Yesterday, we discussed the utility of Trident Privilege as a frequent guest program for visitors to Trident Hotels across India, as a first of a four-part series. You can read that post here.

Today, we will delve deeper into the Trident Privilege program and understand how their statuses work, and how to earn points on this program.

Signing up

You can become a member of Trident Privilege at the front desk at check-in or during your stay at any participating Trident Hotel. Once you return the form, an email with an activation link will be sent to your given e-mail address. Alternatively, you may also enrol online at www.tridentprivilege.com. You could also earn a free night by using our referral, and then making your first stay (While the post discusses September 2015 as the end date of the referral program, it was extended till September, 2016)

A ‘stay’ in the programme is counted as the total number of consecutive nights spent at the same participating hotel with a minimum of 24-hours difference between two check-outs and check-ins. Essentially, continuous nights spent at the same hotel, even with different confirmations will be counted as a single stay.

Trident Privilege membership tiers & features

The Trident Privilege programme is quite straightforward and has 3 membership tiers

Red Tier

This is the entry level of Trident Privilege and all new members are enrolled into the Red Tier. Earlier, the program used to call this the Silver tier. Red tier members are awarded 10 points for every eligible spend of INR 100 towards an eligible stay at any of the participating Trident Hotels. Benefits to Red tier members include:

1. Express check in and check out
2. Late check out till 3 p.m. (subject to availability)
3. Double occupancy at no extra charges

Hardly much offered, but I like the fact that double occupancy is offered at the same price as single occupancy.

Gold Tier

Gold Tier is the mid-tier of the Trident Privilege program. Members qualify to the Gold Tier after completing 5 eligible stays or earning 10,000 Trident Privilege points in a period of 12 months from the date of enrolment. To retain your tier, however, you need only 8,000 Trident Privilege points or 4 eligible stays in the duration of a year.

Gold Tier members earn 11 points for every eligible spend of INR 100 towards an eligible stay at any of the participating Trident Hotels, essentially, a 10% bonus on Red tier earnings. Benefits and privileges offered to Gold members include:

1. Express check in and check out (included in Red Tier)
2. Early check in (Subject to availability)
3. Late check out till 3 p.m. (subject to availability) (included in Red Tier)
4. Double occupancy at no extra charges (included in Red Tier)
5. 50% savings on rack rate of Suites on weekends (Friday to Sunday)
6. 15% savings on business centre and laundry charges
7. Complimentary high speed Internet access

Understanding the 50% savings on rack rate of Suites on weekends: This can be a tricky one as hotel rack rates are different from promotional and best available rates (BAR). Rack rates / published rates are much higher than the BARs and for better comparison, I compared the price a Gold Tier member will have to pay to book a suite at Trident,Nariman Point, Mumbai and at Trident, Hyderabad for a weekend in March.

Under the 50% savings offer, you will need to pay INR 25,000 (50% of Rack Rate, INR 50,000), which is still 25% higher than the best available price (INR 18,750) for the Suite in Mumbai. Using the gold tier benefit in Hyderabad would actually result in members paying a 40% higher price. Hence, this is just smart packaging, nothing more!

Platinum Tier

The Platinum Tier is the highest tier achieved on completion of 12 eligible stays or by accumulating 40,000 points in a period of 12 months from enrolment date.

Platinum tier members are awarded 12 points for every eligible spend of INR 100 towards an eligible stay at any of the participating Trident Hotels, which is a 20% bonus on base tier earnings. Other global programs such as SPG offer their highest tier members a good 100% bonus on top of base earnings. Benefits and privileges offered to Platinum members include:

1. Express check in and check out (included in Gold Tier)
2. Early check in (subject to availability) (included in Gold Tier)
3. Late check out till 3 p.m. (subject to availability) (included in Gold Tier)
4. Double occupancy at no extra charges (included in Gold Tier)
5. Guaranteed room availability up to 72 hours prior to arrival
6. Room upgrade (subject to availability) or complimentary breakfast
7. Access to ‘Trident Club Lounge’ for resident guests at hotels in Chennai, Hyderabad and Mumbai
8. Complimentary high speed Internet access (included in Gold Tier)
9. 50% savings on rack rate of Suites on weekends (Friday to Sunday) (included in Gold Tier)
10. 15% savings on business centre and laundry charges (included in Gold Tier)
11. Dining certificate worth INR 2,500 which can be redeemed at any restaurant in a Trident hotel.

Bottomline

The only way this program makes sense is by getting to the Platinum Tier. For a business traveller, that just means making 12 nights across their many hotels around India, which is not much.

Readers, any experiences with the Trident Privilege programme and its various tiers? Please do share in the comments section.

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