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Our luxury travel concierge clients often ask about the best way to get a free upgrade to the Fairmont Gold club level lounge. They want to know if there’s a sneaky backdoor trick that means they can book the standard room at a Fairmont and then enjoy all the trappings of the club-level lounge.
It is no surprise that the Fairmont club level is highly sought after. They are often some of the best club lounges in a city. They include drinks throughout the day and food presentations in a luxurious lounge, often with great views.
Not all Fairmont hotels have Gold levels and lounges. The Fairmont Chateau Whistler is one of the best Fairmont ski hotels and has a great club lounge with a fireplace and a cozy setting. Two other Fairmont hotels that we have reviewed include the Fairmont Monte Carlo and the Fairmont Geneva and there is no club lounge at either.
Below, we outline how you can get the best deal and reduce the cost of an upgrade to a Gold club level lounge at Fairmont hotels.
1. Book with a Step travel Agency
Book your stay at any Fairmont via our concierge to get resort credit, free breakfast, free room upgrades (subject to availability), free welcome gift, and your usual Accor loyalty points and status. It costs nothing to ask us for a quote, and we can usually help you squeeze some extra value from your stay.
Not even official Accor Step agencies like our luxury travel concierge, can get you a free upgrade to club level, but if you book with our concierge, you can enjoy valuable free benefits and can almost always get a better deal than booking directly at any Fairmont hotel.
Our benefits may negate the need for the club lounge, particularly if you are only staying for one night, as a filling breakfast is included along with $100 USD hotel credit that can be used on one evening to cover your food needs. The prioritized room upgrade also means that you’ll get a very nice room at the hotel, so you may be less inclined to require an alternative place to hang out to work and relax.
Even though our team prioritizes room upgrades for our clients, we cannot offer free club lounge upgrades at Fairmont hotels. We do offer a free upgrade to club lounge at some InterContinental hotels.
If you still want to upgrade to a Fairmont Gold lounge, the only way to do this is to book a Gold level room and pay for it. There is no travel agency or loyalty program that will upgrade your standard room to a Gold level room for free.
2. Become A High Tier Loyalty Member
While high tier Accor members do enjoy extra free benefits, but there’s no free Gold club lounge access for any loyalty member, whatever tier you are.
3. How Much More Is A Gold Club Room Going To Cost Me?
At the cheapest Fairmont hotels, which are usually in Asia and India, upgrading to club level can cost less than $70 USD. This is the price to upgrade your room from a standard room to a club room at the Fairmont Jaipur. The cost to upgrade to Gold level rooms at the best Fairmonts in America, Canada, and Europe can be closer to $500 USD.
For example, at the Fairmont Royal York, Toronto, a standard Fairmont Queen room costs around $279 CAD per night. The cheapest Gold room at this property costs $799 CAD per night, so the Gold club level upgrade is costing $520 CAD more.
4. Do All Fairmont Hotels Have Club Lounges?
Not all Fairmont hotels have club lounges. Most do.
5. Are Fairmont Gold Club Lounges Worth It?
Ah, the age-old question of whether it’s worth paying for this upgrade. In our opinion, this mainly depends on whether you intend to spend a lot of time in this club lounge and whether you intend to use all the meal offerings.
For example, the Fairmont Chateau Whistler has a great club lounge, but if you are spending all day skiing and plan to eat out in the village in the evening, then this Gold club lounge is not worth the extra cost. Particularly as you could book the standard room via our concierge team and get upgrades, gifts, hotel credit and a fabulous breakfast included for free.
Conversely, if you intend to spend a decent portion of the day in the club lounge and want a better room on the Gold level – here, Gold rooms at the Fairmont in Whistler include their own gas fireplace and tend to have better views, then it probably is worth splurging.
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Note: Benefits & upgrades subject to availability. Benefits offered correct at the time of writing. Terms & conditions apply. Enquire for more information. Benefits offered correct at the time of writing but may be amended at discretion of the vendor. Posts may be sponsored by the proprietor or brand being appraised. All opinions remain our own & are in no way influenced.