01Preferred partners
Known at the world’s finest addresses.
Our preferred programmes, hotel houses and cruise lines alike, receive our guests on the terms kept for advisors they know best: recognition at the door, privileges throughout the stay and credit on board.
02How access works
Every programme is an introduction.
A preferred programme is an agreement between a hotel group or a cruise line and a travel house it trusts, and Dip Needle holds them with COUTURE by Langham, Hyatt Privé, Peninsula PenClub, Silversea and the rest. When we reserve a suite or a sailing, our name goes on the booking beside yours, and the house receives it as it receives the guests of an advisor it knows.
The traveller feels it from the first morning: the privileges of a preferred guest, a welcome prepared before the car draws up and an advisor with a direct line to the people who run the address. For the hotels and cruise lines, Dip Needle is a house worth being associated with: one that books with care, knows its guests and stays in touch long after the confirmation.
03Hotel programmes
Every house, its own idea of a hotel.
Each programme is the door a hotel house keeps for a few advisors, and each opens onto a different world: the rituals of a Peninsula, the independent originals of Design Hotels, the Spanish warmth of a Gran Meliá, the reticence of a Park Hyatt. The privileges are the same at every one of them; the character is the reason to choose.
- 01
COUTURE by Langham
Langham Hospitality GroupThe grand hotel tradition, from Regent Street to Hong Kong.
- 02
Design Hotels Collective
Design HotelsIndependent hotels, each the work of someone in particular.
- 03
Hyatt Privé
HyattThe quiet exactness of a Park Hyatt, expecting you.
- 04
IHG Destined
IHG Hotels & ResortsRegent, Six Senses, InterContinental and Kimpton, one standard of welcome.
- 05
Meliá Bravos
Meliá Hotels InternationalSpain’s idea of hospitality, from Madrid to Ngorongoro.
- 06
Kempinski Club 1897
KempinskiThe European grand hotel, carried intact across the world.
- 07
Mr & Mrs Smith
Mr & Mrs SmithHotels chosen for character, with a Smith Extra on arrival.
- 08
Peninsula PenClub
The Peninsula HotelsThe Peninsula way, from Salisbury Road to Avenue Kléber.
- 09
The Set by Invitation
The SetIndependent hotels of conviction, with the invitation already open.
04Cruise partners
Ways across the water.
From Silversea and Crystal to PONANT and Quark Expeditions in the ice, from The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection to Virgin Voyages and Carnival, our cruise partners extend onboard credit and selected offers on eligible sailings. The rest is the advisor’s work: the right ship for the water, the right suite on the ship and the days ashore that turn a sailing into a journey.
- 01
Carnival
Carnival Cruise LineA holiday at full volume, with the horizon always moving.
- 02
Crystal
CrystalUnhurried ocean travel, with the manners of a great hotel.
- 03
PONANT
PONANT EXPLORATIONSFrench expedition spirit, from small harbours to the ice edge.
- 04
Quark Expeditions
Quark ExpeditionsPolar ambition, with the equipment to make good on it.
- 05
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection
The Ritz-Carlton Yacht CollectionYachting intimacy, and a marina that opens onto the sea.
- 06
Virgin Voyages
Virgin VoyagesGrown-up company, sharp design and a hammock over the water.
- 07
Silversea
SilverseaAll-suite sailing, with the destination brought to the table.
05Hotel privileges
The same privileges at every house.
Across every hotel programme, a Dip Needle booking carries the same privileges: daily breakfast for two, a hotel credit to spend on property, room upgrades, early check-in and late check-out, VIP recognition and preferred offers.
They are the hotel’s way of acknowledging that you arrived through a house it knows, and they change the shape of a stay: the first morning begins at the table rather than at the desk, the room is a category above the one reserved and the last day is not cut short. Your proposal states the privileges attached to each stay before anything is reserved.
Privileges apply to eligible bookings and vary by hotel and rate; upgrades and check-in and check-out times are subject to availability.
- 01
Breakfast for two
Breakfast for two on every morning of the stay, at an hour of your choosing, before the day makes any claim on you.
- 02
Hotel credit
A hotel credit to spend on property during the stay, whether at dinner, in the spa or on a bottle sent up to the room.
- 03
Room upgrade
A room above the one reserved: a higher floor, a longer view, the category you very nearly chose.
- 04
Early check-in
Keys in hand before the customary hour, so that a morning flight becomes a whole first day rather than an interval in the lobby.
- 05
Late check-out
The final day kept whole: the room remains yours into the afternoon, for a last swim, a long lunch and an unhurried departure.
- 06
VIP recognition
The hotel knows who is arriving and why. Your preferences travel ahead of you, and the welcome is personal from the first evening.
- 07
Preferred offers
The offers each programme reserves for its preferred guests, opened to you whenever your dates fall within them.
06The collection
Behind the programmes, the addresses.
Each programme resolves into particular addresses, chosen one by one for their character and held on preferred terms: a Regent on Victoria Harbour, a Georgian house in Hampshire, a converted wine factory on the Peloponnese, an expedition ship built for the ice. A few follow, one for each house; the whole collection, address by address, is a link away.
07Questions
Three questions we are often asked.
08Begin here
The introduction is ours to make.
Name the address, the ship or simply the season, and we will tell you what arriving as a guest of the house makes of it: the room, the welcome and the privileges, set down in a written proposal before a single night is reserved.