Shangri-La is launching a new invitation only elite tier. There’s a lot that’s noteworthy here, even if most of us will never earn this status.
In this post:
Shangri-La’s Polaris status benefits
While Shangri-La’s loyalty program has historically had published elite tiers, the hotel group is now also launching a very exclusive new invitation-only elite tier, named Polaris. Yep, Shangri-La is using the same name as United’s business class. Here’s how this is described:
Just as the North Star has served as the guiding light for travellers, Polaris leads the way into a brand-new world of personalized privileges at Shangri-La — curated for our closest members.
The qualification criteria for Shangri-La Polaris aren’t known, though I’d imagine you’d need to be a huge spender with Shangri-La to earn this status. So, what are the benefits of Shangri-La Polaris?
- Access to any Shangri-La club lounge, gym, pools, or meeting rooms, even if you’re not staying at a Shangri-La property
- Flexible check-in time as early as early as 12AM (you read that right), and flexible check-out time as late as 6PM
- A personal concierge to call for hotel reservations or other venue bookings around the city in conjunction with a stay
- 10 room upgrades per year to the next best room category, up to a lead-in suite
- Complimentary airport meet & greet and one-way airport transfer at select airports, up to 12x per year
- Four hours of complimentary car service per stay
- Nominate a family member to Diamond status for a year
- Invitations to coveted global events based on a member’s interest, on an ad-hoc basis
- Invitations to exclusive events organized by Shangri-La on property, including Michelin-star dining events
My take on Shangri-La Polaris
A few thoughts about the new Shangri-La Polaris status:
- The perks here are incredible, including 12AM check-in and 6PM check-out, a driver for four hours per stay, an airport meet & greet service, etc.
- My favorite perk is access to club lounges, gyms, and pools, when not staying at a hotel; this is such a lovely extension of loyalty, where you’re rewarded even if you’re not actually currently staying at a Shangri-La property
- The upgrade benefit is weak, but that’s probably by design; I’d bet that in order to earn Polaris status you’d need to be staying at Shangri-La properties constantly, and would probably even need to regularly book suites
- Most Shangri-La properties are in Asia, and the brand is strongest in China, so I can’t help but wonder how many people would actually qualify right now given all the travel restrictions; I’d think people traveling within China would be most likely to get this status right now?
Bottom line
Shangri-La is launching a new invitation-only elite tier, named Polaris. While a vast majority of us will never earn this, it’s always interesting to see what special elite tiers hotel programs have.
The perks of Shangri-La Polaris are strong, ranging from 12AM check-in, to airport transfers with meet & greet, to a car service while staying at a hotel. I sure would be curious to know roughly what it takes to be invited to Shangri-La Polaris (are we talking $50,000+ per year in spending, way more, or a totally different metric?). If any OMAAT readers do earn this, please report back on your stay patterns!
What do you make of Shangri-La’s new Polaris status?
(Tip of the hat to LoyaltyLobby)
I know someone who is a Polaris member… as the other commenter mentioned you need to be spending over a quarter mil at Shang to be considered
I was recently approached by Shangri-la for this. We asset manage twelve of their properties across Asia. I am involved in data science and do the "number crunching" if you will. Nobody else on OMAAT will ever get close to this.
Feel like this is for the property developers who give the Shang to manage their hotels