The Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club Loyalty Program Review

Leaders Club Overview

The Leading Hotels of the World Leaders Club program, while not nearly as large as many of the biggest hotel loyalty programs, has built an impressive collection of 400 boutique and luxury properties around the world where you can receive benefits.

Joining Leaders Club

Sign up for a Leaders Club membership on this page of the Leading Hotels of the World’s website in order to start earning points and receiving benefits during your stay.

How To Sign in to Your Leaders Club Account

Head to the Leading Hotels of the World homepage, and log in at the top right corner. From there, enter your email and password to access your account.

Viewing Your Account Activity

From the main account screen, My Dashboard will show your loyalty number, current spend balance, number of points, and number of prearrival upgrades in your account.

Profile Preferences

If you click My Profile, you can adjust your account’s specifics and type in any preferences you have for your stays.

This includes your personal information like your contact email, birthday, and mailing address, along with your payment methods, and preferences you want to set for upcoming stays, like pillow type, bed preferences, floor preferences, beverage and snack preferences, and more.

Points Expiration

Your Leaders Club points expire after 24 months of account inactivity. However, to extend them, you need to redeem points or earn more, after which the 24-month clock will reset.

Leaders Club Benefits

There is only 1 elite status level in the Leaders Club program: Sterling. Here are the benefits of being a Club member and the additional benefits of achieving Sterling status.

Club Member

• 1 point per $1 spent on stays
• Upgrade priority at arrival
• Daily continental breakfast for 2
• Early check-in and late checkout considerations
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• SIXT Rent a Car Gold status
• 1 prearrival upgrade after a qualifying paid stay, then 1 annually
• Members-only sales
• Lowest available rate
• Insider experience offers
• Preview the newest LHW hotels

Sterling Status ($5,000 in eligible spend)

Sterling comes with all of the benefits of Club membership, plus:

• 5% stay bonus on points earned
• 5 prearrival upgrades annually
• SIXT Rent a Car Platinum status

Earning Leaders Club Elite Status

You receive Club membership just for signing up for the Leaders Club program, and it requires no ongoing qualifying activity to maintain its benefits.

Earning Leaders Club Sterling Status With Spend

Sterling status requires you to spend at least $5,000 on the room rates for eligible stays in a calendar year. Once you’ve met that spending threshold, your Sterling benefits begin immediately and last through the end of the following calendar year. Of course, you need to continue to spend $5,000 on eligible stays in subsequent years to continue renewing your Sterling status.

Earning Leaders Club Sterling Status With Credit Cards

You can also earn complimentary Leaders Club Sterling status by holding either the Platinum Card^® from American Express or The Business Platinum Card^® from American Express. Enrollment is required.

This way, you will enjoy all of the benefits and perks that come along with Leaders Club Sterling status, like bonus points and 5 annual prearrival upgrades, without needing to spend $5,000 on Leading Hotels of the World properties each year to earn or maintain this status level.

Hot Tip:

In addition to the other great benefits of the Amex Platinum card and Amex Business Platinum card, both cards also offer complimentary Hilton Honors Gold elite status and Marriott Bonvoy Gold Elite status upon enrollment.

Value of Leaders Club Elite Status

The amount of value you can expect to receive from your Leaders Club elite status largely comes down to how often you stay at Leaders Club properties throughout the year.

For those who travel frequently and tend to choose Leaders Club hotels, perks like complimentary room upgrades, daily breakfast for 2, late checkout, and earning extra points during your stay can add up to solid additional value.

How To Earn Leaders Club Points

Here is a quick outline of all of the best ways to earn Leaders Club points.

Earning Points on Leading Hotels of the World Stays

When you stay at Leading Hotels of the World properties, you earn points at the following rates:

• Club member: Earn 1 point per $1 spent.
• Sterling status: Earn 1 point per $1 spent, plus a 5% bonus.

Purchasing Points

Through Points.com, you can purchase Leaders Club points at a rate of 12 cents per point. This is usually not a good option, though, unless you’re only short a small number of points that you need to book a trip.

That said, there are occasional promotions where you can purchase Leaders Club points with up to a 100% bonus, bringing the price down to a much more reasonable 6 cents per point.

While that might still feel quite expensive, you can usually redeem Leaders Club points at a rate of 7 cents or 8 cents per point, so purchase promotions can be a good opportunity for you to save cash on an expensive stay you were planning to book anyway.

Partnered Credit Cards

The Leaders Club program is a Citi ThankYou Rewards transfer partner at a 5:1 ratio. This means you can use any credit card that earns Citi ThankYou Points for your daily purchases, then transfer those points to Leaders Club points when you want to make a redemption to stay at any property in the Leading Hotels of the World portfolio.

Here is a glance at a few of our favorite Citi ThankYou Rewards credit cards:

Recommended Citi Cards

Citi Strata Elite℠ Card

U.P. Rating 

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the ins and outs of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

The Citi Strata Elite card is Citi's most premium card built for frequent travelers and foodies.

