GHA DISCOVERY offering Titanium and Platinum status renewals with D$ purchase

GHA DISCOVERY Titanium and Platinum aren’t particularly difficult to attain, requiring as few as three and two nights per year respectively.

Nonetheless, if you still haven’t settled your requalification for 2025, GHA is now sending out targeted offers to Titanium and Platinum members, offering upfront status renewals in exchange for purchasing DISCOVERY Dollars (D$).

If you plan to stay at GHA properties anyway in the upcoming year, this might be an interesting opportunity.

GHA DISCOVERY status extension offers

Check if you’re targeted

GHA DISCOVERY Titanium and Platinum members are receiving offers via email to renew their status till 31 December 2025, by making a purchase of:

• Titanium: D$1,000 (which costs US$1,000)
• Platinum: D$500 (which costs US$500)

The purchase must be made from 5-30 December 2024, and any D$ purchased will be valid for 12 months from the date of awarding.

Purchased D$ will be credited immediately, but the status extension may take up to 10 business days to be processed.

Once again, this is a targeted offer, but you can see whether your account is eligible by visiting this page and logging in. Ineligible accounts like mine (my status is good till 31 December 2025, thanks to the Visa Infinite offer available earlier this year) will see the following message.

Is it worth it?

As I mentioned earlier, GHA DISCOVERY Titanium and Platinum aren’t difficult to earn or requalify for. All it takes is three and two brands respectively, so staying three nights at three different brands would be enough to hit top tier status!

However, if you still haven’t met the requalification threshold and don’t have travel plans for the rest of 2024, GHA is basically saying “we’ll renew your status if you commit to staying a few times with us in 2025”.’

Buying D$ is effectively pre-paying for a few stays down the road, and if those stays happen to be early in the year, then the opportunity cost of tying up some funds shouldn’t be that great. Besides, you could actually use this purchase to take advantage of the various year-end FCY spending promotions, such as:

• DBS Altitude: 5 mpd on FCY spend
• Maybank Horizon: 3.2 mpd on FCY spend
• Citi Prestige: 4.5 mpd on FCY spend

Do refer to the linked articles for information on registration, minimum spend and caps. 

Keep in mind though, we have seen D$ being sold with a discount of up to 15% in the recent past, and there’s no similar discount this time round. 

What card should you use to purchase D$?

Purchases of D$ are processed by Points.com and are classified under MCC 7399 (Business Services Not Elsewhere Classified), as opposed to hotel spend. 

In addition to the cards I mentioned in the previous section with ongoing FCY spending promotions, you can use the following cards to maximise your miles.

Card	Earn Rate	Remarks
Citi Rewards Card Apply	4 mpd	Cap of S$1K per s. month
UOB Visa Signature Apply	4 mpd	Min S$1K, max S$2K FCY spend per s. month
StanChart Beyond Card Apply	3-4 mpd	3 mpd for regular, 3.5 mpd for PB, 4 mpd for PP. No cap
Maybank Horizon Visa Signature Apply	3.2 mpd (till 31 Jan 25)	Min S$800 per c. month, no cap
Maybank World Mastercard Apply	2.8-3.2 mpd	Earn 3.2 mpd with min. S$4K per c. month. Earn 2.8 mpd with min. S$800 per c. month. No cap
SCB Visa Infinite Apply	3 mpd	Min S$2K per s. month, no cap
UOB PRVI Miles Apply	2.4 mpd	No cap
S. Month= Statement Month | C. Month= Calendar Month

You can always pair the Mastercard options above with the Amaze Card to enjoy lower foreign currency transaction fees compared to banks, though keep in mind you’ll then only have the local earn rates for the general spending cards. 

Do not use HSBC cards or the DBS Woman’s World Card for Points.com purchases, as MCC 7399 will not earn points. 

How do you earn or redeem D$?

D$1= US$1 at GHA properties worldwide. D$ can be earned or redeemed on the following expenses:

Only stays booked through the GHA website or official hotel websites/channels will be eligible to earn D$. 

A few pointers about redeeming D$:

• A minimum of D$10 must be spent in a single transaction
• At the moment, D$ can only be used to pay online with hotels under Lore Group, Paramount Hotels, Sun International, The Leela Palaces, Hotels and Resorts, and The Set Collection (Hotel Cafe Royal, Lutetia and Conservatorium only)
• For all other brands D$ can be used during a stay, at the front desk of a hotel. You cannot spend them on F&B or spa treatments when not an in-house guest
• It is possible to use D$ on prepaid stays however, insofar as the hotel doesn’t actually charge your card at the time of booking (you’d be surprised, many “prepaid stays” aren’t actually charged until check-in). My advice would be to contact the hotel beforehand, let them know you want to book a prepaid rate with D$, and ask them how to proceed

What perks do GHA DISCOVERY elites enjoy?

Here’s a quick recap of the elite benefits that GHA DISCOVERY members can enjoy.

Breakfast is a new benefit that began being rolled out in early 2024, and is currently available at the following brands:

• Andronis
• Araiya Hotels & Resorts
• Capella Hotels & Resorts
• Divani Collection
• Lore Group
• Lungarno Collection
• Marco Polo Hotels
• Maqo Hotels
• Mysk Hotels
• Niccolo Hotels
• Nikki Beach Hotels & Resorts
• Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts 
• Paramount Hotels
• PARKROYAL Hotels & Resorts 
• PARKROYAL COLLECTION Hotels & Resorts
• Shaza Hotels
• The Set Collection 
• Grand Hotel Heiligendamm
• Unike Hoteller

The most recent additions are Pan Pacific and PARKROYAL, which came into effect from 1 December 2024. This leaves Anantara, Avani, Kempinski and NH Hotels as the major GHA brands yet to implement the benefit.

Other ways of earning GHA DISCOVERY elite status

Details

As a reminder, Mastercard is currently offering instant GHA DISCOVERY Titanium and Platinum status to World Elite and World Mastercard respectively. All you need to do is visit the Mastercard redemption platform by 31 December 2024 and follow the links to upgrade your account. 

Once upgraded, your status will be valid till 31 December 2025. 

Since the World badge is used even for entry-level cards now, there’s no reason why anyone should be lower than a Platinum. I mean, they even give it away when you buy a BYD…

Conclusion

GHA DISCOVERY Titanium and Platinum members may have received targeted offers to retain their status till 31 December 2025 by purchasing D$1,000 and D$500 respectively.

If you haven’t managed to requalify yet, but do plan on staying at GHA hotels in 2025, think of this like prepaying for your stay. You can use the D$ for room rates, dining or spa treatments,  and so long as your stay is within the next 12 months, expiry won’t be an issue.