Four reasons why Amex Platinum ‘free Melia night’ bookers should join MeliaRewards

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I wrote earlier this week about the free night at selected 5-star Melia hotels that has been offered to all UK American Express Platinum cardholders.

(You can still get this if you sign up for the card now – see my review of the card here, see Amex Plat’s own home page here.)

It is fair to say that this is actually an Amex benefit which has got people a little excited, for once.

As a follow up to this, I wanted to mention a few things about MeliaRewards, the loyalty scheme for Melia Hotels. There are four reasons why you should join. I could have written separate posts about each of these, but as it is a minority subject for UK readers then I have put everything down here briefly.

This is the link to join MeliaRewards. It is free to join and you receive 2,000 Melia Rewards points immediately.

Reason 1 to join

Your 2,000 free points for joining is enough to get you a ‘cash and points’ award night. This could be very handy if you were planning to add an extra night to your American Express Platinum free night.

You will probably save €20+ via this route on booking a room for one night.

Reason 2 to join

You receive a 15% discount code when you join, valid on your next booking at melia.com. Again, this could be very handy if you were planning to add an extra night to your Amex Plat free night.

Reason 3 to join

You will earn points for any additional spend you make whilst on your free Amex Plat night. You only need to spend €10 to earn enough for an Avios conversion! You receive 10 points per €1 spent, and 100 points get you 15 Avios in Iberia Plus. (You can move these to BA or avios.com via ‘Combine My Avios’). There does not appear to be a minimum conversion amount.

Note – the 2,000 points you receive for signing up cannot be transferred to airline miles!

Reason 4 to join

You get some freebies even as a base level member of MeliaRewards – included free mineral water and free Wi-Fi in communal areas. These are worth having on your free Amex night.

I hope this was a decent overview to MeliaRewards. There is no reason not to join if you intend to use your American Express Platinum free night – if nothing else, you often get better treatment if you are a member of the loyalty programme, even if you have no points and no stays! All members get free mineral water for a start, plus free wi-fi in communal areas.

(PS. You may also want to look at this post for how to get a ‘2 for the price of 1’ stay at Melia)

The form for joining MeliaRewards is here.

How to get MeliaRewards Gold status from American Express (December 2021)

Do you know that holders of The Platinum Card from American Express receive FREE MeliaRewards Gold status for as long as they hold the card? It also comes with Marriott Bonvoy Gold, Hilton Honors Gold and Radisson Rewards Gold status.

We reviewed American Express Platinum in detail here and you can apply here.

You can discover the benefits of MeliaRewards Gold status on the Melia website here.

The Platinum Card from American Express

30,000 points and an unbeatable set of travel benefits – for a fee Read our full review

(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)

Category

American Express Platinum card, MeliaRewards

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

Rob says:

29 Jun29 June 07:55

This post was edited from the earlier version because I had a massive brain failure last night over what day it is today ….. 🙂

Thanks to the person who pointed this out, your comment got deleted as well but I very much appreciate it.
- Steve says:
  
  12 Jul12 July 15:02
  
  Just booked Melia MAS Fenix, spoke to the girl, London ME is totally sold out but got MAD on a date that I was initially told sold out so if you’ve failed might be worth another try….
Johnny5a says:

29 Jun29 June 07:58

This is interesting,as a base level member there is this benefit “Free night for your birthday”
- Rob says:
  
  29 Jun29 June 08:02
  
  Yes, see the link at the bottom of my post re the 2-4-1 deal … this is that
  - Johnny5a says:
    
    29 Jun29 June 08:07
    
    oops missed that posting!
Colin A-B says:

29 Jun29 June 08:32

I noticed that when you sign-up it asks if you’ve been referred. Does the referrer get anything? Hope you’ve not missed a trick here Raffles!
- Rob says:
  
  29 Jun29 June 08:39
  
  I have missed a trick, but it would have meant you all emailing me for referral details in return for me getting 250 points (37 Avios!). Thought it would be easier to give it a miss especially as its the weekend and I have less time to reply.
  
  If anyone wants to post their first name, surname and Melia number below (all are required) someone might use it. You still get 2,000 for joining whether or not referred.
  - Nick Burch says:
    
    29 Jun29 June 11:49
    
    You sure you can’t be tempted to post yours Raffles?
    
    If not, do feel free to give mine!
    
    Nick Burch
    3062220D
George says:

29 Jun29 June 09:37

I just got an email the other day, saying I’m getting 4000 free miles to use on my summer bookings with Melia, valid till Jul 31st, making it a total of 6000 points including the inicial bonus. Those points are supposed to not be redeemable for miles etc, however I was able to file an exchange request. We’ll see what happens there.
- MANUEL says:
  
  29 Jun29 June 09:55
  
  George,
  
  I got that also and transferred to Iberia Avios for the race to get 10 partners.
  
  Let’s hope all go well 😉
- xcalx says:
  
  5 Jul5 July 15:38
  
  I had 600 Avios post to my Iberia account from the 4000 Melia promo points
- David says:
  
  11 Jul11 July 16:10
  
  I also received the email about the 4,000 bonus points, but I can’t actually see any sign of them on my account – any idea where I need to look?
  - Rob says:
    
    11 Jul11 July 19:25
    
    I got this email. It is a mistake, I think.
    
    They gave 4000 points to all members in early June. Most of us hadn’t joined at that point. Melia has been a bit silly and emailed all members rather than just those who joined before the 4000 points were given out.
    
    Shame, as the 4000 can be converted into a few Iberia Avios!
Col A-B says:

29 Jun29 June 13:38

Wylie – do you know if the points you can purchase are also transferrable to Avios?
- Rob says:
  
  29 Jun29 June 14:53
  
  The special deal ended on June 28th. I also thought it was June 30th, which is why this post was rewritten this morning after I realised my mistake!
  
  Purchased points ARE transferable to Avios. However, the rate is rubbish at 100 to 15.
  
  The best deal – by far – is Miles & More. The ratio is 2:1, so you are effectively buying Miles & More miles for 1.6 Eurocents each. It was even better until last night, though!
- Wylie says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 01:08
  
  If your focus is Avios then an alternative to Melia would be the other Spanish hotel operator Baréclo with hotels worldwide. Not as good as Melia – in my opinion and have no loyalty programme of their own other than their Mi Barcélo which offers discounted rate. They are a partner of Iberiaplus so able to collect Avios with the Spanish end and a good reward too at around 450 Avios per NIGHT against a Hilton 500 for a STAY. With Melia you have to say at check in do you want MeliaRewards OR Iberiaplus credit. If your choice is Iberia (Avios) then the daily rate is around 50% of that seen with Barcélo.
Dominic says:

29 Jun29 June 22:37

I’ve duly taken the excellent advice here and joined. Is there any easy way I can register my free night’s stay booked through Amex into the system, so that Melia know that when I say I’m a rewards member?
Ross says:

30 Jun30 June 20:51

Sadly they have run out of their ME London allocation – I wasn’t quick enough off the mark! However, all the others on the list are apparently still OK, it was just the London one that was extra popular!
- Wylie says:
  
  1 Jul1 July 00:59
  
  Unfortunately Melia can be very restrictive in their “free” allocations. I had some AF Flying Blue points due to expire and converted to a Melia Certificate. I thought I had nothing better to do than call Melia and book for the Melia White House London…….only to be told the AF allocations had gone.
Pierre says:

2 Jul2 July 10:51

Anyone tried a status match with other hotel status (e.g. HH Gold, CC Gold, or SPG Gold)?
- Alan says:
  
  2 Jul2 July 11:00
  
  Yes – I asked them (via FB) and they said they don’t offer a status match programme.