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New IHG offer: 30K points for 15 nights
I’ve just received an email from IHG for a targeted promotion, and you should try signing up too.
The registration link is here.
- Stay between September 1 and September 30
- Only paid nights count
- Stay every 5 nights to earn 10,000 bonus points, up to three times
If you can achieve those targets, it adds 2,000 bonus points per qualifying night which isn’t bad. In theory it’s a targeted offer, but many of my friends have received the email too so it appears to be widely available.
The current quadruple points offer runs until the end of August. Given the timeframe of this new offer, there won’t be another IHG Q3 promotion until October at least.
New IHG promo? Heavy discount on reward nights
It appears that a new IHG promotion has just come live.
I’m expecting an announcement from IHG soon, but here’s what I find:
- Available from October and runs through 2022 and 2023
- Not all hotels / all dates are available
- Fixed reward night pricing for participating properties by brand:
- Kimpton – 45,000 points
- Regent / InterContinental – 35,000 points ~ 45,000 points
- Voco / Even / Hotel Indigo – 30,000 points
- Crowne Plaza – 25,000 points
- Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express – 20,000 points
Needless to say it’s most worthy of spending your points ta Kimpton, Regent and InterContinental hotels. The InterContinentals at London and Amsterdam cost 40,000 points per night:
The ones at Maldives and Bora Bora are even cheaper at 35,000 points:
I don’t have any travel plans at the moment, but might as well make some speculative bookings just in case.
My review of Kimpton Clocktower, Manchester
(08/2022 Update – just had a second stay here)
I was visiting Manchester again, and although I didn’t intend to stay at the Kimpton again, it’s very cheap using the Ambassador BOGOF voucher (£125 for two nights) so I decided to give it another try.
The current social password Stay Cool surprises with me a postcard, oh well…
The room I’ve got this time is on the 3rd floor. Although not as big as last time, it feels so much better – refreshed furniture, bright daylight from the massive windows, and very high ceiling.
Social Hour is hosted 6-7pm on weekdays and 5-6pm on weekends. There’s a nice selection of drinks.
Diamond members can choose breakfast as their welcome amenity, which is served in the Refuge bar.
It’s mainly buffet, but with a few cook-to-order options too.
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(Originally posted 07/2021)
I’ve stayed at both Kimptons at Edinburgh and Glasgow, and I like them both. Therefore I’ve chosen to try out the Kimpton Clocktower hotel at Manchester to use my Ambassador BOGOF voucher. The Clocktower is significantly cheaper than the other three Kimptons – I paid only £158 for both nights.
The hotel is located off the Oxford road. Despite its proximity to the road and train station I barely heard any noises in my room. It’s not central, but Canal street, the Piccadilly station and city centre are just a short walk away.
The highlight of the hotel is, no doubt the lobby, which is hugely impressive:
Built at 1895 it was originally an office building, and converted to a hotel nearly one hundred years later. If you are a history fan remember to request a free brochure when you check in.
The secret password gives me a Manchester Bee and a box of cream fudge.
Having booked the very basic Urban Double, I’m then upgraded to Deluxe room for which category-wise is quite generous. Upon opening the door you see a small vestibule:
And the actual room is actually on the higher floor. The whole setting is kind of a duplex.
However, the room looks nothing like the stock photos, in a sad way. Sorry for the bad photos, but it brings up the first point I want to make: because of the positioning most rooms are very lacking in natural light, which is worsened by the fact that windows are very small.
Furnishing is tired and dysfunctional. Bed is ok, but I have no idea why anyone would think that 18th-century desk and stool are by any means comfortable enough for anyone to sit. Instead of properly installing the mirror they just leave a standalone one against the wall which feels quite strange.
The bathroom actually looks much better. Maybe they are in the middle of refurbishing all rooms?
I have to stay that I have never felt as depressed in a hotel room like this before. It just doesn’t give you the cosy feel that a luxury hotel should aim for at all.
