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My review of Conrad London St James
Just a short review of my staycation at Conrad London St James. I got an impressive Impresario deal – £390 for three nights with $100 hotel credit, and the usual breakfast / room upgrade benefits which I would get for being Diamond anyway.
The hotel is located right next to the St James tube station. The location feels a bit like Park Lane, in that they are both quiet areas in central London next to a Park. However to me St James is much more favourable because there are many more shopping and dining options nearby.
The hotel opened around 7 years ago, which is fairly new for a 5-star hotel in London.
I’m upgraded from a Superior Room to an Executive Room. From recent reports online, the hotel is usually more than happy to upgrade Diamond members to Junior Suite or even One-bedroom Suite if there’s availability nowadays.
The room is not luxurious in any way, but quite neat with its modern design.
If I remember correctly all rooms feature separate bathtub and shower room, which is a plus.
The Executive Lounge is located on the first floor. Many hotels in the UK has chosen not to reopen their lounges or even permanently shut them even after the lockdown is over, so I’m glad that the Conrad has done the right thing here.
Evening canapes are served between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. It’s all table service, however there’s unlimited refill for your food and drinks. A few options are provided for beer, wine and even champagne.
At that time the restaurant was still closed, so I could only use the £80 credit at the pub.
Breakfast is also mostly table service, and Diamond members can choose whatever they want from the menu with no surcharge. There are a few cold plates which you can pick up yourself.
The hotel has no swimming pool. Here’s the gym:
After checkout I found out that they forgot about my Impresario credit and overcharged me, and it took quite a few messages for me to sort it out. I did bag quite a lot of points from this stay though, thanks to the Triple Points promotion and double points offer from Impresario.
Book a two-bedroom suite in Bangkok with IHG points
IHG doesn’t have a Premium Award feature that many other hotel groups offer, which means you can only book standard rooms with points. However it’s not always the case, as it’s not rare to see hotels offer award availability on all room types, whether it’s intentional or a bug I can’t tell.
Thanks to @midnight on Flyertalk, a new hotel in Bangkok is running such “promotion”. The Sindhorn Midtown Bangkok hotel is set to join IHG on August 1, although the actual brand hasn’t been revealed yet.
It’s only a four-star though so it’s not gonna be an upper-scale brand unless they have done substantial renovation, and my guess would be a Holiday Inn. The hotel is now bookable on IHG, and all room types are priced at 30,000 points:
Including the top-level two bedroom corner sky suite, which sleeps four. Due to the lack of tourists in Bangkok at the moment hotels are pretty cheap, and the suite is priced at around £200 so you are not getting insanely outsized value for your points here.
Obviously the uncertainty here is we don’t know when / if we can travel freely to Thailand and back in the near future. However award nights can always be cancelled free of charge so you may want to lock in some redemption nights if you have any plans in mind for the next year.
Preferred Hotels program revamp, and potential status match opportunity
Similar to LHW, SLH and Mr & Mrs Smiths, Preferred Hotels is also a hotel alliance for independent boutique hotels. They have been in the process of revamping their loyalty program in case you are interested.
[I Prefer Program]
There are currently two tiers in the I Prefer program: you sign up as an Insider and immediately enjoy room upgrade, early check-in and late check-out. After earning 50,000 points (=$5000 spend) you are elevated to Elite, with enhanced point earning rate and welcome amenity.
Two new tiers will be added on August 1st: Explorer requires half of the status points of Elite, but with more or less the same benefits; and new benefits such as food and beverage credit will be added to the Elite status. Authority, which is the invitation-only top tier, will enjoy free breakfast and executive lounge access where applicable.
Unfortunately the benefits still look quite weak. As a comparison, LHW offers all members free breakfast, and for SLH there are ways to immediately qualify for Indulged / Inspired that offers the same benefits too. Why Preferred Hotels thinks breakfast is such an exclusive privilege that can only be awarded to their top VIP guests is beyond me.
[Redeeming Points]
The way I Prefer points work now is similar to Accor – 12,500 points are converted to a $25 gift certificate which can be redeemed when booking any hotels on their website. Considering you earn 10 points per dollar spent, that’s equivalent to a 2% return which is incredibly poor.
They probably have realised it too, and are now moving to a redemption system that are more similar to mainstream programs such as Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton. Having launched in North America, hotels now cost a fixed price of between 15,000 points and 150,000 points a night:
This definitely looks much more interesting.
[Status Match]
I Prefer runs frequent fast track promotions that provide easy access to their Elite tier. At the moment there is one for Mastercard World / World Elite / Black card holders, where you get the status after only one eligible stay at participating hotels.
According to their FAQ page:
I currently have elite status with another hotel rewards program. Does the I Prefer Program offer status matches?
Yes, you may contact [email protected] and provide proof of your status at another hotel rewards program.
You can also request a direct status match by sending them an email.
[Refer a Friend]
If you are interested in joining I Prefer, they have started a refer-a-friend program as well. Sign up using my referral link and both of us will get 1,000 points as a bonus.
Success: Hyatt Globalist challenge registration
(UPDATE: I successfully registered for this promotion via Andaz London Liverpool Street)
I wrote about the new Hyatt status challenge offer not long ago, and decided to give it a try myself. Although I don’t see myself being able to stay 20 nights for the bump to Globalist, Explorist benefits are also nice in case I’ll stay at any Hyatt hotels by the end of this year.
I emailed Andaz London Liverpool Street, the reason being I have just completed my first-ever Hyatt stay there in June. The sales department had never heard of this offer so I forwarded the following poster to them:
It didn’t take them long to come back to me, saying that the registration had been done 🙂 The new status was reflected in my account the following day:
So give it a go if you are interested. There’s another similar challenge available to American Airlines elite members, however less generous as you have only 90 days for Explorist trial and to complete the challenge.
