GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE OF FIRST LOYALTY
1. PURPOSE
The First Loyalty Scheme is managed by First Group Pty Ltd, a limited company whose head office is located at 1 Crompton Street, Pinetown, South Africa.
The First Loyalty Scheme is designed to provide its Members with the benefits described below during their stay in the member resorts and hotels of the FIRST GROUP portfolio participating in the scheme.
Any person applying for membership to the First Loyalty Scheme is deemed to have read and accepted these General Terms and Conditions of Use. Any use contrary to these general terms and conditions may lead to the immediate cancellation of the loyalty account, including its benefits without giving the Member the right to claim any compensation for any reason whatsoever.
FIRST GROUP reserves the right to change one element or all the elements of the First Loyalty Scheme at any time.
2. DEFINITIONS & IDENTIFICATIONS
Guest: Natural person non-Member of the Scheme staying at one of the group’s member hotels and resorts
Member: Guest joining the First Loyalty Scheme by creating a loyalty account, validating his identifiers and having accepted the General Terms and Conditions of Use of the said Scheme
Group: Means FIRST GROUP, manager of First Loyalty Scheme
Scheme: Means the First Loyalty Scheme
First Loyalty: Name of the Loyalty Scheme of FIRST GROUP
“Loyalty Benefits”: Terminology used to describe the reward or gift vouchers
Benefits: Means in general all the benefits, services and/or gifts offered to Members of the First Loyalty Scheme
Check-in: Arrival date at the hotel or resort
Check-out: Departure date from the hotel or resort
3. JOINING THE FIRST LOYALTY SCHEME
a. Membership conditions
Membership to the First Loyalty Scheme is free and open to anyone over the age of 18 who has the legal capacity to sign a contract within the meaning of the law of the member’s country of residence.
Membership to the First Loyalty Scheme is free and takes the form of opening an online account and validating your e-mail address. You must have a valid individual e-mail address in order to join the scheme. One e-mail address cannot be used by several Members. The e-mail address acts as an identifier to access the loyalty account and benefits of the scheme. The loyalty account is nominative.
When joining, you agreed to receive regular electronic communications related to your membership and you can opt out at any time.
Members of the Scheme agree that it may be modified in whole or in part and at any time. Changes made that could substantially affect the rights and obligations of Members under the Scheme will be subject, within a reasonable period of time before their application, to informing Members, including by posting on firstgroup-sa.co.za website and/or by means of an electronic communication. Members are entitled to terminate their membership. Any participation in the Scheme after the effective date of the changes will be deemed as acceptance by the Member.
The Member must not communicate the password of his loyalty account to any third party, with the exception of the Customer Service or the Technical Service of FIRST GROUP, in relation to access to his account for exceptional technical reasons. The Member acknowledges that he is responsible for any transaction made from or to his account.
b. Membership terms
You can register in First Loyalty Scheme:
Online, on firstgroup-sa.co.za website and on the group’s hotels and resorts websites;
During your stay in one of the group’s hotels or resorts;
By phone via the group’s Central Reservations.
The Guest must provide the necessary and mandatory information requested during his membership (first name, last name, valid e-mail address, telephone number, date of birth). The new Member must accept the General Terms and Conditions of Use of the Scheme either online or at the hotel, or by phone through Central Reservations, depending on the membership terms.
For all online memberships, the new Member will receive an e-mail to verify his e-mail address to activate his loyalty account. For all memberships on site at the hotel or via Central Reservations, the new Member will receive a password creation e-mail to activate his loyalty account.
From the creation and acceptance of the General Terms and Conditions of Use of the First Loyalty Scheme, the Member can benefit from all of the Scheme’s services: access to the various features of firstgroup-sa.co.za website (Access to the loyalty account, booking the stay, use of benefits, presentation of the loyalty scheme, etc.), recognition on firstgroup-sa.co.za website, the websites of member hotels and resorts and Central Reservations of FIRST GROUP. During his membership to the First Loyalty Scheme, the Member can agree to receive all the communications relating to the Scheme.
4. LOYALTY ACCOUNT
By using the loyalty account the Member can:
View his membership tier status
Be recognised on firstgroup-sa.co.za website and on the websites of the member hotels and resorts of FIRST GROUP;
Provide or update personal information, accommodation preferences, personal preferences and preferred types of destination;
View the history of his bookings and modify, if necessary, his current bookings;
Subscribe to the group and the First Loyalty Scheme newsletters;
Access current special offers with the loyalty membership discounts.
Access to exclusive offers. Valid benefit for all tiers. First Loyalty members will be entitled in some circumstances, access to promotions in advance. First Group Management reserves the right to send offers to guests/members. Periodically, exclusive communication related to the loyalty programme, namely, promotions, offers and other communications also relevant for First Loyalty purposes it is sent to the members. The purpose of such communications is to keep the members informed about potential offers.
Any change in the information that may be necessary to contact the Member, such as first name, last name, postal address and/or telephone number (with the exception of the e-mail address), must be made by the Member directly in his loyalty account on the firstgroup-sa.co.za website or by contacting FIRST GROUP. To change e-mail address, the Member must contact FIRST GROUP.
5. MEMBERSHIP TIERS
a. Terms and conditions of membership tiers
Reservations can only contribute to the membership status if the guest is identified as a Member when booking.
The number of nights spent at one of the group’s member hotels or resorts contribute to the membership tier. The membership tier is dependent on the number of nights booked.
