Chic Outlet Shopping® Features in Global Hotel Alliance Customer Recognition Programme

Dubai, United Arab Emirates – July 2,2013 – ( ME NewsWire) Value Retail, the creator and operator of the Collection of Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages, the leading luxury outlet shopping destinations in Europe, has entered into a partnership with Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), to provide its Shopping Day Experience packages as part of GHA's loyalty programme ‘GHA Discovery' for 19 hotel brands worldwide.

GHA Discovery Black card members (with stays of more than 30 days at GHA hotels) can now redeem Shopping Day Experience packages at four of the nine Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages across Europe: Bicester Village near London; Kildare Village near Dublin; Ingolstadt Village near Munich; and Wertheim Village near Frankfurt as part of the GHA Discovery Programme.

The Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages are home to more than 900 boutiques of world-leading international fashion and lifestyle brands offering their previous seasons' collections with savings of up to 60% on the recommended retail price all year round. GHA Discovery Black Card Members can redeem their Black card ‘Local Experience' award and receive an exclusive VIP shopping package that includes return transfers on the Shopping Express™ luxury coach service from the nearest main city to the Village, a two-course lunch in one of the Village restaurants, a VIP Card for additional savings in participating boutiques, and a Gift Card that can be used in any of the boutiques.

Neil Herbert, Value Retail's Head of Partnerships – Global Marketing, explains: “Our Villages are now recognised as tourism destinations in their own right, with the brands at the Villages selected with high-spending international tourists in mind. This exciting new partnership with GHA further reflects our commitment to working with luxury global travel brands in developing mutually beneficial activities and customer benefits. GHA Discovery members can now redeem their stay rewards against local experiences in our Villages and we are delighted to be participating in this highly successful loyalty programme.”

The Villages are strategically located in areas of tourism interest and within an hour's reach of key European shopping cities. Each Village offers an entire range of hospitality services including multilingual hosts, personal shoppers, VIP Lounges, a ‘shop and drop' hands-free shopping service, free Wi-Fi and valet parking, all aimed at making the experience as luxurious as possible for international guests.

Net rates on products and API connectivity to the Chic Travel Portal booking platform – ChicOutletShopping.com/packages – are offered to travel trade professionals.

The Chic Outlet Shopping® website is provided in 14 languages, is fully optimised for mobile and allows the travel trade to buy pre-bookable Shopping Packages of which they can benefit from a 10% reduction on the net rate. They can also book tickets for Shopping Express™ – a regular luxury coach service from city-centre locations to the Villages – at net rates. The service provides iPads on board, multilingual hosts, complimentary VIP Cards and free Wi-Fi. Online ticket sales for Shopping Express™ in 2012 were 139% higher than in 2011.

The Chic Outlet Shopping® Villages by Value Retail are represented in 14 non-EU markets by dedicated sales representation agencies. Markets include: the Middle East, China, Hong Kong, Russia, Brazil, Southeast Asia, the USA, Mexico, Japan, Korea and Turkey.

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