Plaza Premium reboots its loyalty program as Smart Traveller

Plaza Premium Group is rebranding its existing Arrture loyalty points program as ‘Smart Traveller’, with a new mobile app and website, new points expiry rules and more opportunities for travellers to earn and spend points on airport lounge visits and other airport purchases.

Like Arrture, Smart Traveller is free to join – and existing Arrture members can already download and log into the new Smart Traveller app for iOS and Android. Doing so promises 200 bonus points, as well as double points on the traveller’s next Plaza Premium lounge visit before February 29 2020.

All points earned under the Arrture program remain valid in Smart Traveller, and will appear immediately after logging into Smart Traveller using the same email address and password previously used for Arrture.

Arrture – and now, Smart Traveller – allows lounge lizards to earn loyalty points every time they visit a Plaza Premium airport lounge, and to later spend those points on a free lounge visit, to upgrade their existing lounge entitlement to Plaza Premium First, or on a range of merchandise.

How to earn Smart Traveller points

Regardless of how a traveller accesses a Plaza Premium lounge, loyalty points can usually be collected.

For example, points can be earned when visiting a Plaza Premium lounge at the invitation of an airline, by using Priority Pass at participating locations, presenting an AMEX Platinum Charge Card or Centurion Card (which offer unlimited access), or when purchasing entry outright.

Every lounge visit normally unlocks 100 points, with double points (100 bonus points) offered for Smart Traveller members visiting a lounge by February 29 2020.

Every time you use a Plaza Premium lounge, even when by credit card or Priority Pass, you can earn points.

Members should present either the digital membership card in their Smart Traveller app or their membership QR code via that same app when entering a lounge, to ensure points are received.

There’s no limit to the number of points that can be earned at the airport – only constrained by how many times you can visit Plaza Premium lounges when jetting abroad. Other ways to earn points include hotel bookings made via Hotels.com, subscriptions to The Economist, and more.

How to spend Smart Traveller points

Depending on the balance of your Smart Traveller account, here’s a look at some of the lounge and travel-related rewards your points can unlock.

As most airport lounge visits earn 100 points a pop, that’s one complimentary upgrade to Plaza Premium First for every 15 Plaza Premium airport lounge visits worldwide – including those made via Priority Pass or AMEX Platinum/Centurion – or sooner, for those earning bonus points via Smart Traveller.

Upgrade yourself to Plaza Premium first and enjoy premium a la carte dining before your flight.

Even without those initial bonus points, a traveller taking a single return trip from Melbourne to London via Singapore could notch up as many as five Plaza Premium airport lounge visits along the way, earning 500 points.

That’s 100 points for using the Plaza Premium lounge in Melbourne, another 100 in Singapore ahead of the London-bound flight, a further 100 for visiting a Plaza Premium arrivals lounge at Heathrow, 100 more for using a Plaza Premium departures lounge in most terminals, and the final 100 again in Singapore before their flight home.

For travellers who already have unlimited access to regular – but not first class – Plaza Premium lounges courtesy of their lounge membership or credit card, the ability to ‘upgrade’ that access to Plaza Premium First will likely be the most useful way of spending points.

Members who travel less regularly can also burn as few as 450 points for a light refreshment at the Root98 shop at Hong Kong Airport, or 490 points for a coffee.

New points expiry rules with Smart Traveller

Under the Arrture scheme, points had a firm expiry date of 36 months from the month in which they were earned. For example, any points earned in the month of January 2018 would expire in January 2021, regardless of any other points that had been earned after that date.

With the change to Smart Traveller, points will instead never expire, except where a member hasn’t earned or spent any points for 12 consecutive months – similar to how Qantas Frequent Flyer and Velocity Frequent Flyer handle points expiry, albeit with more generous windows of 18 and 24 months, respectively.

For most members, that’s a positive change and provides a better opportunity to build a higher points balance and spend those points on a more meaningful reward, rather than burning them on something basic like an airport coffee, simply because it’s a better alternative than seeing them expire.

Ultimately, one Plaza Premium First upgrade per 15 lounge visits – or one ‘free’ visit for every 18-40 entries – isn’t particularly lucrative, but for jetsetters who are already regular Plaza Premium airport lounge users, earning upgrades and rewards on those visits is certainly better than not.

Also read: Plaza Premium First Lounge review, Hong Kong

Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.