Etihad Airways strikes deal with Avari hotels

International chain guests get chance to earn Etihad miles.

KARACHI: Etihad Guest, a loyalty programme of Etihad Airways, has announced its partnership with Avari Hotels International, which will provide subscribers a new way to earn Etihad guest miles.

Speaking to media on Thursday, Etihad Airways Area General Manager for Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal Amer Khan said that under the new partnership agreement, guests who stay at any Avari hotel worldwide will be eligible to earn one Etihad guest mile for every US dollar spent. Moreover, members who stay at any Avari hotel in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Pakistan on or before June 30 will earn double guest miles.

The ‘Etihad Guest’ programme boasts over 1.5 million members to date. It offers its members an opportunity to accumulate air miles, which can be used to purchase more than 3,800 products in the airline’s own reward shop or convert it to make cash payments in more than 30 million retail outlets via PointsPay.

Khan said that Avari hotels international was the first hotel chain in Pakistan with which the Abu Dhabi-based airline had struck a strategic joint partnership. Etihad Airways has experienced double-digit, year-on-year growth in Pakistan. The country is one of the top ten markets catered by the airline, he added.

Currently, Etihad Airways operates 23 flights per week from Abu Dhabi to four destinations in Pakistan, namely Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Peshawar.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 4^th, 2012.