Ascott members can now buy loyalty points; healthcare workers get discount

THE Ascott Limited, CapitaLand's wholly-owned lodging business unit, on Monday launched a points purchase feature for its Ascott Star Rewards (ASR) loyalty programme.

The feature "provides members with greater flexibility to buy points in advance or gift the points to family and friends as travel gradually resumes across the world", the company said in a bourse filing.

It said ASR had "remained a resilient channel to drive direct online booking revenue during the Covid-19 outbreak".

ASR membership has tripled, and the number of direct online bookings from members has quadrupled since the launch of the loyalty programme last year, Ascott said.

Currently, 90 per cent of bookings through Ascott's websites are made by ASR members. The majority of members are from Singapore, China, Australia, France, the Philippines and Malaysia, it added.

Under the new points purchase feature, ASR points can be fully redeemed for room nights. There is no cap to points earned, no minimum points redemption, and no blackout dates.

Ascott is also giving healthcare workers a discount of up to 40 per cent at participating properties worldwide from July 1 to Dec 31 when they sign up as an ASR member and book online.

Upon check-in, they will be required to present a valid staff identity card or any official documents to verify that they belong in the healthcare industry.

Shares of CapitaLand ended Friday at S$2.93, down S$0.04 or 1.4 per cent.