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Triple Your Points in Hilton’s Q2 Promotion (and Current Status Challenges)
Hilton has launched a new promotion for Q2, which will start immediately after the current promotion expires.
You can sign up here. From May 3 to September 6, every stay of two nights earns double points, or triple when it’s of at least three nights. Note that it is based on the checkout date – if your stay starts prior to May 3, but ends after, it will be eligible for this promotion; otherwise the current promotion applies.
For Diamond members, it means that you earn 40 points per $ spent (excluding taxes and fees), which is a decent return; and now you can even earn points on up to four rooms booked under your name. Unfortunately with the ongoing devaluation since the introduction of dynamic pricing, Hilton points aren’t worth much nowadays.
A reminder of current status match or challenge opportunities (read more here):
Status Challenge If you hold elite status with another hotel program, you could enrol in this challenge where you kick start with Gold status immediately. Stay 5 nights within 90 days to keep the Gold, or 9 nights to elevate to Diamond.
MVP Gold Complete 4 stays after registration to get Gold status. This challenge is meant for athletes and those affiliated with sport organisations, although there doesn’t seem to be any enforced checks.
Corporate Travellers If you work for a large corporation, get Silver status right away, and then stay 8 / 16 nights within 90 days to upgrade to Gold or Diamond. Work email address is needed for verification – replace dell in the URL with your company’s name to see if you are eligible.
Full List of Radisson UK Hotel Category Changes
I was too early to post about the Radisson program restructuring yesterday – it appears that the change is actually global rather than just for the Americas, and they were just a bit late in posting the update on the main site.
You can see the announcement here. As a reminder:
- There will be five hotel categories in the new program, staircasing by 15,000 points
- The minimum points required for a free night increases from 9,000 points to 15,000 points
- The maximum points required for a free night increases from 70,000 points to 75,000 points
- Family Room and Premium Room redemption are kept
- A new scheme called RewardSaver will be introduced where a 1/3 discount is applied when redeeming certain hotels at off-peak season, similar to Marriott’s PointSaver
You can see the new category and point requirement for all hotels (excluding Americas) in the pdf here. It’s a bit tricky as there’s no filter for country / city and you don’t see the current award category in the file.
To save your time, here are the 49 hotels in the UK, with the old and new award night pricing.
29 hotels are moving up and 22 are moving down. It may not be a devaluation as you’d think though, because:
- London is the worst hit city on the list; however there’s no London hotel worth spending your points on already from my point of view, so it really doesn’t matter if they hike up the price further
- There will be two hotels at 15,000 points, which is an improvement
- Radisson Blu Cardiff and Park Inn York are both reducing the point requirement, which is great news as both cities can be very expensive during peak seasons
- The same is true for the two hotels in Edinburgh, including the Radisson Collection Royal Mile, although my stay there was very underwhelming
And here are some hotels worldwide that I find may be worth checking out:
It’s a very short list as it was very difficult going through their lengthy list. The biggest winner appears to be Bangkok, as all three 28,000-point hotels are joining the 15,000-point league which is almost 50%-off reduction. Although I didn’t dig too much, I believe it’s bad news for India travellers as the majority of the 9000-point hotels are in that country.
If the hotels you intend to redeem will go up in price, remember to lock in your award nights now. I’m expecting another 100%-bonus point sale anytime between now and June, so watch this space!
Major Devaluation Coming to Radisson Rewards Americas
Radisson Rewards is in the process of splitting into two different programs, mainly because the hotel group is owned by China’s Jin Jiang Group, and the US Government doesn’t want them to have access to any data of the States anymore.
They have been communicating the update to members recently, and the main change so far appears to be you can only earn night credits for hotels in the respective program in the future. If your travel pattern spreads across the two regions, it will be more difficult for you to earn or maintain status.
You can have both accounts and status match to have reciprocal benefits. Points can be transferred between the two programs too.
What just got revealed though, is that a major devaluation is coming to the Americas program at the same time.
- There will be five hotel categories in the new program, reduced from seven
- The minimum points required for a free night increases from 9,000 points to 15,000 points
- The maximum points required for a free night increases from 70,000 points to 75,000 points
- Out of the existing 612 hotels, 392 (64.1%) will move up in price, 180 (29.4%) will move down, and 40 (6.5%) will remain unchanged
With almost 1/3 of its hotel requiring more points to redeem, it’s hard not to see it as a devaluation.
There are a couple of good news too:
- A new scheme called RewardSaver will be introduced where a 1/3 discount is applied when redeeming certain hotels at off-peak season, similar to Marriott’s PointSaver program
- Family Room redemption is kept and the price appears to have dropped
If you do not reside in the Americas (United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean), there isn’t any change to the main Radisson Rewards program yet. Just double check your address in the account to make sure your account is migrated to the correct program in June.
Sheraton London Park Lane Grand Suite for £280
Sheraton Grand London Park London is having a “secret sale”, should you be interested in staying in a big suite in central London!
To book, simply visit the hotel’s website and search for any date. The rate should pop up if the suite hasn’t been booked out yet, and it’s available on many dates including next year.
You’ll need to look under the Prepay & save tab. The best room available in the hotel, Grand Suite, is only selling at under £300 which is the same as a standard room. People have reported seeing as low as £217, and the original rate is ~£2000.
You can expect a 1000-sqft one-bedroom suite, overlooking Green Park with executive lounge access.
