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IHG Q2 offer: earn up to quadruple points
(Registration is now live)
IHG has revealed its new global promotion, although the registration link doesn’t work yet and will go live on May 4.
You can access the offer page here.
- Pre-register by May 17
- Stay between May 18 and August 31
- The following bonus structure applies:
- 1st night – no bonus
- 2rd – 5th night – 2x points
- 6th – 14th night – 3x points
- 15th night onwards – 4x points
- Total bonus points is capped at 100,000
Only paid nights count, and stays at Six Senses / Mr & Mrs Smith hotels are eligible too.
Staircasing the bonus points by number of nights stayed isn’t rare, and makes particular sense as IHG is introducing the milestone rewards in June.
Note that you must register before the promotion starts, so don’t forget to come back to the offer page in two days.
My review of Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel
After one night at the Bristol Hotel to spend my D$, I extended my stay by a couple of nights at the Bristol Marriott Royal Hotel. The hotel has a good reputation, and it’s not every day that you see a hotel call itself Royal.
The hotel is on the other side of the canal, opposite to the Bristol Hotel. It’s a more lively area with quite a few shops and restaurants nearby. It’s a lovely weekend and the park in front attracts many sunbathers.
The hotel boasts its Victorian style, and has been welcoming guests for 150 years. The design of its public areas is very carefully curated to reflect its history and elegance, and I can’t say I’m not impressed.
Although it’s definitely not at that level, the hotel reminds me of Hotel Bristol in Vienna in a lot of ways.
Unfortunately the hotel is fully booked, and I was only given one-level upgrade to a Superior Room. Some guest rooms are located in the Royal Wing, but from what I can tell it’s not really physically separated or come with additional perks.
The room is okay, just what you’d expect from a standard Marriott hotel, and there isn’t really anything Royal about it.
The room is back facing and very quiet.
Breakfast is served in the restaurant, which is complimentary for Platinum members and above.
Pastry offering is excellent – the croissants and pains au chocolat are very fresh, and amongst the best quality ones that I’ve had at any hotel for a long time.
However, only black coffee is free and you’d have to pay for Cappuccino etc, which is quite stingy.
I’m not a fan of hotel gyms in general, but this one is quite nicely decorated.
Some reviews I read online spoke very highly of this property, which almost made it an attraction in Bristol itself. I also agree it’s a good one, but nothing outstanding – it’s possibly one of the top accommodation choices in the city, however don’t be fooled by the Royal name, as it’s still just a four-star hotel.
My review of The Bristol Hotel
The $100 credit that GHA offered to me was going to expire soon in May, so I needed to spend it very soon. There aren’t many GHA hotels in the UK, and $100 isn’t going very far at the London ones, so I decided to use it towards one night at The Bristol Hotel eventually.
The Bristol Hotel is part of the Doyle Collection, which also has three properties in London and a few more in Ireland and the US.
The hotel is nicely located between Queen Square and the canal.
Check-in is very swift and they know proficiently how to redeem the D$ on my account. I booked a promotional rate which was available on GHA’s, but not the hotel’s website. This is a weird thing that you should keep in mind when booking GHA hotels.
I’m upgrade to a Deluxe room on the sixth floor.
The room is very plain – I’m not saying it in a negative way though.
Curiously it is one of the best sleeps I’ve had recently.
A bottle of Prosecco is waiting for me in the room. I’m also given two drink vouchers as a Titanium welcome amenity.
View from my window:
The rate I booked is inclusive of breakfast. The restaurant looks very nice by the riverbank.
Breakfast quality is decent.
Just as I had imagined, the stay and elite treatment etc. are pretty much on a par with an average Hilton or Marriott hotel. I’ll still stick with other mainstream chains unless GHA has another impressive offer, but The Bristol Hotel is a decent choice if you visit the city.
Earn up to 1,800 points ($120) with Shangri-la
Shangri-la’s new program has officially launched today, and I hope you had converted your points into vouchers before the devaluation kicked in. Anyway, to celebrate the program refresh Shangri-la has started an Unlock Your Rewards promotion.
- Offer ends July 31
- New members receive 300 points ($20) after one qualifying transaction
- All members receive
- 600 points ($30) for three qualifying transactions, or
- 900 points ($60) for four qualifying transactions, or
- 1,500 points ($100) for five or more qualifying transactions
So if you create a new account now and make at least five transactions by July 31, you’ll earn a total of 1,800 points which is equivalent to $120. Existing members can earn 1,500 points at most, which isn’t bad either.