My review of Intercontinental the George, Edinburgh
In a bid to take advantage of the IHG LuxLife 3-for-2 offer (which actually ended up being extended), I planned a spontaneous trip to Edinburgh where there were two participating hotels. Since I’d already stayed at the Kimpton once, although I quite liked it I decided to give the InterContinental a try.
Location-wise I prefer the InterContinental. It sits right next to St Andrew Square so fairly central, with a few restaurants, pubs and cafes next door. But on the other hand it’s very quiet at night so you won’t be bothered by any noises.
The hotel is comprised of multiple buildings, and has quite some history to it. Built in the 18th century they didn’t have a pre-defined purpose at the beginning. Some of them was used as an office building by an insurance company which eventually turned into the main building of the hotel. A couple of the other buildings started operating as hotel later, and eventually occupied the entire block.
Hotel rooms are split into two sections: Townhall which is more original and recommended by the hotel staff, and Forth Wing which was the purpose-built hotel, and therefore may lack in some uniqueness comparatively.
I received a four-level upgrade to a Junior Suite.
I must say it’s probably my favourite hotel room in the last couple of years. It’s got such a boutique feel which even becomes a bit weird for an InterContinental, as you’d usually find this kind of design at Kimptons.
The room is not huge, but all space is very well used, and the small living area is quite cozy.
The only downside is it being on floor 1 so privacy could be a slight issue.
The bathtub is quite classy too. All bath amenities (Agraria) come in bottles of 100ml which is quite generous,.
Bottled water is replenished daily as an Ambassador benefit. I also received some Gin & Tonic plus some fudges probably due to the LuxLife rate plan.
The only onsite restaurant is the Printing Press. LuxLife comes with $100 credit, and combined with the Ambassador $20 credit I have a total of £90 to spend. Unfortunately I’m not a big fan of pub food and the menu is quite limited.
Breakfast is served in the same venue and all a-la-carte. Food quality is a let-down though – the eggs benefit are overcooked for example, and you don’t see any yolk coming out when cutting through them!
A major issue is the lack of pool or spa here, which is I believe why it’s always slightly cheaper than the Kimpton. However, if you really want to they could book Kimpton’s facilities for you, but remember it takes about ten minutes to walk there.
If you are edging between the InterContinental and the Kimpton, I think both are really worth visiting but here are some tips: the Kimpton is more thoroughly refurbished, with a much nicer public area, and more importantly swimming pool and spa, and potentially better food. However the Intercontinental has a better location, very unique and lovely rooms and is usually cheaper.
Free Ascott Platinum status and 35% off voucher
If you missed our previous articles, Ascott is a Singapore-based hospitality group focused on service apartments operating across the globe. It’s got multiple properties in London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, as well as other locations in Europe.
If you prefer serviced apartment to usual hotels, don’t forget to claim your free Platinum status with Ascott. All you need to do is visit this page and sign in with your credentials, and your status will be upgraded immediately. If you do not have an account yet you’ll need to create one.
It’s a promotion for Mastercard World Elite cardholders in Asia Pacific, however there’s no verification at all. Since they are a niche group, and Platinum doesn’t get you very far in terms of benefits, I don’t think they care enough to guardrail this offer.
Platinum members get room upgrade, early check-in and late check-out at participating hotels. You also get free breakfast in Europe (presumably continental only) and airport transfer in the Middle East.
A 35% voucher will also be deposited into your account once you’ve activated the offer. The voucher is valid through January next year and can save substantially if you have a longer stay.
Radisson new program live, and 1000 points per night promotion
In case you haven’t noticed, Radisson’s split of Americas and Rest of the World has already taken place, and their new system including the award night pricing has been live.
It appears that many hotel’s award availability has suddenly gone, and I have no idea what’s going on – is it a bug from the migration, or is Radisson now stealthily blocking award nights? Anyway, just a reminder of the category movement of UK hotels:
There are more hotels moving up than moving down, but in a nutshell there’s nothing too drastic here.
And if you have planned a Radisson hotel stay this summer (including the Park Inn and Park Plaza brands), don’t forget to register for their new promotion here. Between July 1st and September 30th, you can earn 1,000 bonus points for every night stayed at any hotels worldwide.
It’s not explicitly mentioned on the offer page, but from what I understand point bookings should also be eligible. However, it does seem that only bookings made after offer registration count, so you may want to cancel and rebook to participate.
World of Hyatt status challenge relaunches – 20 nights to Globalist
Compared to other major hotel groups Hyatt rarely provides status match or fast track opportunities. Something new has just come out though, and you should take a look if you have any upcoming Hyatt stays.
The following poster has been shared on FlyerT (a Chinese FFP forum), and looks very credible:
In short:
- You need to register by November 30
- You receive an instant upgrade to Explorist upon registration, which is valid through 2021
- Stay 10 nights by December 31 to extend the status to February 2023
- Stay an additional 10 nights by December 31 for an upgrade to Globalist
If you are already an Explorist, you could also register and fast track to Globalist for 20 nights. Given that the standard qualification criteria have been halved for the current year, this offer isn’t actually hugely generous, as you’d otherwise need to stay 15 and 30 nights to qualify for Explorist and Globalist respectively.
Hyatt Explorist enjoys bonus points, room upgrade and late check-out. Globalist receives the enhanced version of them plus free breakfast and club lounge access.
The offer doesn’t look targeted or regional to me, however you can’t register yourself – you must contact the sales representative of a Hyatt hotel and ask if they could sign you up. According to the discussions on FlyerT, some hotels’ sales departments are indeed aware of the offer and happy to help.