article on credit card lounge access. Here’s a recap of who gives you what.

CardIncome ReqLounge NetworkFree Visits
Maybank Horizon Platinum$30KSelected lounges in SIN, KUL and HKG1 visit with min $1K spend in a single transaction within 3 months of travel
Diners Club Cards$30KParticipating lounges1 free visit between 1 Apr and 31 Mar of each year
Citibank PremierMiles Visa$30KPriority Pass2 per calendar yr
UOB JCB Card$30KSelected lounges2 per calendar yr (unlimited in Japan/Hawaii)
DBS Altitude Visa$30KPriority Pass2 per membership yr
BOC Visa Infinite$120KPlaza Premium2 per membership yr
SCB X Card$80KPriority Pass2 per membership year
CIMB Visa Infinite $120KDragon Pass 3 per membership yr*
SCB Priority Banking VI $30K (min AUM $200K)Priority Pass4 (AUM<$200K), 24 (AUM>$200K) per membership yr Unlimited for Priority Private + Private Banking with 1 guest
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend$50KSelected lounges4 per membership yr
UOB Visa Infinite Metal Card$150KDragon Pass4 per membership yr
SCB Visa Infinite$150KPriority Pass6 per membership yr
UOB Lady's Solitaire Metal Card$120KLounge Key6 per calendar yr*
ICBC Global Travel Mastercard/Horoscope/Chinese Zodiac/Unionpay Dual Currency$30KDragon Pass6 until 31 Dec 2020
Citi Prestige$120KPriority PassUnlimited (+1 guest)
OCBC VOYAGE$120KPlaza PremiumUnlimited (supp cardholder gets same benefit)
HSBC Visa Infinite$120KLounge KeyUnlimited (supp cardholder gets same benefit)
Maybank Visa Infinite $150KPriority PassUnlimited
AMEX Platinum Charge $200KPriority Pass, AMEX & Centurion lounges, Delta SkyClubs (when flying Delta)Unlimited (+1-2 guests, supp cardholders get same benefit, only first supp cardholder gets Priority Pass)

I think you know where I’m going with this.

If you hold a HSBC Visa Infinite or Citibank Prestige card, you get unlimited visits to Priority Pass lounges. Therefore, even if you already have lounge access elsewhere, it might be worth the 5 minutes dropping by the Plaza Premium lounge in T1 every time you depart SIN just to register a visit (as per the T&C, both paid visits and complimentary visits via your credit card issuer count towards points earning).

I personally don’t think the current reward (20 visits= 1 free visit) is that exciting, but I’m keen to see what additional rewards they add to this program. So I would start building my points balance regardless, if I had a card with unlimited lounge access. Obviously, if your credit card only comes with limited visits per year you might be wiser to save those visits for when you really need them.

I see what Plaza Premium is doing here and it’s really quite clever. They know that credit cards which come with unlimited lounge access tend to be top tier ones, owned by people who probably have lounge access of their own already (through flying premium cabins or airline loyalty programs). Since Plaza Premium earns a fee every time someone Priority Passes their way into the lounge, it would make sense for them to encourage such individuals to start utilizing the visits they would otherwise not bother to make.

Too bad I can’t justify paying the annual fees for either the Citibank Prestige or HSBC VI, or I’d be making a lot of trips to Terminal 1…

Aaron Wong
Aaron Wong
Aaron founded The Milelion to help people travel better for less and impress chiobu. He was 50% successful.

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Peter

Priority customers of SCB holding a SCB Priority Visa Infinite would also get unlimited visits a year.

Peter

You’re welcome. Thanks also for your tip – I’ll try to drop by Plaza Premium just to clock a visit next time I travel.

lalaisgongon

To add. some airports have more thatn 1 PP lounge, each in one terminal.

but for citi prestige, the free pass after 20 visit, isnt much use but if they start giving other rewards.

Now that would be interesting.

AC

The T1 lounge is actually decent enough especially when quiet. Food is good enough and perfect to hide from the throngs outside!

ethanlism

There is now an option to sign up online. Will be using my unlimited PP at plaza premium lounges from now on!

ethanlism

download the APP to use the E-membership card.

[…] pay a HKD 200 (S$35) top-up fee to access the Plaza Premium First lounge. You can also pay 1,500 Arrture points for access. I went with the Priority Pass option, using the unlimited visits I had thanks to my […]

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