A qualifying transaction is to spend at least $20 or 300 points on room stay, dining, spa or the Shangri-la boutique. You can earn maximum two qualifying transactions per day.
It’s unclear whether our converted vouchers count – my gut feeling is no, but if you pay an additional $20 for the meal it should be fine. If you have a few of those vouchers at hand, might as well spend them by July 31 to bag a few more Shangri-la points.
My review of London Marriott Hotel Regents Park
I was pondering about another Spa day, ideally near where I live, and Marriott Regents Park became the winning choice. I stayed here once back in 2016 and it wasn’t a great experience, but I’m only looking for a swimming pool and a club lounge so wasn’t too fussed.
Despite what the name suggests, the hotel is actually by the Swiss Cottage station, and the Regent’s Park is quite some distance away (although Primrose Hill is around the corner).
I booked a family room with two double beds (accoms. 4). Not many central London hotels offer this room type, so if you usually travel with family it’s worth keep in mind.
The hotel underwent some renovation work in 2016. Room looks okay for a four-star Marriott hotel.
It comes with a balcony, which is also rare in London.
As a Titanium member I’ve received a bottle of white wine and a box of chocolate.
The wellness centre is on the ground floor, and you can see everything from the picture below.
I didn’t visit the gym. There’s no jacuzzi but the sauna and steam room are decent. However, the pool is a disaster – half of it is extremely shallow making it extremely difficult to swim, plus there are constantly a bunch of kids plunging and throwing stuff which makes it even less pleasant. If you are just here to entertain your children it’s fine, but think twice if it’s for properly swimming.
Breakfast benefit here (for Platinum and above) is very confusing, but eventually they didn’t charge me. I’m not sure if the club lounge has breakfast offering at the moment.
It’s served at the Carluccio’s restaurant. I’m very surprised at how busy it is on a Monday morning and I didn’t manage to take any photos…
The buffet is adequate, with some egg dishes cooked to order.
Club lounge is also on the ground floor, and a bit on the small side. Evening canape is provided from 5.30pm to 7.30pm.
There are two curry dishes (chicken and peas). They are quite tasty, but putting them in such tiny containers is really annoying.
Alcohol drinks are available until 9.30pm. Desserts are also available after 7.30pm.
This concludes my short stay. It’s not an outstanding hotel, but it’s got some unique features: close-ish to Regent’s Park, big family room that accommodates four people, pool and club lounge. With kids it’s possibly one of the best options in London, and the many families staying here would agree!
Request (cheap) eStandby room upgrade with IHG
Nor1 eStandby Upgrade is a popular service provided by Oracle to help hotels sell upgrades. If you’ve been in the game long enough, you shouldn’t be a stranger to the name – Hilton is their most proactive taker, and you can see the options with virtually every stay on their website or in the app.
IHG has also been an eStandby customer for a while, but in a stealthier way. I don’t think you can ever see it in the app, so if you are interested head to the IHG website to view the stay details.
The rate you have booked doesn’t seem relevant, as you could potentially see eStandby whether you are on a prepaid, flexible or redemption rate. However, it’s not available on all stays, and I’m not sure if it’s up to the individual hotel or whatnot.
There are anecdotal reports where logging out of the account on the reservation page makes eStandby appear.
Click Show My Custom Upgrade and you’ll see the familiar request page:
Possible upgrade requests include room upgrade, early check-in, late check-out and discounted food credit. Hilton has it better integrated so that some room upgrade options are shown as free for elite members, but I don’t think it’s the case with IHG.
For room upgrade, eStandby is usually cheaper than the price difference, and possibly what the reservation team or front desk can offer too. Note that however, eStandby is subject to availability on your check-in day: requesting it doesn’t guarantee your upgrade at all, and you won’t pay unless the upgrade is confirmed.
One thing that bothers me is how it works with elite upgrade perks – since my status (for example, IHG Diamond) already comes with similar privileges, shall I still request a paid upgrade? There’s no definite answer, but for premium suites, club lounge access or discounted food credit, I believe eStandby does represent great value.
Turn your Shangri-la points into voucher now to avoid devaluation
Shangri-la Golden Circle is launching its refreshed program on April 28th. Most importantly, the way to redeem points is reforming: whether to spend points on reward nights, dining or spa, they will have the same value: 15 points = $1.
