What is availability like for reward nights at Rydges?

[paultiffen]

Hi

I need to find a hotel chain within works budget in Sydney. Rydges seemed to have an interesting program as reaching 10 stays for black status is fairly achievable.

How easy is it to redeem award nights? Thinking of using in Queenstown for example

Thanks,
Paul

 

[NZflygirl]

Redemption free room night stays are subject to availability. Free room night inventory is available each night, but is limited and, once booked at any hotel on any given night, additional Free Room Nights will not be made available. Members should plan and book their Free Room Night redemptions well in advance to ensure the greatest possibility of securing their preferred Free Reward Room Night dates.

That's the official response from the PGR website. We may try and redeem a night in London but our plans aren't firm yet. But apart from that I'm quite happy to spend it on breakfast with the +1.
The more I look at this programme the more I like it. By the end of 10 stays, with the discount per stay you've generally had a free night and then you get points so you are very close to a free night which is pretty good for just 10 stays. You'd definitely have 2 free nights per 10 stays if you were black the whole year. I also think I've been upgraded at Rydges more than any other hotel chain and sometimes that was even just being a gold (base) member!

I've booked a GHA property in Bali next year and will be black in 2 more stays over the next 2 weeks so I'm looking forward to seeing if the benefits come through for the GHA properties. GHA properties remind me of some SPG properties in terms of having a bit more character. I particularly like the look of Alila and Anantara and Kempinski and.... .

I stayed in Queenstown earlier this year at Rydges and well it was only a basic room as that's what I tend to book but it did feel a bit dated in comparison to some of their other properties. Rydges Fortitude Valley (BNE) and Esplanade (Freemantle, WA) have been my favourites so far.

 

[NZflygirl]

I have seen some nights for points but I haven't really needed to redeem although did manage to book for Melbourne although that is 9 months out. Would be nice to hear from anyone else and their searches. I tried looking at New Years Sydney but no points bookings available but that's probably not surprising. The actual search itself for nights on points doesn't look easy. More like a night by night basis which is tedious.

 

[cambriamarsh]

I have seen some nights for points but I haven't really needed to redeem although did manage to book for Melbourne although that is 9 months out. Would be nice to hear from anyone else and their searches. I tried looking at New Years Sydney but no points bookings available but that's probably not surprising. The actual search itself for nights on points doesn't look easy. More like a night by night basis which is tedious.

Just had a reward night in WLG booked some months and transferred around after the quakes. Previously have stayed in Rydges in LON part cash part reward. The last night was a reward after our earlier nights credited through, ie book Friday morning stay Friday night. YMMV however depending upon location, date, etc. Good luck

 

[NZflygirl]

I just had a quick look around immediate dates for nights on points like last night BNE fortitude valley, tonight Syd airport and World Central and there's nights on points there. It made me wonder if they made their nights more available closer to the date if they didn't have enough bookings? If that's the case (and something I'll look into in the future) then I'll probably book a flexible room rate with another chain e.g. Accor HH etc where you get more points per $, then if a free night with Rydges pops up on points I'll cancel and rebook with Rydges. Rydges is a flat 10-20 points / night so no point in paying a more expensive Flexi rate. All depends if the other hotel is convenient also.

I have fed back to them via social media it's really hard searching for award nights 1 date at a time and would be easier if you could search wk by wk or month by month etc.

 

[NZflygirl]

Just adding to this, availability seems to be better as long as you book in advance. I started making a list of dates at Auckland then realised there was a tonne of availability and looked at a few other properties in advance and it was good so I'm quite happy with it now.

 

[Melburnian1]

I've had a good experience with Rydges' reward availability but have always booked more than two months in advance, and I tend not to try to book during busy festivals (Vivid Sydney for instance) or Friday/ Saturday nights. The staff have always treated me just as well as if I or a company or government entity had paid for the room.

The hypothesis above about releasing more reward rooms if paid bookings haven't reached a certain level is logical, but it's not what many airlines do.