Grab’s top-tier loyalty members to get extra benefits as Booking deal bears fruit

Photo credit: Grab

Grab’s getting a lot more than US$200 million in funding from its recently revealed strategic partnership with US travel site group Booking Holdings. Already, users look set to directly benefit from the deal.

The company said today that Platinum- and Gold-level members of its GrabRewards loyalty program will get access to “preferred benefits” – including discounted rates – when making hotel and travel reservations through its newest investor’s flagship site, Booking.com

Grab has also announced a raft of other goodies for members of the two highest GrabRewards tiers. Platinum and Gold users will earn 2x and 1.5x more GrabRewards points, respectively, than other users. They’ll also get preferential rates on any GrabRewards transport and food-delivery deals (Silver-level members will also get some preferential rates over regular members).

In addition to a dedicated phone hotline and prioritized ride bookings, Platinum members will regularly receive vouchers that give them extra cost-savings on Grab services, as well as invitations to “exclusive members-only events, giveaways, and activities such as flash sales, private fitness classes, movie screenings, and more.” Gold users will get similar exclusive offers on quarterly basis.

It isn’t yet clear what further integration between Grab and Booking’s sites may take place, though the latter’s similar strategic investment in China’s Didi Chuxing – itself a Grab backer – earlier this year may provide pointers. As a result of that deal, users can now arrange transportation with Didi directly via Booking’s sites.

Grab faced a backlash earlier this year when it stealthily cut rewards for its riders, requiring them to amass more GrabRewards points to avail of the same benefits they’d originally been entitled to. It rowed back and resurrected its earlier redemption rates for rides and food-delivery deals for a limited period, saying: “We acknowledge that we should have given you more time to redeem rewards for the points you earned, and would like to make things right again.”

See: Grab partners with Singapore Airlines to turn GrabRewards into air miles

In a separate development, Grab added Vietnam Airlines as one of its airline partners for GrabRewards. From the middle of this month, users in Vietnam who are also members of Vietnam Airlines’ frequent flyer program will be able to convert their GrabRewards points into airmiles. The Vietnamese flag carrier joins Cebu Pacific, Garuda Indonesia, Singapore Airlines, and Thai Airways as GrabRewards partners, with Grab claiming it “now has the most comprehensive miles and travel loyalty programme for any [online-to-offline] platform in the region.”