No nights spent in a FIRST GROUP member hotel or resort will award Blue Membership status.
5 nights spent in a FIRST GROUP member hotel or resort in 2 year will award Green Membership status.
15 nights spent in a FIRST GROUP member hotel or resort in 2 year will award Platinum Membership status.
Membership tier status is updated automatically to the Member’s loyalty account, 72 hours after departure.
b. Maintaining Membership Status
To maintain the Green membership status, the Member must book and spend 5 nights in 2 year at a FIRST GROUP member hotel or resort.
To maintain the Platinum membership status, the Member must book and spend 50 nights in 2 year at a FIRST GROUP member hotel or resort.
A loyalty account is considered active if the Member makes a booking. Each Member of the First Loyalty Scheme must personally ensure that the eligible nights he has spent are contributed to his loyalty account membership status. If the Member finds that his nights have not correctly contributed to his membership status within a minimum period of 4 days following his stay, he may claim them within 8 weeks of his stay. Any claim in this respect must be sent by e-mail to FIRST GROUP at info@firstgroup-sa.co.za, with all the necessary supporting documents (booking confirmation and invoice for the stay). If the claim is justified, the eligible nights spent will then contribute to his membership status.
The eligible reservations have no retroactive effect. They cannot contribute to the membership status of the loyalty account of the Member, for stays prior to the creation date of the loyalty account (date of registration of information from the registration form in our computer system).
c. Channels and Rates
Eligible: Reservations contributing to membership status apply only for any booking made on direct channels:
Through firstgroup-sa.co.za website;
Through the websites of the group’s member hotels and resorts
By phone directly to the group’s member hotels and resorts or to the group’s Central Reservations.
They are valid on the Displayed Rates (including special offers or promotions).
Ineligible: All bookings made with an affiliated Club, Timeshare Owners utilising their timeshare week, online travel agencies (such as Booking.com or Expedia) and traditional travel agencies using “GDS” software are excluded from bookings eligible for contributing to membership status.
d. Marketing operations
Welcome Membership Status: Any new registration in the First Loyalty Scheme entitles you blue membership status.
As part of occasional promotional operations, FIRST GROUP may award a higher discount on accommodation to a membership tier for bookings at one of the group’s establishments, during the period and according to the conditions of the promotion.
6. BENEFITS & CONDITIONS OF USE
a. Use of Membership & Benefit
Members of the First Loyalty Scheme can benefit from a loyalty discount, applicable to the daily rate and/or special offers and the conditions of the rate on which it applies. This loyalty discount is available on firstgroup-sa.co.za website, on the websites of the member hotels and resorts and by telephone via Central Reservations.
Blue tier membership awards the member with a 10% discount on accommodation.
Green tier membership awards the member with a 15% discount on accommodation.
Platinum tier membership awards the member with a 20% discount on accommodation.
All membership tiers will receive regular exclusive offers, express check-in and a 20% discount on the Fred First Club Goodie Bags.
Platinum tier membership awards the member with early check-in and late check-out.
Platinum tier membership awards the member with a free room upgrade on check-in.
All early check-ins, late check-outs and free room upgrades are subject to availability.
Members can view the benefits of the First Loyalty Scheme at firstgroup-sa.co.za, on the firstgroup-sa.co.za/first-loyalty page.
b. In the event of modification, cancellation or no-show of the Member at the hotel
Changing booking: In the event of a request to change a booking, it must first be cancelled and carried out again with the desired accommodation services.
If the cancellation of the booking to be changed and the creation of a new booking are done before the check-in, then: The number of eligible nights that will be awarded for this new booking are automatically recalculated by the system;
If the procedure to change a booking, that is to say the cancellation of the said booking and the creation of a new one, is carried out after the check-out, then the number of eligible nights to be allocated for this new booking will have to be credited manually to the Member’s account, by FIRST GROUP or by the member hotel where the stay occurred.
Cancellation or No-show at the hotel: Nights will not contribute to the Member’s loyalty account and membership status
7. INFORMATION AND CLAIMS
The Member can see all the information related to his membership in the Scheme (including his membership status, bookings, personal details, accommodation preferences, etc.) on firstgroup-sa.co.za website, in his loyalty account. The Member may at any time request a reset of his login credentials, either via firstgroup-sa.co.za website, or by contacting Central Reservations at 031 717 7591.
From his loyalty account, the Member may choose to subscribe to the marketing communications of FIRST GROUP and those of the First Loyalty Scheme. If the Member no longer wishes to receive marketing communications by e-mail, he may unsubscribe at any time from marketing communications by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of the communication or via his account. This unsubscribing has no effect on his membership.
The Member may at any time request termination of his membership in the First Loyalty Scheme. Any request for termination of membership in the Scheme must be made by e-mail to FIRST GROUP at info@firstgroup-sa.co.za or by telephone by contacting Central Reservations on 031 717 7591. In the event of termination of membership, the end of membership implies:
A complete withdrawal of the Member from the Scheme by closing the Member’s loyalty account and the end of access to Scheme Benefits
The definitive end of all communication between the Member and the Group in the context of the First Loyalty Scheme.
Any inquiries or claims regarding the First Loyalty Scheme, should be directed to First Loyalty by e-mail at info@firstgroup-sa.co.za, or by telephone by contacting Central Reservations on 031 717 7591, within a maximum period of 2 months from the date of the service in question. The Member will then be asked to provide his First Loyalty ID (e-mail address) and possibly provide the necessary supporting documents (booking confirmation and invoice for the stay)