Overview
Club ITC is a loyalty program offered by ITC Hotels, a chain of luxury hotels in India. The program is designed to reward its members for their loyalty and offer them exclusive benefits and privileges during their stays and visit to the ITC Group of Hotels. ITC Group of Hotels do consist of 6 brands under a roof -
- ITC Hotels
- Mementos
- WelcomeHotel
- Storii
- Fortune
- WelcomHeritage Hotels.
As a member of Club ITC, you can earn Green Points for your stays, dining, and other eligible spends at any ITC Hotel across India. These points can be redeemed for a range of rewards, including free stays, dining, spa services, and more. Additionally, members can enjoy a range of benefits, such as access to special rates, room upgrades, late check-out, and discounts on dining and other services.
Club ITC is loved by many because of its simplistic approach towards its redemption and its value. ITC has 81 Hotels across India and most of the hotels do participate in this loyalty program, WelcomHeritage being the exception.
Let's break the discussion into four major parts: Club ITC, ITC Culinaire, Earning and Redemption of Green Points:
Club ITC
Club ITC is the base program which consists of 3 tiers namely base, Silver, Gold and Platinum. These tiers can be achieved by completing either of the two fulfilling criteria, i.e.
- Spending Criteria, and
- The number of Stay Nights.
Each tier comes with its own upgrade & retention vouchers. Let's see how these tiers benefit you:
Tier Benefits
1) Silver
With a stay of 6 Nights or spending of ₹60,000, you achieve this tier. If you book Suites for weekends, you'll get 10% off on the Flexible rate if booked through the guest contact centre. Along with these, you can avail late check-out benefit till 2:00 PM.
Upgrade & Retention, You get 4 value vouchers which include:
- Room upgrade voucher.
- 25% savings on F&B at the coffee shop. (up to 4 guests)
- 25% savings on SPA services.
- 30% savings on laundry services.
2) Gold
With a stay of 16 Nights or spending of ₹1,60,000, you achieve this tier. If you book Suites for weekends, you'll get 20% off on the Flexible rate if booked through the guest contact centre. Along with these, you can avail late check-out benefit till 4:00 PM. Apart from these, you get an enhanced room upgrade, which they may upgrade you to ITC One/equivalent category at max, enhanced amenities will be provided. If you book for 1 person and you're travelling with your spouse, the room charge will not be added, which also includes the standard addition of breakfast, and that's a great value.
Upgrade & Retention, You get 4 value vouchers which include:
- Suite Upgrade voucher.
- 25% savings on F&B at the coffee shop. (up to 4 guests)
- 25% savings on SPA services.
- 30% savings on laundry services.
3) Platinum
With a stay of 30 Nights or spending of ₹3,00,000, you achieve this tier. If you book Suites for weekends, you'll get 20% off on the Flexible rate if booked through the guest contact centre. Apart from the added benefits of the Gold tier or Silver tier, you're also eligible for a few great additional and enhanced perks such as - Room upgrade to Standard Suites, and in-room tea/coffee service throughout your stay and this is apart from ready-to-make tea/coffee, Access to Towers/Upper Crust Lounge as a resident guest, and one more great feature such as 24-hour check-in check-out which need to be informed to the property's front office prior 48 hours and can only be availed for 1 room only during the entire stay.
Upgrade & Retention, You get 8 value vouchers ( 2 of each) which include:
- 25% savings on F&B @ all outlets. (up to 4 guests)
- 25% savings on SPA services.
- 30% savings on laundry services.
- Buy One Get one on select beverages at the bar. (up to 4 guests)
Few things to Note:
- All the above-mentioned qualifying nights or spending can either be award bookings or can be paid from your own pocket.
- Room upgrade is subject to availability, thus it's better to check with the hotel prior you arrive at the hotel for a better chance of upgradation, rather than showing up directly and expecting an upgrade, though it's how it was supposed to work, but chances get thinner.
- 24-hour check-in check-out and late check-out are not applicable at WelcomHotel.
- Gold & Platinum tiers will get enhanced internet access.
- Each tier comes with roll-over nights. For example, if you have achieved 35 nights before 31st December of 2023, 5 nights will be rolled over for next year and will count towards achieving the next tier.
Club ITC Culinaire
Club ITC Culinaire is a paid membership which gives additional benefits such as free stay, discount f&b vouchers, room upgrade vouchers etc. Club ITC Culinaire membership comes with two kinds of membership:
- ITC Culinaire Select
- ITC Culinaire Elite
ITC Culinaire Select can be purchased for ₹14,000 + GST and ITC Culinaire Elite can be purchased for ₹21,000 + GST. Alternatively, you can purchase both the membership with Green Points where you can buy a Select membership for 16,520 Green Points and the Elite membership can be bought for 24,780 Green Points. The only difference between the two memberships is the Free Night stay, where the Elite gives two but Select gives one. Here is the list of Participating Hotels. The best redemption options IMO are
- ITC Gardenia
- Grand Maurya
- Grand Chola
- Kences Palm Resort
- Sheraton, New Delhi
- Rajputana
- Grand Central
- Royal Bengal
- Port Blair
Benefits
- Savings of 20% on Food & Beverage spend at participating Fortune Hotels (valid for up to 8 guests including the member)
- Hi-spirited Wednesdays: Enjoy 2 at the cost of 1 at select bars between 6:00 PM & 8:00 PM, every Wednesday (applicable on select beverages).
