The VIP Perks You Didn't Know You Had

I found out something pretty cool the other day: I can stay at any one of nearly a thousand hotels with VIP status. The only thing I need: a credit card that says Visa Signature on it. I have two (the Chase Sapphire Preferred and the Hyatt Visa)! I wish I knew about this sooner. Silly ole' me was too focused on earning miles and points. Turns out I can earn miles and points while living the life of luxury.  And you can too!

It is called the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection. And if you have a credit card that has Visa Signature somewhere on it, you can take advantage of the same benefits. But what are those benefits, exactly?

According to their website, there are seven VIP benefits that you can take advantage of. And I think they explain themselves:

• VIP guest status. Naturally, the details vary from hotel to hotel. But it may mean some kind of gift upon arrival, like a free box of chocolates. 

• Best available rate guarantee. I'd recommend reading this for more deets.

• Free in-room internet

• Automatic room upgrade upon arrival, when available.

• Complimentary continental breakfast (this is my personal favorite). According to the terms and conditions, you'll get a free breakfast for you and one guest daily. If the hotel you're staying at does not offer a continental breakfast, they will give you something else of equal value.

• $25 food and beverage voucher. This basically means if you charge a drink, or two, (or a meal) to the room, the hotel will comp up to $25 at checkout.

• 3pm checkout, when available.

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How do you get these benefits? You need to book your hotel stay one of two ways: visit this website, or call a Visa Concierge. If you book directly through the hotel, you won't get treated like a VIP - even though all of you are!

Is the Visa Signature Luxury Hotel Collection everywhere? No. But a collection of over 900 hotels means you'll find them in most states. From what I can tell, they don't currently have hotels in states like Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and a few others. 

But if you're interested in heading to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Diego, Seattle, Dallas, Austin, Chicago, Orlando, or New York - just to name a few - you'll find one of Visa's Signature hotels. 

If you don't have a card that has Visa Signature on it don't worry. For example, there is a similar program run by MasterCard called World Elite MasterCard.

Bottom Line

It doesn't look like these hotels will be cheap for you to stay at. You won't find many under $150 a night. You'll find less for under $100 a night. No matter the price, the hotels will be "reviewed, vetted, and assigned a rating" by Visa's business partner, Kiwi Collection, which apparently has a pretty good reputation. If you already have a Visa Signature credit card, I see no reason why you shouldn't look into booking your next hotel stay with one of their hotels and see if you like it. You'd probably end up paying about the same as you normally would with a bunch of VIP extras. That's a win, win in my book. 

What say you?