Le Meridien gives free access and VIP perks at contemporary art museums

Not content with the usual extra guest amenities like a swimming pool, sauna, spa or fitness centre, Le Meridien hotels are branching out to offer free access to local museums of contemporary art. Just show your specially-designed Unlock Art key card at the museum.

It's all part of Le Meridien's Unlock Art programme, and involves Le Meridien hotels and museums in dozens of cities across the world. 

Here's a selection of a few of our favourite museums in the programme:

• Frankfurt: Schirn Kunsthalle
• Kuala Lumpur: Gallerie Taksu
• Dallas: Dallas Contemporary
• Dubai: Hunar
• Vienna: Secession
• Hong Kong: Hong Kong Arts Centre

The museums participating in Unlock Art are mostly privately funded and thus relatively pricey to get in, especially compared with free-to-enter museums run by the city, state or national governments. 

State-run museums often have a higher profile, too, so it's good to see a few smaller museums (many of which we'd consider hidden treasures of a city) promoted by a hotel chain.

For the few museums in the programme that don't charge for entry, there's often a different bonus -- a free car transfer from the hotel to the museum, for example.

So it's a nice benefit that could save you $20 or so -- and, more than that, it's a good encouragement for business travellers to make good use of downtime. Since the entry doesn't cost you anything, there's nothing to stop you getting a cultural fix on your next business trip.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.