I’ve held numerous Visa Platinum and Signature cards over the years and rarely have I been made aware of all the benefits available.
You probably know your Visa card will be widely accepted in more than 200 countries around the world.
You also know that holding a premium card will deliver some insurance benefits and earn rewards points on each dollar you spend.
But did you know that holding a Visa Platinum or Signature card can also unlock travel benefits across the globe, such as access to a 24/7 concierge service that unlocks benefits like pre-sale concert tickets and discounts on everything from clothes to rounds of golf?
It’s quite the bundle of added perks – if you know where to find information about them and how to use them.
Visa Luxury Hotel Collection
Let’s start with my personal favourite of the Visa perks – access to the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection.
If you hold a Visa Platinum, Signature or Infinite card issued in Australia or New Zealand, you’re eligible.
The Visa Luxury Hotel Collection contains over 900 hotels and resorts around the world and if you book your stay through the dedicated website or via the Visa concierge service you will receive seven pretty awesome benefits.
These are:
- Best available rate guarantee
- Automatic room upgrade upon arrival, when available
- Complimentary in-room Wi-Fi, when available
- Complimentary continental breakfast daily
- US$25 food or beverage credit
- VIP Guest status
- 3PM check-out upon request, when available
How does the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection stack up?
As an example, I searched for a room at the Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park, via both the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection website and the Marriott Bonvoy website.
On the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection website, a room for the night was $399 including the seven benefits – namely a room upgrade (when available), breakfast for two, late check-out (when available) and a US$25 food or beverage credit.
The same room for the same night on the Marriott Bonvoy website was $399 for non-members, with complimentary in-room wi-fi but none of the other perks included.
Continental breakfast alone at this hotel costs $38 per person and, at the time of writing, US$25 is worth almost $40 Australian dollars.
Add conservative estimates of $40 worth of value for a room upgrade and $50 worth of value for a late checkout, and you could potentially be snagging well over $200 in value by booking your room through the Visa Luxury Hotel Collection.
Visa Concierge
Yes, the internet is a pretty amazing resource and you can do, buy and book virtually anything on it these days.
However, if you don’t want to spend hours cutting through some of the information, you could always give the 24/7 Visa Concierge a call.
Visa advertises its concierge service as being able to do virtually anything.
“Want to hire a private yacht in Fiji? Not a problem, it’s done,” the Visa website says.
But there is far more to it than just finding a fancy yacht.
Other things concierge can help you with include:
- Sourcing and purchasing tickets for concerts, shows or sporting events
- Restaurant referrals and reservations
- Hotel information, referrals and reservations
- Car rental and transfer reservations
- Information on events and tourist attractions in major cities,
- Golf reservations
- Gift sourcing, including delivery of flowers
- Emergency passport assistance
- Emergency interpretation assistance
How to contact Visa Concierge
Eligible cardholders can simply call 1800 639 607 in Australia or 0508 600 100 in New Zealand.
There are specific phone numbers for cards issued by some Australian banks:
- ANZ: 1300 580 765 (consumer cards) and 1800 233 688 (business cards)
- NAB: 1300 730 213 (consumer Platinum cards), 1300 489 410 (consumer Signature cards), 1300 496 080 (commercial Platinum cards) and 1300 498 594 (commercial Signature cards)
- Westpac: 1300 859 100
Pre-sale Tickets
A partnership with Ticketek means Visa cardholders can access tickets to some of the biggest concerts and events around Australia before they go on sale to the general public.
These options are constantly changing and have included pre-sale ticket offers have included Niall Horan’s 2020 Tour and WWE Live 2020 before being cancelled due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Once events get going again, you can view all upcoming pre-sale events by viewing the Ticketek page.
Visa offers and perks
Simply holding a Visa card could unlock a 10% discount off your next spa treatment, $10 off your next run to the liquor store, 30% off your next round of golf or even elite status with a car rental company.
While offers are ever-changing, there are some gems to be had by checking back into the Visa Offers and Perks page on a semi-regular basis.
There is a range of partner offers to be had both in Australia and for use when overseas.
Other Visa Cardholder Benefits
If you have your card lost or stolen anywhere in the world, the 24/7 Visa Global Customer Assistance service can help, they can block your account within 30 minutes and are able to send a replacement card within three working days. Emergency cash can also be collected from 270,000 locations worldwide.
Visa cards also have a Zero Liability Policy in case of fraud and offer payWave for quick and easy cashless payments.
Summing Up
Benefits that come with Visa Platinum or Signature cards are under-publicised and under-used in my opinion, but some perks can be worth hundreds of dollars in benefits to cardholders if used right.
The Visa Luxury Hotel Collection is my personal favourite benefit, unlocking some serious hotel benefits and with a Best Rate Guarantee to ensure you are getting the best deal possible. Concierge service can also be handy, while concert lovers could save themselves some stress with ticket access before the general public.
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