There are different takes on this change. On the one hand, Shangri-la’s reward night pricing at most hotels was unrealistically high, so the new fixed-value redemption is an improvement. On the other hand, dining reward gets much worse, as you were able to exchange 10 points for $1 ($1.25 for Jade and Diamond) instead.
If you prefer to spend your points on dining, there’s a workaround to save them from devaluation, via Non-Room Awards.
You can access the page here. The feature allows you to exchange your points to a dining or spa voucher, which is valid at a specific hotel.
Three types of voucher are available:
- $50 Restaurant & Bar Voucher
- $100 Restaurant & Bar Voucher
- $100 Chi The Spa Voucher
Redemptions are at the rate of 10 points = $1. Note that some hotel restaurants and dates are excluded.
The catch is the voucher is only valid for six months, and you must spend it at the designated hotel. However, if you know for sure that you can use it within the validity period, you should consider exchanging your points now.
My review of the Renaissance St Pancras Hotel
If I’m to name the three most insta-famous Marriott hotels in London, W Leicester Square and Marriott County Hall are the two that I have already stayed at and was generally satisfied with. The last one must be Renaissance St Pancras though, which is even more eye-catching than the previous two:
You cannot possibly miss the architecture when coming out of the St Pancras or Kings Cross station. Many years ago I remember seeing Taylor Swift shooting an MV here 😛
Due to the Flexible Redemption system that Marriott recently introduced, the hotel has actually dropped in pricing for a few dates. I booked a Saturday night for only 40,000 points.
It’s impossible to capture the entire building in one photo, at least not with my phone 😛
The Great Northern Hotel on the other side of the road looks like a poor dwarf…
Reception is just by the lobby bar when you enter the hotel. I was here for a UK blogger’s Christmas party a couple of years ago.
Before I write any further, you must understand the set-up of the hotel. It consists of two wings: The Barlow Wing which has all the normal guest rooms, and the Chambers Wing which has all the suites (including Junior Suite). Chambers Wing guests enjoy additional benefits such free ironing service, Eurostar VIP transfer, and access to the Chambers Club as pictured below:
The Chambers Club is defined as a Club, not an Executive Lounge, and the hotel only hands out complimentary access to Titanium and Ambassador members if you’re not booking a Chambers Wing room. If you are staying as a Platinum, I’d recommend to use your suite upgrade voucher for an upgrade to the Chambers Wing.
The common area in the Chambers Wing is very impressive.
As it’s a rare chance of staying here, I used one suite upgrade voucher too. The best suite I could select was only Grand Junior Suite, and unfortunately it’s the suite I finally got assigned to – a proper one-bedroom suite would be a lot nicer.
The room is quite old, and its style reminds me of Waldorf Astoria Edinburgh.
I know what to expect though after reading so many online reviews, so it’s not a let-down. The best feature of the room is probably its view:
It looks pretty Hogwarts-y at night – the hotel is actually seen in two Harry Potter films, when the St Pancras station is staged as the Kings Cross as it’s fancier.
The Spa Centre is on the -1 floor in the Chambers Wing. I’m not sure if Barlow Wing guests need to pay extra to use it.
The gym:
There’s no swimming pool but a big jacuzzi instead. It’s quite old though so keep your expectations low.
Steaming room and sauna:
The Chambers Club was closed for a very long time since Covid started, and now it’s on a trial run, open 4.30pm to 10pm Tuesday through Saturday. The Chambers Club will go back to operating seven days a week in May.
You can follow the staircase to spot what’s happening inside the St Pancras station.
Beverages (including alcohol) are available the whole time. Happy hour is between 5.30pm and 7.30pm.
There’s a nice spread of snacks and desserts. A few hot plates are available for order too, including fried chicken, grilled aubergine and truffle fries.
The Chambers Club is good, but not good enough to differentiate from other Marriott hotels and exclude Platinum members, in my opinion.
Chambers Club doesn’t serve breakfast yet, so all guests have it at the restaurant Booking Office 1869.
The buffet is okay – some of the snacks / desserts are exactly the same as what I saw last evening in the Chambers Club…
In additional to the buffet, they only do omelettes and boiled eggs, which is disappointing. Hopefully breakfast at the Chambers Club will be better.
To summarise, it’s not a great hotel, as you can see the room is everything but glamourous, and if you’re not staying in a suite it’s only gonna be worse. However it’s more about experiencing the splendid architecture and its history, so I’d still recommend to try it out once should you have the chance.