Small Luxury Hotels of the World is a consortium of 20 luxury boutique hotels in over 80 countries.

In this guide, we explore the chain’s key locations, loyalty program, how to easily pick up free elite status, earning Avios on qualifying stays, current offers, and how to book.

This brand seems to be targeted a younger travel audience who are looking for unique and quirky properties.

Hotel locations

The biggest concentration of hotels is in Europe, followed by Asia, The Caribbean and The Americas.

There are eight properties in Australia, with four in Western Australia (such as Berkeley River Lodge, as shown above), and one each in Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and Tasmania.

New Zealand has nine properties, with six on the South Island and three on the North.

When reseaching hotels, do note that the SLH website deletes negative reviews, so be sure to TripAdvisor for a more honest spread of reviews from previous guests.

This promotional video of Porto Zante Villas and Spa on the Greek island of Zakynthos seems to be representative of the type of aspirational properties the Small Luxury Hotels brand covers:

Membership tiers and benefits

Small Luxury Hotels’ free loyalty program The Club has three membership tiers:

• Special (automatic upon sign-up): room upgrade (where available)
• Loved (after one stay): as above, plus breakfast for two and 4pm late check-out
• Honored (after six stays): as above, plus one annual complimentary award night and 12 noon early check-in

Loved and Honored status lasts for one year.

How to get elite status as an Amex, MasterCard or Diners Club cardholder

If you hold one of the above cards, then you can get Loved status for 12 to 24 months.

Here are the links for each card:

• American Express (12 months)
• MasterCard (12 months)
• Diners Club (24 months)

Here’s a personal decision for you to make: depending on which card(s) you have, as you don’t actually need to provide credit card details when signing up, you could take a risk and sign up using the Diners Club link to try to get 24 months even if you don’t have a Diners Club card, but there’s no guarantee that will hold up down the track.

I played it safe and signed up using the Amex link, as I do not have a Diners Club card but do have an Amex Business Platinum card. I was instantly granted Loved status expiring one year from my sign-up date, extendable for another 12 months after one stay.

Offers

You can view current promotions on the offers page.

For example, at time of writing, you’ll get one complimentary night for stays of three nights or more at 94 participating properties

Another of note is 3 nights for the price of 2 at selected properties (67 hotels at the time of writing). Whilst it appears targeted at Diners Club cardholders, perhaps it is worth a shot to try quoting code N3RC when booking online or over the phone. There are no guarantees this will work if you do not use a Diners Club card, though.

Earn Avios with British Airways Executive Club

You can earn 500 Avios per qualifying stay by adding your British Airways Executive Club number to your The Club profile, with points credited within six weeks of your stay.

Do note that stays completed within the first 14 days of signing up will not earn Avios.

SLH previously had a partnership with Asia Miles, which was terminated on 31 July 2016.

How to book

You can book stays at Small Luxury Hotels properties:

• online
• by calling 1800 219 010 in Australia or 0800 464 013 in New Zealand (24/7)
• through a travel agent, such as American Express Travel

All images and videos courtesy of Small Luxury Hotels.