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Deep discount: Six Senses hotel from 70k IHG points
A new year present from IHG – not sure if it’s intentional or a system glitch, but many Six Senses hotel are available for redemption at a much-lower-than-usual price, throughout the year.
Six Senses Uluwatu Bali, 70,000 points
Six Senses Zil Pasyon Seychelles, 210,000 points
Six Senses Laamu Maldives, 110,000 points
Six Senses Nihn Van Bay, 85,000 points
Six Senses Ibiza, 120,000 points
My review of Clarion Hotel Sign Stockholm
I’m heading to Stockholm for a few days, and it’s finally an opportunity to burn my Choice points. When showcasing Choice points we usually use Oslo’s The Thief as an example, but Stockholm is also a sweet spot – all hotels are available for between 10,000 and 20,000 points.
The only five-star property amongst them is At Six. It’s not available for my first two nights though so I booked Clarion Hotel Sign instead. It costs only 10,000 points ($52) per night, with breakfast included and a swimming pool. From the online pictures I thought the two hotels are more or less in the same league, which turns out to be a huge misunderstanding.
The hotel is at the edge of the city centre, not very close to the main attractions but still within walking distance. There’s a small park in front.
I checked in at 2.15pm, slightly earlier than the regular check-in time. Many of Strawberry’s staff aren’t very familiar with Choice’s integration, so you might need to explain that you booked with points.
Family Room and Superior Room are redeemable at the same price as standard rooms. I thus booked a Superior Room which has a bit more space.
Honestly speaking the room is too basic for a four-star hotel even by European standard. It’s reminiscent of the Ibis set-up, but with a tad more budget for the furniture – regular-sized table, coffee machine and bathtub.
According to this plate in the elevator, floors are designed by different artists:
I’m on the Danish floor. Finnish:
Norwegian:
Swedish:
I hope they are more distinguishable in the interior.
Spa is located on the eighth floor. Unfortunately the pool is closed for renovation. Sauna is open but you need to pay 100 SEK entry fee.
Gym:
Like many other hotels in the North, breakfast is complimentary to all guests.
The buffet:
SEK has been devaluing over the last few years – dining out in Stockholm is much cheaper than London!
Service here is not super warm but friendly enough. As you can see there’s nothing spectacular about this hotel – in fact it’s just mediocre. At the price I paid however, it is definitely a bargain worth going for.
My review of Hotel Indigo Stratford-upon-Avon
I managed to burn my BA companion voucher and Hyatt’s free night voucher eventually, but still struggling to find anywhere decent to redeem my 40K free night voucher from the Chase credit card. It happens that IHG launched a 15%-off sale on reward nights, and the two IHG hotels at Stratford-upon-Avon became an option.
There’s a Crowne Plaza with larger guestrooms, swimming pool and a club lounge. The Hotel Indigo however, is ranked #1 on TripAdvisor and has a marginally better location, so we chose them instead.
The Hotel Indigo is just opposite to Shakespeare’s New Place, and about 10 minutes’ walk from the train station.
It is a Grade-II listed building that started off as a small house in circa 1500, and after centuries of renovation it became a hotel and joined IHG. The timber-framed Tudor architecture is commonly seen in Stratford-upon-Avon and some other English towns.
Entrance of the hotel is at the back, which in contrast is very modern.
The lobby has a very boutique-y style, as you would expect from an Indigo.
The hotel has a small storefront, but it is actually quite big with three buildings. The older Tudor and Georgia buildings have 32 guestrooms, whereas the new building has 61. Premium Room (above standard rooms) can be redeemed at the same cost, and I got one in the new building.
The room’s tone is dominated by blue and yellow, and measures just about 20sqm. The suites are not much bigger either at around 30sqm, but it is not unusual in Europe.
Ceramic tiles in the bathroom are the most shiny that I’ve ever seen and look quite expensive!
To be honest I’m surprised that they manage to squeeze a bathtub in. The bathroom is so small that there’s nowhere to place my washbag.
An Indigo perk: the minibar is completely free, including two bottles of water, two cans of coke, one sparkling wine and one lemonade. Safe to say that I’m drinking (or taking) them all…
A big trouble emerges when we are going to sleep. Soundproofing is terrible as we can hear our neighbour’s TV clearly. We have to phone the front desk to remind them.
Rooms in the new building are prefixed 1 or 2, and the old buildings with 3-7. Personally I prefer the new building – I can’t imagine how bad soundproofing is like in the old building.
Breakfast is complimentary for Diamond members, served at the Feasting Room. You can find all the buffet on one table:
An a-la-carte menu:
The eggs are tasty.
However compact the room is, the hotel has a lot of public space, with quite a few bars and lounges.