- Gourmet Fridays: Earn 50% extra Green Points (37.5% earnings) on dining spends at select restaurants at ITC Luxury collection hotel & Sheraton New Delhi on Fridays. (not applicable at Bukhara - ITC Maurya, Peshawari - ITC Rajputana and Jharokha - ITC Rajputana).
- Birthday Week: Receive 50% bonus Green Points during your and your Spouse's birthday week (for example - three days prior & three days later to the birth date) on your dining spending (37.5% earnings) or stay (7.5% earnings) at all ITC Luxury collection hotel & Sheraton New Delhi.
Please note, Accelerated earnings are not applicable at Fabelle.
Experience E-Certificates:
Luxury Stays for Club ITC Culinaire Elite: Two e-certificate for a 1-night/2-days stay including buffet breakfast at participating hotels.
Luxury Stays for Club ITC Culinaire Select: One e-certificate for a 1-night/2-days stay including buffet breakfast at participating hotels.
Room Upgrade: Two e-certificates for a one-time room upgrade to the next category.
Luxury Getaways: Two e-certificates for 20% savings on the purchase of Welcombreak packages.
Culinary Delight: One e-certificate for 50% savings on the Food & Beverage bill for a maximum of 4 guests.
Culinary Extravagance: Two e-certificates for 25% savings at all-day dining restaurants for a maximum of 4 guests.
Gourmet Delight: One e-certificate for 30% savings on purchases at the gourmet shop.
Sweet Indulgence: One e-certificate for a 1 Kg cake while dining.
Cards which come with Club ITC Culinaire:
- Axis Reserve Credit Card
- Indusind Pioneer Heritage Metal Credit Card
Though these cards come with the benefits of Club ITC Culinaire, but they're toned versions, and both of them don't offer the Free Night Stay instead they give a 3rd night stay on booking two revenue nights. They also offer just 1 room upgrade voucher instead of two. But they do provide two 50% and 20% off F&B Vouchers each.
Also if you've both of the cards, one card's membership will be activated only, and the other one will be forfeited, it will not overlap.
How to Earn Green Points?
Credit Cards
Since there is no Co-branded card as of now in India, Axis Bank's Reward Points, namely Edge Reward Points and Edge Miles are the only sources to earn the points without directly earning from the spending at ITC properties.
Axis Bank Credit Cards
You can transfer Edge Reward Points or Edge Miles to Club ITC Green Points. The transfer ratios are:
- Super Premium Cards (Axis Reserve, Axis Magnus, Axis Burgundy Private): 5 Edge Reward Points = 4 Club ITC Green Points.
- Axis Atlas: 1 Edge Mile = 2 Club ITC Green Points.
- Other Edge Rewards Earning Axis Cards: 10 Edge Reward Points = 1 Club ITC Green Points.
Hotel Stays/ Dining
Earning Green Points when staying or dining at one of ITC's many properties is the most obvious way to earn. ITC stays award Green Points as per the tier of member staying or dining. With the base tier, you get 2% equivalent Green points of the total spending done.
Having elite status with ITC not only allows you the upgraded perks as discussed above but also helps you earn accelerated Green Points.
CLUB ITC
- Silver: This tier helps you to earn 3% of Green Points instead of 2% on the base tier on eligible spending.
- Gold: With Gold, you are set to earn 4% of Green Points on eligible spending.
- Platinum: This tier helps you to earn 5% of Green Points on eligible spending.
ITC Culinaire
Non-Resident Guest:
- Earn Green Points at 25% on all eligible Food & Beverage spending done at participating ITC Hotels & Welcomhotels.
- Savings of 20% while dining at participating Fortune and WelcomHeritage Hotels (valid for up to 8 guests including the member).
- Receive 1,000 Green Points on every accumulated spend of ₹25,000 on Food & Beverage, where the maximum accumulated spend is ₹1,00,000.
Resident Guest:
- Earn Green Points at 25% on all eligible Food & beverages spent at participating ITC Hotels & Welcomhotels.
- Earn Green Points at 5% on all eligible non-Food & Beverage spend at participating ITC Hotels, Welcomhotels & Fortune Hotels.
- Receive 1,000 Green Points on every accumulated spend of ₹25,000 on Food & Beverage, where the maximum accumulated spend is ₹1,00,000.
Few Things to Note:
- If you're in any Elite Tier of Club ITC membership, and along with that you're having your Club ITC Culinaire membership, you'll earn a 5% return on your accommodation spending which is the highest you can earn at the Platinum Tier of Club ITC. The 5% return will not club with a Tier Benefit of 2%-5%.