Breakfast is charged at £18.50pp and there’s no discount if you order upfront. After realising that it doesn’t even include the cooked-to-order items it is a definite no from me. However, a £10 drinks voucher is provided to IHG members, and you could spend it at the famous Refuge Bar.
Although I was really amazed by the glorious hall at first sight, the room unfortunately is a big disappointment and is nowhere near a five-star hotel’s standard. The hotel and its Refuge Bar is still worth a visit, but in my opinion there are many better accommodation choices in Manchester, e.g. the new Indigo near Victoria station.
Save at least 20% on IHG hotels with WSJ+
IHG offers negotiated discount rates to many partners, and you may save quite some money if you dig around a little bit before making a booking. For example, we wrote about two partner rates previously:
A friend just introduced me to another IHG partner program with Wall Street Journal, which I’m gonna look into today.
Basically if you are a Wall Street Journal subscriber, you are automatically enrolled into their WSJ+ rewards program, which comes with member-only access to exclusive offers and events.
One of the offers is a special IHG partner rate.
It appears to be a new benefit that started in April, and is valid until the end of 2023 (for now). Basically this special rate guarantees at least 20% off at participating IHG hotels globally, and:
- You must book at least 5 days in advance
- You can cancel free of charge 3 days prior to check-in
- At least one night needs to fall in Thursday – Sunday
To check the price or book, go to IHG’s website and enter corporate code 787056050. If the partner rate is available for a given hotel, you should see the Your Preferred Rate sticker as in the image below:
For an upcoming Friday, here are some London hotels with their partner rate and Advance rate:
- Crowne Plaza Embankment: £228 / £252
- Hotel Indigo Tower Hill: £167 / £184
- InterContinental O2: £191 / £209
Although not always the case, the WSJ+ partner rate is very often cheaper than the Advance rate, and the latter is non-refundable.
The WSJ+ partner rate can potentially save you a lot of money on IHG stays. Note that however you may be asked to present proof of WSJ membership upon check-in. It appears quite cheap though (at least for the first year / months), as I’m seeing a “£52 for 52 weeks” option on their website, which is a bargain considering the hotel savings.
My review of Kimpton Monaco Seattle
Hotels in the US tend to be expensive, which is why I prefer to splash some of my points here. It doesn’t seem easy in Seattle however, as there aren’t many options to start with. Hilton redemption values are poor, whereas Marriott and IHG may have a dozen of options combined.
I didn’t find anything that’s near ideal, but went with the Kimpton Monaco hotel eventually. 107,000 points for two nights isn’t cheap, but the hotel is quite well located, and it’s right after the new IHG One benefits came into effect so I want to see how it plays out.
The Monaco brand appears to be a chain itself, as it’s present in other cities like Washington DC, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The Seattle one is very close to the University Street station, so around half an hour by train to the airport.
The building looks quite tired, and to be honest the W opposite doesn’t look any younger.
The lobby has an Arabic style.
To my disappointment the hotel restaurant is operating at limited capacity and isn’t open during my stay, which means I can’t choose breakfast as a Diamond welcome amenity. However they are running a special promotion, so I’ve got 600 welcome points + 5,000 bonus points instead.
(I forgot to say the Kimpton password :()
There’s a small refuel corner in the lobby for snacks and drinks. If you choose the $20 welcome credit instead you can spend it here.
eStandby was offered online on IHG’s website. The suite upgrade offers are very attractive, and I opted for Premier Monte Carlo Suite which costs only $25 per night. It’s the second-best suite this hotel has (there’s an Ambassador Suite which you must consult the hotel directly for booking).
The top three floors (9, 10 and 11 if I remember correctly) are the so-called Premier Floors. It’s similar to what some hotels have as an Executive Floor – no tangible benefits, but only a dedicated express elevator.
It’s actually a big room split into a living room and a bedroom by a curtain, so not a proper suite in the real sense.
This is the living room with sofa, desk and TV.
And the bedroom:
Nothing to see here in downtown Seattle.
The drapes aren’t black-out at all, which annoys me in the morning.
One thing I like about the UK Kimptons is that all rooms have a yoga mat. I didn’t find one here though so I guess it’s not a global standard.
