A recent post on this blog was about a new hotel in Venice with potential for a high value redemption of Choice Privileges points. Consequently, I thought it might be useful to go over a few resources for finding new properties in various hotel chain loyalty programs. Whether it’s a recent construction or a rebranding of an existing hotel, it’s nice to discover new options for redeeming your points.
Hotel Chain Websites and Press Releases
In my opinion, the Marriott website takes the top spot when it comes to ease of finding properties that are either newly open or scheduled to welcome guests in the relative near future. On Marriott’s Hotel Directory you can filter by things like brand or category, and under “Hotel Type” you can choose “New hotel” to limit your search to recent and upcoming openings.
The results are sorted by geographic area. Across all categories there are currently 12 new hotels in Canada including a Delta set to open in Mont Sainte-Anne that apparently has not yet been assigned a reward category.
Although it doesn’t have a searchable directory, Radisson has a separate area on its website for New and upcoming hotels across its brands. You can also review recent Press Releases.
Similarly, Hilton has a New Hotels and Resorts website where you can read about new openings in the Hilton portfolio.
Choice Hotels Press Releases has a search feature that might help you find info on new properties.
The IHG News Releases page has a lot of info on new hotels and is searchable as well.
Best Western’s Press & Media page has a sprinkling of items on new openings.
And the same with Wyndham on its News Releases page.
If you’re a budget traveller to the UK, you might be interested in new hotels in the Premier Inn group as well as Travelodge’s new hotels (unrelated to Wyndham’s Travelodge brand). These would be good options for redeeming fixed value points such as Scotia Rewards, for example.
FlyerTalk New Hotel Threads
There are discussion threads for new chain properties on FlyerTalk’s hotel loyalty program forums.
In the Hilton Honors forum, the first sticky thread is Hilton properties joining/leaving the Hilton chain. FlyerTalk members maintain the list and since Hilton is is a very active forum, the info is presumably quite up to date.
Although not conveniently located as a sticky at the top of the forum like with Hilton, there are wiki posts at the beginning of fairly active threads in other forums, including Upcoming Hyatt Properties for World of Hyatt, a Master list of New Hotels and Disposals for IHG Rewards and a Master thread of new hotels and divestitures for Marriott Bonvoy.
The Accor ALL forum has a thread for New Hotel Openings 2020 along with one for Hotels leaving Accor.
A Cautionary Note About New Hotels
It’s wise not to get too excited when you discover a new hotel where you’d like to stay. If it’s not yet open, the scheduled opening date shouldn’t necessarily be relied upon as firm. Newly built hotels can often be delayed in receiving guests and you could find your reservation cancelled or moved to another property. There is also the rare occasion when a new hotel ends up operating under a different brand than the one it was originally designated to join.
Furthermore, if you end up being one of the first guests to check in, you’ll need to be prepared for a little noise or inconvenience if there’s any remaining unfinished construction or renovation. Assorted minor kinks might still need to be worked out as well. Most such issues wouldn’t likely impact your stay in a significant way, but if it’s something like a pool yet to open when you booked with intentions to use it, you might be quite disappointed.
Final Thoughts
If you’re flexible about where you’d like to use your hotel points, it’s good to stay on top of recent developments. Of course, you might also discover through one of the above resources that a favourite hotel is set to de-flag and turn into something else. That can be a real downer if its new incarnation makes it less accessible to you. On the bright side, there are always new hotels opening or rebranding in all of the popular chains, giving point collectors new options to redeem and enjoy free stays.
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