Reader Email: Fair Play for Loyal Customers – Complaint Regarding Misleading Promotion (Minor D$100 Promotion)

A LoyaltyLobby reader CC:ed us an email that they had sent to GHA/Minor Hotels regarding their latest promotion for D$100 promotion that we covered (read more here). Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll cover them here several times […]

May 29, 2025 - 17:45

A LoyaltyLobby reader CC:ed us an email that they had sent to GHA/Minor Hotels regarding their latest promotion for D$100 promotion that we covered (read more here).

Readers are encouraged to send us questions, comments, or opinions by email, Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. We’ll cover them here several times a week.

You can access GHA here and Minor Hotels here.

Reader’s Mail To Minor/GHA:

I am writing to express my deep disappointment with the “100 DISCOVERY Dollars” promotion advertised to Minor DISCOVERY members. The offer clearly stated that members would receive 100 DISCOVERY Dollars after completing any two stays at any two of your hotels or resorts. Based on this promise, I specifically booked additional stays to qualify for the reward.
After registering and booking two qualifying stays—a two-night stay in Milan and a further booking at an NH Collection property in Prague—I was informed by your customer service team that only stays at two different brands would count. I find this restriction both unfair and misleading, as nowhere in the promotional email or on the landing page was it made clear that “any two hotels” must belong to different brands. On the contrary, both your newsletter and your website represented the offer as valid for any two stays, without mention of hidden brand restrictions.
Only after booking my second stay did I receive an email stating that NH Hotels and NH Collection are considered the same brand, and thus my booking in Prague would not qualify. This was a complete surprise to me, since on your public website NH Hotels and NH Collection are presented as separate brands in different market segments.
I booked the Prague trip—flights and accommodation—solely to benefit from this promotion. To now deny me the 100 DISCOVERY Dollars under these circumstances is, in my view, a case of unfair commercial practice. Hiding such a material restriction in the fine print of the terms and conditions is unjust to loyal customers and is likely to be deemed invalid by a Swiss court as an unexpected clause.
I have also copied John from LoyaltyLobby, who promoted this offer to his thousands of readers and would also have been unaware of this hidden limitation. I respectfully request that you honor the original promise of 100 DISCOVERY Dollars for my two stays. Alternatively, please waive the brand‑differentiation requirement for all participants in this promotion.
I look forward to your prompt resolution of this matter and to being rewarded as advertised.

Minor’s Promo Page:

Reader’s Account Page:

Minor Brands:

The reader is correct, and I also misunderstood the offer, although I always try to thoroughly review all offer Terms and Conditions.

It was indeed only disclosed on the T&Cs that not only are two stays at any Minor Hotels required, but they also need to be different brands. I believe this should have been better communicated on the promotional page.

Minor also lists the brands on their website, and it is confusing, but the following three brands are considered ONE for “Number of Brands” stayed for GHA Discovery status qualification purposes and apparently this D$100 offer as well: NH Hotels, NH Collection, and nhow Hotels.

We forwarded the reader’s email to GHA, who was in touch with Minor, and told us that the reader’s issue has been resolved.

Conclusion

This is a good reminder to always read those promo T&Cs. I thought that the language on that Minor page was clear, but that was my mistake.

I was actually supposed to stay at NH Collection and NH Hotels last week to fulfill the promo requirements, but after learning about this limitation, I was able to cancel them and rebook somewhere else.

I am glad that the reader’s issue with this promo has been resolved. However, if we have others who are about to participate, please ensure that you have two stays and two correct brands, as all NH Hotels only count as one.

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