Citi Strata Elite℠ Card

The Citi Strata Elite card is Citi's most premium card built for frequent travelers and foodies.

Welcome Offer

Earn 80,000 bonus ThankYou Points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of account opening.

80,000 points

UP's Offer Valuation*:

Up to $1,280

Annual Fee

$595

APR

21.24% to 29.24% Variable

Why We Like This Card

The Citi Strata Elite card is a great option for frequent travelers, foodies, and those who are fans of the Citi ThankYou Rewards ecosystem thanks to its combination of bonus categories, perks, and annual credits.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 12x points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions booked through Citi Travel
• 6x points on airfare through Citi Travel
• 6x points on dining on Citi Nights (Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.) and 3x points on dining at all other times

Cons

• $595 annual fee
• Boosted dining rewards are limited to 2 nights per week

Read Full Review

Card Highlights

• Earn 80,000 bonus ThankYou Points after spending $4,000 within the first 3 months of account opening
• 12x points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on cititravel.com
• 6x points on air travel booked on cititravel.com
• 6x points at restaurants, including restaurant delivery services, every Friday and Saturday from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. ET, and 3x points any other time
• 1.5x points on all other purchases
• Global Entry or TSA PreCheck credit
• Up to $300 annual hotel benefit
• Up to $200 annual splurge credit
• Up to $200 annual Blacklane credit
• 4 American Airlines Admirals Club passes every calendar year
• Transfer Citi ThankYou Points to partners like American Airlines
• Complimentary Priority Pass membership
• No foreign transaction fees

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 21.24% to 29.24% Variable
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

The Citi Strata Elite℠ Card is Citi’s most premium credit card, built with frequent travelers and foodies in mind.

It earns 12x points on hotels, rental cars, and attractions booked through Citi Travel, 6x points on airfare through Citi Travel, 6x points on dining on Citi Nights (Friday and Saturday nights from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m.), and 3x points on dining at all other times, along with 1.5x points on all other eligible purchases.

Plus, it comes with perks like access to Priority Pass airport lounges, 4 American Airlines Admirals Club lounge passes each year, an up to $300 annual hotel benefit, an up to $200 annual Splurge Credit, and up to $200 annual Blacklane credit.

Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

U.P. Rating 

The rating for this card has been determined by our own industry experts who know the ins and outs of credit card products. Bonuses, rewards as well as rates and fees are all taken into account. Compensation from the issuer does not affect our rating. We only recommend products we either use ourselves or endorse.

Citi Strata Premier℠ Card

Welcome Offer

Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com

60,000 points

UP's Offer Valuation*:

$960

Annual Fee

$95

APR

20.24% - 28.24% Variable APR

Why We Like This Card

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card is a great all-around travel rewards card that allows you to earn big rewards on a variety of purchases like air travel, at restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and more, along with flexible redemption options, all for a modest annual fee.

Pros & Cons

Pros

• 10x points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through CitiTravel.com
• 3x points on air travel, other hotel purchases, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging stations
• $100 annual hotel benefit

Cons

• $95 annual fee

Read Full Review

Card Highlights

• Earn 60,000 bonus points after spending $4,000 in the first 3 months of account opening, redeemable for $600 in gift cards or travel rewards at thankyou.com.
• Earn 10X points per $1 spent on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked on CitiTravel.com.
• Earn 3X points per $1 on air travel and other hotel purchases, at restaurants, supermarkets, gas and EV charging stations.
• Earn 1X point per $1 spent on all other purchases.
• $100 Annual Hotel Benefit: Once per calendar year, enjoy $100 off a single hotel stay of $500 or more (excluding taxes and fees) when booked through CitiTravel.com. Benefit applied instantly at time of booking.
• No expiration and no limit to the amount of points you can earn with this card.
• No foreign transaction fees on purchases.

Financial Snapshot

• APR: 20.24% - 28.24% Variable APR
• Foreign Transaction Fees: None

The Citi Strata Premier℠ Card, on the other hand, earns 10x points on hotels, car rentals, and attractions booked through Citi Travel, along with 3x points on air travel, other hotel purchases, restaurants, supermarkets, gas stations, and EV charging stations, plus a $100 annual hotel benefit through Citi Travel, all for a much lower annual fee.

How To Redeem Leaders Club Points

To redeem your Leaders Club points, you first need to log in to your Leading Hotels of the World account on the LHW website.

Once there, simply enter the city you want to travel to, the dates you want to travel, the number of rooms you need, and the number of guests on the reservation, and then click the toggle to view with points.

Unlike some other hotel rewards programs, Leading Hotels of the World does not operate with an award chart. Instead, the number of points you need to book an award night is tied to the cash price of your booking, and you receive somewhere between 7 cents and 8 cents per point in value.

Once you’ve selected the hotel and the room type you’d like, all you need to do is click through and complete the reservation as you normally would.