By “secret sale”, I was referring to an error fare of course as the hotel definitely didn’t put out such a low fare on purpose. The rate is non-refundable if cancelled more than 1 day after your booking, although changeable until 2 days prior to arrival.
To be honest, the hotel is unlikely to honour the reservation and may just reach out to cancel it soon, however you could try your luck and see what happens if you are truly interested.
Are There Any Good Deals at Hotel Week London?
In a bid to encourage (domestic) travellers to visit and stay in London, the capital city is hosting a Hotel Week London event which intends to offer some attractive hotel deals.
You could find more information here. The event is from May 28 to June 6, although most hotels will run the promotion for stays up until the end of June.
There are around 30 participating hotels at the moment, most of which belonging to major hotel groups such as Hilton and Marriott, together with a handful of independently operated ones.
Before you get too excited, I’d recommend to read through the terms as many of the so-called deals are laughable. Novotel Canary Wharf wants £189 for a standard room – without breakfast even, and the hotel was typically priced at under £100 for a weekend night pre-Covid. Pullman St Pancras, which is also an Accor hotel, has an asking price starting from £190, and it usually sells for circa £120 during sales.
That said, there are still a few highlights that may be interesting.
100 Queen’s Gate, a Hilton Curio Collection Hotel
- Book a two-bed Family Room, and enjoy a complimentary second night
- Upgrade to Duplex Suite Family Room subject to availability
- Free breakfast for up to 4 pp
- £50 hotel credit per stay
- Guaranteed late check-out
You can book on Hilton’s website directly for the first night, and then contact the hotel to add the second. The price I was quoted was £462, which isn’t bad for the package.
London Marriott Hotel Park Lane (Rate Code 12092)
St Pancras Renaissance Hotel (Rate Code 12092)
- 25% off if you book two rooms
- Includes breakfast, early check-in and late check-out
- Complimentary upgrade to Executive Room for the first room
Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill
- 20% off Best Flexible Rate
- Breakfast and £25 hotel credit included
- 10am check-in and 6pm check-out
The Tower Hotel (promo code LDNHOTELWEEK)
- Special price of £99 per night for a standard room
- Reduced price of £79 for May 28th, 29th and 30th
15% Dining Discount at GHA Hotels Worldwide
It’s nowadays very common for hotel programs to offer dining discount to its loyal customers, most notably in Asia Pacific. For example, Accor has a (paid) Plus scheme that offers up to 50% off dining discount, whereas Marriott Bonvoy members enjoy up to 30% off when dining at its hotels in China as well as earn points.
GHA Discovery appears to be the next one who joins the party. Through September 30, all GHA members get a flat 15% off discount when dining at participating hotels, and no stay is required. A member can be accompanied by up to three guests, and you only need to show your digital membership card when settling the bill.
Unfortunately there isn’t any UK hotel on the list at the moment, yet you can find Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Montenegro in the Europe section.
Personally I don’t tend to eat at hotels when I’m on vacation, but it’s just something you may want to keep in mind in case you visit any GHA hotels in the next few months.
IHG Ambassador Free Night Voucher Promotion Is Coming Back!
IHG Ambassador Program had a very interesting enrolment / renewal offer last year, where you could get a free night voucher for joining it. It appears that the same offer is coming back this year.
The following poster is shared in China’s frequent flyer forum Flyertea:
If you don’t understand Chinese 😉, here is what it says:
- The offer runs from 15 April to 31 July
- Everyone who joins or renew their Ambassador membership can participate
- After the purchase, you need to stay once at an InterContinental, Kimpton or Regent hotel by 31 August
- And you’ll receive a Free Night Voucher to redeem by 30 November
It’s not mentioned in the poster, but I suppose the voucher still has the same 40,000-point cap like the last time.
After the very recent devaluation, 40,000 points will get you into fewer nice IHG hotels now. However it’s still a decent promotion – if you intend to purchase the membership or are due the renewal, remember to hold out a little longer!
IHG Redemption Price Shooting Up Crazy
IHG rolled up dynamic pricing for award redemptions globally last year, and the reception has been generally very positive – until now.
It appears that award nights in some UK hotels have just shot up over night. For a Saturday night in August, this is what you are looking to pay in points or in Pound Sterling:
- InterContinental London Park Lane 100,000 points / £362.57
- Hotel Indigo London Leicester Square 90,000 points / £357
- Crowne Plaza Kings Cross 44,000 points / £115
- Holiday Inn Oxford Circus 52,000 points / £129
- Holiday Inn Express London Southwark 43,000 points / £125
- Hotel Indigo Liverpool 42,000 points / £117
- Holiday Inn Brighton 60,000 points / £262
- Kimpton Edinburgh Charlotte Square 85,000 points / £446
Some hotels on the list still pertain to the $50 / 10,000 points rule, although the cap is obviously non-existent – The max. redemption price was capped at 70,000 with very few exceptions. While others are charging totally extortionate amount of points – at Crowne Plaza Kings Cross you are only getting $36 value per 10,000 points.
Just to be clear, not all hotels are seeing the sharp increase yet, and there’s sometimes inconsistency for the same hotel on different dates. For example, InterContinental Edinburgh wants 55,000 points for a Friday night but 85,000 points for the next day, whereas cash prices are almost identical.
I’m not sure what IHG is trying to do here. Now that there’s no award chart anymore, they can basically devalue their program without any prior notice. I haven’t seen the trend in any other country yet, so maybe they are just running on a trial and see how people respond?
If you live in the UK, I’d suggest you to lock in some award nights right now while prices are still reasonable, as they might skyrocket very soon.