Preferred Hotels’ rewards program, I Prefer, offers three levels of status: Silver, Gold, and Titanium. I have Titanium status from a 2024 promotion, which is no longer available. Even though I haven’t done anything to re-qualify, they haven’t taken away my status. This post is a very short overview of the three status levels and my experience with Titanium status…
I Prefer Silver
This is the base level that is awarded when you enroll in the I Prefer rewards program. Simply by registering, you can qualify for the benefits shown above. That said, the most interesting benefits (enhanced room upgrades, early check-in, and late check-out) are not guaranteed. I doubt that many Preferred Hotels go out of their way to upgrade Silver members or to check them in early.
I Prefer Gold
Gold status requires earning 25,000 tier-qualifying points within 12 months. Gold status only adds two benefits above Silver status: a 20% bonus on paid stays and a welcome amenity.
I Prefer Titanium
Titanium status requires earning 50,000 tier-qualifying points within 12 months. Titanium status adds the following benefits:
- 50% point bonus on paid stays
- Access to special offers and experiences
- Complimentary food & beverage offering
- Digital anniversary gift
Titanium digital anniversary gift
One of the I prefer Titanium benefits is a “digital anniversary gift.” I was about to write that I never received any such thing, but I would have been wrong! I searched my email for those exact words (“digital anniversary gift”), and voila! I found an email dated January 1, 2025, offering me 2,500 Bonus Points! I clicked “claim my points” and got a message saying “Congratulations on your anniversary with I Prefer Hotel Rewards! We have received your request for your anniversary gift (points) and will process it within the next 7-10 business days.”
I Prefer points tend to be worth about half a cent each, so this is hardly a big windfall. Still, I’m always happy to collect free points!
Titanium access to special offers and experiences
One of the listed Titanium benefits is “access to special offers and experiences.” I don’t think I’ve encountered any such special offers or experiences. I’m not even sure whether this is supposed to come from I Prefer centrally, or from individual hotels, but I assume the former. If you have any knowledge or experience with this, please let me know!
My Titanium Stays
Since obtaining Titanium status, I’ve only had three stays in Preferred Hotels. The first stay was at The Seagate Hotel in Delray Beach, Florida, which I had booked with Choice Privileges points. The second stay was at the Londoner Hotel, which I had booked with I Prefer points. The third was a paid stay at the Dupont Circle Hotel in Washington, DC.
The Seagate Hotel & Spa, Delray Beach, Florida (no elite benefits)
Last year, I booked this hotel with Choice Privileges points, which I transferred from Citibank. At that time, this hotel was available to book with Choice points but not with I Prefer points. The hotel appears to have left Preferred Hotels. It is no longer available through the Preferred Hotels website.
We didn’t get an upgrade, a welcome gift, or a food & beverage amenity. On the second day of our stay, I asked about these things. The desk agent claimed he couldn’t upgrade us because the hotel was sold out (not true) and that we weren’t supposed to receive a welcome gift or food & beverage amenity. He promised to send us a bottle of Prosecco anyway, but it never arrived.
The Londoner Hotel (poor elite recognition)
I booked this hotel with I Prefer points transferred from Citibank.
I Prefer Gold members should receive a welcome amenity. Titanium members should receive both a welcome amenity and a complimentary food & beverage offering. We didn’t get anything at check-in. On the second day, I asked about this, and the agent I spoke with seemed surprised that we hadn’t received drink vouchers at check-in. After she gave us those drink vouchers (which were presumably the Gold welcome amenity), I asked about the Titanium food & beverage offering. The agent said that she wasn’t aware of anything like that, but would ask. She later told me that they definitely didn’t offer anything, but she offered to waive our final breakfast instead. In the end, the elite benefits were pretty good, but only because I kept pushing for them. We may have also received a slight room upgrade, but I’m not sure about that.
See also: Legit value: Transfer Citi to Preferred Hotels 1:4 [my experience]
Dupont Circle Hotel (good elite recognition)
The Dupont Circle Hotel was booked in my wife’s name by a third party (she was there for business). I emailed the hotel in advance to ask them to add my I Prefer number to the reservation. They did! I didn’t earn any points from this paid stay (presumably since it wasn’t in my name), but we did benefit from my status.
We were granted an early check-in (around 1 PM), and the desk agent noted my Titanium status and told us that we were eligible for a $50 food and beverage credit, which could be used at the hotel restaurant, bar, or with room service. Score! Additionally, a welcome gift of macarons and sparkling water was sent to our room shortly after check-in. I don’t believe our room was upgraded.
Conclusion
Preferred Hotels is a collection of independent hotels around the world. As such, it doesn’t surprise me that elite recognition would vary a lot from hotel to hotel. At one hotel, I got nothing at all; at another, I had to beg for benefits; and at the third hotel, benefits were given to us automatically.
From these experiences, I’ve learned that it’s not worth going out of one’s way to earn I Prefer status, since you may not benefit from it at all. I’ve also learned to be very pleasantly surprised when elite benefits are delivered.
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This article was perfectly timed. I just booked my first “The Edit” stay through Chase for a two night stay at the The Ranch at Laguna Beach. During check-out, I was prompted for my rewards account number. After some googling to figure out this was an I Prefer property, I logged into the I Prefer site to grab that number and learned I had Titanium status! I couldn’t recall where I had gotten it until I saw this post. Status probably won’t get me much at the resort given The Edit comes with breakfast and a $100 property credit, but it would be nice to see a 50% bonus on I Prefer points I should earn for the booking.
I’m also titanium through the 2024 status match. One of my favorite hotels and favorite cash booking deals is XV Beacon in Boston’s Beacon Hill, a Preferred Hotels boutique property. Our family of four positions to Boston for international flights with two rooms booked through FHR. We get $200 in FHR credit plus $200 in credit ($100 per room) from the hotel as status recognition. They have an excellent steakhouse (unfortunately branded as “Mooo…”) where we get to use the $400 for a guilt-free splurge meal on top of the excellent FHR-included ala cart breakfast. Beats the heck out of the Hyatt Regency at the airport!
Each hotel has total discretion how to define the food & beverage benefit. I have Titanium. At the Jardins du Marais in Paris I got a nice upgrade and free breakfast (though I had to point out the benefit each day). At The Guardsman in London I guess I got an upgrade and the food benefit was a very small bowl of fruit upon check in.