loyalty programs are having a moment

If you've booked a hotel room lately, you've probably noticed the big chains leaning harder than ever into their loyalty programs — and the numbers explain why. A year after Marriott acquired the boutique brand CitizenM, Marriott's president for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa told Skift that CitizenM hotels are now seeing average occupancy of 50% from Marriott Bonvoy members across the portfolio — and that it's genuinely new demand, not existing guests just booking through a different channel. As CitizenM's CEO put it, the impact has been especially significant in the U.S., "seven days a week."

At the W Austin, our clients who are visiting for the Formula One United States Grand Prix this October can earn 5,000 Bonvoy points, in addition to our VIP program amenities.

That's a striking data point, but it also raises a question we hear from clients all the time: if the hotel companies are betting this big on loyalty membership, does booking through a travel advisor mean giving any of that up?

The answer is no — and if anything, working with Huckleberry Travel means you get more out of every loyalty program you're already in, plus a few perks those programs can't give you on their own. Here's how.

You're not paying a premium to book with us. When we book your hotels and flights directly, our rates are the same as — or better than — what's publicly available almost all of the time. We're not marking anything up to earn our keep; we're using our relationships and access to get you rates that are already competitive, or better, before you factor in everything else we bring to the table.

You still earn your points. This is the one people worry about most, and it's simple: when we book your flights and hotels directly, you earn loyalty points exactly as if you'd booked it yourself. Your Bonvoy, Hilton Honors, or airline miles keep accruing normally. If you’re using points or miles for a booking, we’re not able to help redeem those points, but using an advisor doesn't put your points at risk — it just adds value on top of what you're already earning.

After an overnight flight, you don’t want to have to wait for your room to be ready. Our luxury hotel program moves you to the top of the list for early check-in when it’s available. And you’re still earning points on your stay.

One caveat worth mentioning: on occasion, we'll book through a wholesaler or consolidator that bundles flights, hotels, and other elements together into a package specifically to get our clients a better overall value. In those cases, loyalty points typically aren't earned, since the booking runs through a different channel than a direct reservation. This is a deliberate trade-off we make only when the bundled savings are worth more than the points — and it applies to a small percentage of the trips we book. For the vast majority of your travel, direct booking and full point accrual is exactly how it works.

Our luxury hotel program can get you treated like a top-tier loyalty member — even if you're not one. Through our preferred hotel relationships, we can often secure VIP-level treatment for clients regardless of their status in a given hotel's loyalty program. That means the kind of attention, recognition, and extras usually reserved for a program's highest tier, arranged on your behalf simply because you booked through us.

Some of our amenities come as bonus points, not just perks. As a Hilton for Luxury agency, when our clients stay at a Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, LXR, Signia, or NoMad property, one of the VIP amenities we can add is double Hilton Honors points on the stay — alongside things like room upgrades when available, breakfast, and hotel or resort credits. It's one more lever we can pull to make a stay more valuable, not just more comfortable.

At Waldorf-Astoria Los Cabos Pedregal, our clients earn double Honors points through our VIP Hotel Program.

The most important thing to understand about all of this: our VIP amenities are additive. They stack on top of the loyalty benefits you're already entitled to as a program member — they never replace them. You keep every point, every night credit, and every status perk you've already earned. We're simply adding a second layer of value on top, using relationships and programs that aren't available to travelers booking on their own.

Loyalty programs are only becoming a bigger part of how hotels compete for your business. The smartest way to benefit from that shift isn't to pick between booking direct with the hotel or booking through an advisor — it's to have an advisor who makes sure you get everything both have to offer. That's exactly what we do.

Ready to make your next trip work harder for you? Reach out to Huckleberry Travel and let's put your loyalty status — and ours — to work.