The Secret Perks of Investing in Travel

Hotels

Hotels: Accor SA, the largest hotel company in Europe, offers instant elite status to anyone who holds just 50 bearer shares, or one registered share, which at press time was trading at around €32 ($35).

That’s a small price to pay for gold status, which usually requires staying at the company’s hotels for 30 nights during a calendar year. The status can be valuable: It confers room upgrades, late checkout times and welcome gifts for guests at any of Accor’s hotels — the company’s 53 brands include legacy stalwarts such as Fairmont, Sofitel and Raffles.

To get a sense of the return you might expect on that $35 investment — not counting the couple of bucks you might make on your single share — imagine you have a weeklong vacation booked to Singapore, with a stay at the legendary Raffles hotel.

If gold status means an upgrade from a State room suite to a Courtyard accommodation room, that could represent a value of $500 over the course of your trip.

The only other major hotel company that has a program like this is InterContinental Hotels Group PLC, which offers eligible shareholders a 20% discount on “flexible” room rates. That option, however, comes with a far steeper buy-in — it’s only available to those who own at least 100 shares of the company, and the current stock price is 6,337 GBp ($80) — making it less recommendable.

For the best deals, turn to brands with less global name recognition. For instance, Spain-based NH Hotel Group SA, which is now part of the fast-growing Minor Hotel Group Co Ltd, offers up to elite status within the NH Discovery loyalty program.

The level of status conferred varies based on the amount invested. Buying just one share for about €4 is enough to get gold status; it takes more than €2,000 worth of shares to receive platinum and some €3,000 worth to get top-tier titanium status.

It’s easier to use that newfound status than you might think.

In addition to being valid at NH’s 350-plus locations around the world, including the recently opened NH Collection New York Madison Avenue — where the rooms are much more tastefully styled than their $210-a-night price point would suggest — that status also applies to hundreds of hotels within the Global Hotel Alliance.

This could net you late checkout, double room upgrades and welcome gifts at brands such as Anantara, the Leela, Kempinski and Viceroy. While the upgrades are dependent on availability, they can deliver an incredible return on investment.

A booking for a Superior Over Water villa at Anantara Veli Maldives Resort ($670 a night) could get upgraded, perhaps, to an Ocean Pool villa ($931 a night), yielding $1,827 in returns for a weeklong trip.

Meliá Hotels International SA, another Spanish brand, similarly awards elite status to shareholders for investing. Owning at least one share (roughly €6 at press time) earns you silver status. One thousand shares buys gold status, and top-tier platinum status is reserved for those who have at least 10,000 shares.

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