- Similarly for F&B bills then always pay the F&B bills separately using a card or cash to get extra 25% Green Points.
- You'll only be able to earn Green Points if you're doing a revenue stay which means, you're paying with a card or cash, not on an award stay where you'll pay with Green Points.
- Do check with hotels prior to check-in and make sure they're not facing any trouble during redemption or during check-in, inform them that you'll settle the bill with Green Points. This gives you a seamless check-out experience.
- Few services do exclude Green Points redemption. Due to third-party involvement in a few things such as salons, car rentals, spas etc, some properties will refuse to settle the bill with Green Points. Thus it's advisable to check with the front desk of the respective property first before you decide to avail of any such service.
How to Redeem Green Points?
Room Redemptions
Green Points is the Loyalty Currency of the Club ITC Loyalty program. Green Points redemption for award nights is pretty much straightforward. The standard value of Green Points is 1 GP = ₹1. Green Points supports universal redemption through the ITC eco-system, which means, you can settle anything and everything through Green Points including the taxes! Of course, there are some exceptions, like you can neither settle nor earn Green Points for room tariff if it's booked by a third-party/agent at a discounted rate, but for other spends during your stay, you can avail of it.
Green Points redemption for your room reservation can be done in two ways:
- One can book directly with the available Green Points redemption booking through the website/over a call with the reservation centre (tax excluded, need to be paid at hotel),
- Or one can book in revenue rate and settle the bill at the property itself.
For the first scenario, if booked directly via Green Points at the available property, you will definitely get more than ₹1 value per Green Point, but that option isn't there many times and for many categories of rooms, usually Suites and excluded from direct Green Points booking. The redemption value is dynamic in this scenario which means it changes with the tariff changes of the room.
For the second scenario, you can easily settle the complete bill with Green Points with 1 GP = ₹1 value. In this scenario, you need to carry your physical membership card or you need to enable "contactless redemption" by verifying your credentials.
Few things to Note:
- WelcomHeritage properties will not accept settling bills or doing award booking with Green Points.
- Though it's universal for all ITC properties except WelcomHeritage to accept Green Points as a payment method but few may deny it, so during check-in do inform the front desk that you'll be settling the bill with Green Points.
- Some services like airport transfers or such may not be paid with points, which depends on the property itself, do check with that prior and make a reservation accordingly.
Restaurant Dining
If you're going to any restaurant of ITC hotels, you can settle the F&B bill with Green Points. You can combine your discount voucher with Club ITC Culinaire and Green Points to settle the bill.
Though it's advisable to pay the bill with a card or cash as you'll be able to earn 25% of Green Points at minimum, which is a great bonus if you are a Culinaire Member. Alternatively, you redeem your GP for Food orders (Home delivery/ takeaways ) through ITC Hotels app.
Transfer to other Hotel Loyalty Programs and Airlines
- Club ITC to Marriott Bonvoy: At 2 Club ITC Green pts = 3 Marriott Bonvoy pts you can convert your Green pts to MB pts. A maximum of 60,000 GP can be transferred in a calendar year which translates to 90,000 MB pts. Minimum redemption value to be done at 2,000 GP.
- Club ITC to Club Vistara: At 3 Club ITC Green pts = 2 Club Vistara pts you can convert your Green pts to CV pts. A maximum of 60,000 GP can be transferred in a calendar year which translates to 40,000 CV pts. Minimum redemption value to be done at 600 GP and thereafter multiple of 150 GP.
- Club ITC to Intermiles: At 1 Club ITC Green pts = 1.25 Intermiles, you can convert your Green pts to Intermiles. A maximum of 60,000 GP can be transferred in a calendar year which translates to 75,000 Intermiles. Minimum redemption value to be done at 500 GP and thereafter multiple of 100 GP.
The transfer to the above partners is a manual process, it may take up to 3 weeks. You can directly do it through your Club ITC account, alternatively, you can mail it at clubitc.care@itc.in - Club ITC to International Travel House (ITH) Certificates: You can redeem ITH certificates for Chauffeured Ride. It can be redeemed at 1:1 valuation but in the denomination of 500 or 1,000 and you'll get the same amount worth of GV.
Green Points Validity
For regular Club ITC members, the validity of the Green Points earned or obtained through any means is 12 months, starting from the date of their last eligible stay at a Participating Hotel. However, it is possible to extend the validity of these points by staying at any ITC property and renewing them for another 12 months, which can be repeated subsequently.
On the other hand, if you are a Club ITC Culinaire member, or a Club ITC Platinum, Gold, or Silver member, your Green Points will not expire as long as you maintain your corresponding Club ITC status.
Bottomline
That's all folks. As a person who's really enjoying the stay and hospitality of ITC hotels and almost being Platinum, I can assure you that this is one hell of a membership where if you don't want to spend a single penny, but can achieve the maximum tier by availing all other services at same redemption value, unlike its competitors.
So at which ITC property are you planning your next stay? Let us know in the comments below!
