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If you’re a regular Mainly Miles reader, you’ll know we’re big fans of Kaligo. Back in December 2017 we wrote a detailed breakdown of how you can achieve a significant boost to your annual miles accrual simply by diverting some or all of your hotel bookings through their site.
Last week Kaligo announced a special bonus for KrisFlyer members, which may work out as a good deal if you have any upcoming hotel stays still to book for this year.
The Deal
There are three ways to earn extra KrisFlyer miles with Kaligo for bookings made between now and 16th May 2018, for stays completed by 31st December 2018:
- Earn 2,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles when you spend at least S$600 or
- Earn 5,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles when you spend at least S$1,200 or
- Earn 10,000 bonus KrisFlyer miles when you spend at least S$2,400
The ‘or’ is important here, these are not cumulative bonuses you can only earn one of them depending on your total spend over the next two months. Importantly though, any bookings you make during the promotional period (between now and to 16th May 2018) count towards your spend bonus, even if the stay itself takes place later in the year.
How can I take part?
Sign up at this link to participate by entering your email address, then simply book your hotel stays between now and 16th May 2018, ensuring you credit your miles to the Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer scheme each time.
Once your email address is entered, it will automatically recognise if you have an existing account (both new and existing Kaligo account holders are eligible for the bonus offer). You should then get an email confirmation:
Is it a good deal?
Not always, there are a few things to consider.
As you’ll see in our full article on Kaligo from December last year, there’s normally a better way to earn more KrisFlyer miles when booking through the service by crediting your miles to credit card loyalty points, provided you hold one of these cards:
When loyalty points from these cards are subsequently transferred to KrisFlyer, each of them will result in a fixed 10 miles per S$1 spent at Kaligo (including taxes), often over 4 times the basic earn level compared with crediting directly to KrisFlyer instead (which works on a variable rate based on commission).
An example
Let’s say you think you’ll go all-out and make the most of this offer by targeting the top bonus rate in one go with a one week stay (7 nights) in Bali at the Mulia Resort in Nusa Dua this June. Like many of our readers though, you also hold a Citi PremierMiles Visa card (see our review if you don’t have one).
A Mulia Grandeur Room from 15th-22nd June 2018 including breakfast comes out as follows:
 |
 |
 |
| Room Cost | S$2,566.99 | S$2,566.99 |
| KrisFlyer Miles | 11,250 | 25,660 |
| Bonus Miles | 10,000 | 0 |
| Total Miles | 22,250 | 25,660 |
As the table shows, the room will cost S$2,566.99 booked through Kaligo. Using your Citi PremierMiles card, you’ll earn 25,660 Citi Miles which is a 1:1 equivalent to KrisFlyer miles.
The same booking using KrisFlyer miles as the earning program will earn only 11,250 KrisFlyer miles, but will be eligible for the top bonus of 10,000 KrisFlyer miles once your stay is completed, for a total of 21,250 KrisFlyer miles.
As you can see, because KrisFlyer is awarding around 4.4 miles per S$1 basic earn rate at this hotel, you’re actually better off ignoring the bonus and crediting to Citi (or DBS Altitude / UOB PRVI Miles) instead.
In fact for a S$2,500 booking, you need to find a hotel where KrisFlyer is offering at least 6 miles per S$1 on Kaligo as the basic earning rate before the miles level will only match the Citi / DBS / UOB rate.
That makes it near impossible that the bonus offer will be of great interest to anyone already holding one of the aforementioned credit cards in Singapore.
Best rate
Always remember to check the best rate for the hotel you’re interested in before committing to a booking through Kaligo. Sometimes you’re paying a bit extra for the miles as we mention in our full article, and you must therefore be comfortable about the rate at which you’re then effectively ‘buying’ them.
For the Mulia Resort Nusa Dua on the above dates, Kaligo actually comes out joint top compared with the other booking channels we looked at:
- Kaligo: S$2,567
- Expedia: S$2,567
- Direct with hotel: S$2,608
- Agoda: S$2,806
Status at Chain Hotels
Remember if you’re booking a chain hotel you won’t get any points or status credits in the hotel loyalty scheme for your Kaligo booking.
This makes Kaligo more useful if you’re staying at an independent property, or at a chain you don’t bother collecting points / status with.
Some hotels will still give you your status benefits during your stay though. Arguably if you have already secured the status level you desire with a particular hotel chain, Kaligo may make more sense for your booking if the miles deal works out much better than the hotel points, provided the hotel will still honour your status perks during your stay.
Bottom Line
Simple enough – if you don’t hold one of these credit cards in Singapore:
- Citi PremierMiles (review)
- Citi Prestige (review)
- Citi ULTIMA
- DBS Altitude (review)
- UOB PRVI Miles (review)
you should be able to make this KrisFlyer bonus offer work well for you.
If you do hold one of those cards however, this offer is unlikely to result in you earning more miles, even once the bonus is accounted for. Check your hotel rate under both schemes carefully before committing and be aware of the best available rate booking directly with the hotel or through an online travel agent too.
Remember if you do want to take advantage of the offer, you don’t have to achieve the bonus spend levels in a single booking. All your bookings are combined and you’ll be awarded based on the final amount you spent on all bookings under the offer made by 16th May 2018.
(Cover Photo: Kaligo.com)