What they do offer is a daily happy hour (6pm-7pm), which means free drinks for all hotel guests.
I don’t recall if you can order cocktails (for free) too, but from the display I guess it’s possible.
It’s a nice touch of the Kimpton brand.
There’s a gym at the lower ground level.
The hotel advertises a destination fee but I wasn’t charged, not sure if it’s due to the restaurant not open or me booking with points. My total bill is the $50 for eStandby upgrade (no extra taxes).
When I checked out I mentioned the 5,000 promotion points didn’t hit my account. The manager told me it’s actually misinformation and the promotion is double points (1,200 points) or double credit ($40), but since I was told so they’d acknowledge it and award me the bonus.
Two weeks after I checked out there’s still no sign of the 5,000 points and I had to raise it with IHG’s customer care. It was confirmed again – and to my surprise a batch of three 5,000 bonus points landed at my IHG account a couple of days later. I guess they were just a bit slow 🙂
Good London deal: 25,000 IHG points for Holiday Inn Bloomsbury on Saturdays
A friend of mine developed a tool for monitoring reward night pricing of multiple hotel chains, and recently added support for IHG hotels in London. It’s all in Chinese and lives within Wechat so I’m not sharing the tool, but I spotted a couple of great deals that are worth mentioning.
Crowne Plaza Kings Cross: 27,000 points for most Sundays from August 7th
Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury: 23,000 points for most Sundays from August 7th, and 25,000 points (or below) for Saturdays starting September 9th
London IHG hotels (as well as many other countries / cities) used to be very cheap point-wise when IHG started to introduce dynamic pricing, but unfortunately it’s no longer the case. It’s nice to see however that great redemption values are not completely gone. (shame on you, Hilton!)
The Holiday Inn Bloomsbury deal is well worth considering in my opinion. It’s not a brilliant hotel, but 25,000 points for a four-star in central London on a Saturday night can’t be sniffed at.
Buy cheap points via IHG’s Points & Cash sale
IHG has brought back its Points & Cash sale, and if you’ve been thinking about topping up your IHG account, you are looking at the right place.
You can read more about the offer here.
- Book by June 24
- Stay by August 26
- Save 20% on the cash portion when making a Points & Cash booking
I saw a mention of my Diamond status when making a dummy booking, although from the terms and conditions the promotion doesn’t appear targeted.
Unlike the similar feature that other hotel groups offer (e.g. Marriott and Hilton), IHG’s Points & Cash works very differently. When making such bookings you are basically just paying cash on the spot to buy the points you need, therefore it’s a pure reward booking by nature and you don’t earn any points for the cash portion.
That said, the offer may bring along a good opportunity to bag some cheap IHG points. The Two InterContinental Alliance hotels at Macau – The Londoner and The Venetian – for example, are “selling” points for as low as 0.5c.
If you cancel a Cash & Points booking, the cash portion won’t be refunded, however the full amount of points are deposited back to your account. Note that however, such bookings may be non-refundable on certain dates, so read carefully before proceeding.
0.5c (or $5 per 1,000 points) is as low as IHG goes when selling points via public promotions. Cash & Points can actually go even lower at times – in fact some hotels in China were doing 0.48c but it only survived a couple of hours. If you are dedicated enough, you can play around a bit and see if you can spot any better deals.
IHG 8,500 points targeted bonus for app bookings
IHG has a new targeted offer to encourage members to use its new One Rewards app.
You can check if you are eligible here. I suspect that it’s only for non- or light users of the app, so if you’ve made recent app bookings like me you are unlikely to qualify.
If you do, the offer terms are as follows:
- Book via the IHG app and stay by August 16
- Earn 2,000 bonus points on your first stay
- Earn 6,000 bonus points on your second stay
The offer actually has a slightly different variant, of which the sign-up page is here. It offers an additional 500 bonus points for downloading and signing in on the app, which presumably is only intended for those who’ve never had the IHG app previously.
Note that only paid stays count. Remember that IHG is also running a quadruple points offer this quarter on which you can double dip.