Home » Hotel Groups » IHG (Page 16)
Category Archives: IHG
You can now book (and redeem!) Mr & Mrs Smith hotels on IHG
IHG announced their strategic partnership with Mr & Mrs Smith hotels a couple of years ago – it’s similar to the tie between Hyatt and SLH, as in IHG doesn’t buy any part of the latter, so the integration is limited.
The partnership went totally quiet afterwards though, and the only evidence of its existence is a bunch of Mr & Mrs Smith hotels that have shown up on IHG’s website, although none of them were bookable!
Things are finally rolling again. A handful of hotels are now active with IHG, bookable using either cash or points. The number of hotels is expected to reach 100 by the end of October, and all 400+ IHG-participating hotels from Mr & Mrs Smith will be phased out by the end of November.
Here are some of the available hotels (thanks to Flyertalk):
- The Crown Hotel, Amersham, UK £105 / 22,500 points
- AdAstra, Florence, Italy £118 / 25,000 points
- Berns Hotels, Stockholm, Sweden £158 / 35,000
You are getting around 0.45p per point, which is not bad considering you can buy IHG point for 0.5 cent during their 100% bonus sale. It’s unlikely to get any better though, since IHG’s deal with Mr & Mrs Smith is quite different to its own brands, so it probably needs to pay the hotels the same level of compensation (your payment minus the commission) whether you are paying cash or points.
The catch is, there is a 30-day cancellation window for redemptions at Mr & Mrs Smith hotels. This is somewhat understandable, again due to how the redemption actually works so IHG is trying to protect itself here, but it makes using points on Mr & Mrs Hotels much less attractive.
A recap on your benefits booking Mr & Mrs Hotels via IHG:
- You earn regular night credit and points (10 points / $1)
- Elite members get a bonus on their earning too
- IHG Rewards Club benefits don’t apply, but Ambassadors can enjoy the GoldSmith treatment during their stay: complimentary room upgrade and welcome amenity
IHG Europe flash sale, save at least 30%!
IHG has just extended its More to See promotion, but changed the format slightly this time.
- Valid for hotels in the UK and Europe
- Book by 14 October
- Stay by 11 April 2021
- Save at least 30% off Best Flexible Rate
- Minimum 3 days advance booking
- Refundable up to 14 days in advance
Compared to the previous edition, there is no longer three-night minimum stay required, which is good news.
The rate plan doesn’t appear to have a special name – it’s just shown as the regular advance purchase rate:
Here are some (good) rates that I’ve found:
- Crowne Plaza London – City £78
- Crowne Plaza London – Kensington £69
- Hotel Indigo London – Kensington £65
- InterContinental London O2 £117
- Hotel Indigo Edinburgh £67
- Kimpton Clocktower Hotel Manchester £79
- Crowne Plaza Manchester City Centre £44
- InterContinental Berlin €88
- Hotel Indigo Berlin – Ku’damm €59
- Crowne Plaza Frankfurt Congress Hotel €45
- Crowne Plaza Rome – St. Peter’s €88
- Hotel Indigo Milan – Corso Monforte €114
Beware that full payment is taken at the time of booking (although it may not be the case in practice), and two weeks’ notice for cancellation isn’t really generous. Due to the current IHG waiver though, you are free to cancel your booking as long as the stay is before 30 September, and hopefully it gets extended.
IHG new double points promotion
IHG has launches its new global promotion, which is a bit boring.
The promotion’s page is here and you can register via this link.
- Valid for stays between 1 October and 15 December
- You earn double points on each stay
- Chase IHG credit card holders earn 10,000 bonus points after first (paid) stay
Compared to the previous round, where you could earn up to quadruple points, this new promotion is not very exciting. Personally I think it’s not as good as the ones from Marriott, Hilton or Hyatt either.
Unfortunately IHG seems to have forgotten about its affiliated credit cards outside North America – I don’t understand why they wouldn’t just offer the bonus to all IHG credit card members?
You can force open IHG reward availability
Being able to redeem “free” nights using points is one of the best benefits of hotel loyalty programmes. Most hotel groups abide by the Last Room Availability principle, i.e. standard rooms are always available for redemption as long as they are not fully booked.
(more…)My Review of the Principal Hotel, York
As I wrote recently, IHG is running a very tempting 50% off sale at the moment, and I took this chance to book a trip to York, staying at the Principal hotel.
(more…)
Redeem IHG points for executive rooms and suites
One complaint that I’ve heard from many frequent travellers is the lack of options to redeem for non-standard rooms, and it is especially inconvenient when you travel as a family. Some hotel chains, including Marriott and Hyatt, have introduced features to allow for booking higher-category rooms in recent years, at least to some extent.
(more…)IHG 50% off UK and Europe sale!
IHG has been running a “More to See” promotion for a while, and I just realised that it has been upgraded from “buy 2 get 1 free” to “buy 1 get 1 free”!