And even a private garden:
Regular checkout time is 11am. My late checkout is only extended till 12.30pm, which is understandable on a Saturday. Although soundproofing is a main issue, the hotel is really nice overall and I think it lives up to the #1 ranking on TripAdvisor.
Extension of IHG milestone rewards
IHG rolled out their milestone rewards in 2021 and there have been frictions in terms of implementing some of them, making them uneasy or even impractical to redeem. As a goodwill gesture IHG extended the expiry of the F&B rewards, but nothing was done to the confirmable suite upgrade ones.
As reported by a friend, followed by many others, you can apply for an extension of the CSUs through IHG’s customer service.
Give it a try if your CSU is due to expire soon. Note the language however – it is a “once-by-lifetime” extension, so only apply if you are sure about using it before it expires again.
My review of The Grand Hotel Eastbourne
Thanks to a generous promotion from Hyatt, I received a Category-4 free night voucher but it was only valid for 6 months. Hyatt has few properties in the UK. There are a handful of nice SLH properties but reward availability is difficult to find and many of of them are hard to travel to.
My persistence paid out eventually though, as I managed to book The Grand Eastbourne for the August bank holiday. The Grand Eastbourne is, to quote them, the finest 5 Star hotel by the sea in Sussex. I haven’t been to Eastbourne yet so it works out perfectly.
The hotel is 30-seconds’ walk from the beach, right next to the Ferris wheel and easy to find. The hotel is also known as “The White Palace”, and that name does justice. Compared to Brighton I find the urban plan much newer and prettier in Eastbourne.
We arrived at 1pm and the room was not ready yet. The sightseeing bus stop is just in front of the hotel, which brings you to the beautiful coast.
The hotel was purposely built in 1875. It’s maintained very well considering that history, and you barely see wear and tear anywhere.
Upon entering the lobby, there’s the Palm Court Strings restaurant on the left-hand side that serves afternoon tea.
And a lounge bar at the end of the hall.
The receptionist thanked me for being a World of Hyatt member. As it’s a bank holiday I wasn’t expecting any upgrade at all, and it really surprised me when they mentioned an upgrade to the sea-view room. The sea-view however, needs to be taken with a pinch of salt:
As a lowly Explorist I’m not really disappointed.
The room is up to the standard of an old five-star hotel, except for that tiny TV from the last century.
Nespresso machine and tea kettle:
I don’t like the single bed or the stiff mattress so much. The key holder looks classy:
World of Hyatt bookings all come with complimentary breakfast, served at the Garden Restaurant.
The buffet’s spread is quite limited and I don’t praise its quality either. I find the breakfast at UK five-star hotels below average in general.
We ordered the traditional breakfast, porridge and pancake from the menu, which are so-so.
There’s an outdoor swimming pool and it is heated – have to give the hotel some credits for this.
In addition there’s an indoor swimming pool, jacuzzi and steam room.
Gym:
In a word, The Grand Eastbourne is a decent five-star hotel that gives you a resort experience to some extent. If you have a World-of-Hyatt Cat 4 free night certificate to redeem, it is probably one of your best options in the UK.
Earn double IHG points in January 2024
You can now register for IHG’s new promotion which is valid for the January of 2024.
- Stay between January 1st and 31st
- Earn double points for all stays
It is quite straightforward and needs no further explanation. It’s not the most interesting promotion but there’s unlikely to be anything else on the table until February at least.
Red by Dufry Platinum upgrade via status match
This is an interesting and unusual status match opportunity. Red by Dufry is inviting many eligible members to match to their (top) Platinum status.
The offer’s landing page is here, which is hosted by statusmatch.com.
- You need to have qualifying elite status with a hotel or an airline
- If approved, you will be granted Platinum status for one year
- Application is free
- There’s no deadline currently
You can find qualifying programs and statuses here.
- For airlines, all elite tiers are included. For example BA Bronze and AF Silver are both accepted.
- For hotels, the lowest elite tiers are excluded. For example Hilton / Marriott Silver aren’t eligible, but Gold and Platinum are.
In summary the match is very easy, but to be honest I still don’t understand what the requalification criteria are – I barely used Red but was never downgraded from Platinum although it’s been a few years now.
Red by Dufry owns hundreds of duty-free airport stores all over the world, mainly in Europe and Americas. As a Platinum member you are entitled to 10% discount on your purchase, and you can also earn 1 Avios per £1 / €1 spent.
You also get free lounge access at Zurich and Basel airport.
New Marriott / Singapore partnership that fast tracks you to Star Alliance Gold (but with a catch)
Marriott Bonvoy has had long-standing partnerships with airlines including United and Emirates. A new name has just been added to the list – Singapore Airlines. You can view the promotion details and link your accounts here.
[Marriott Bonvoy]
- Gold: Two flights within six months for Krisflyer Silver
- Platinum and Above: instant Krisflyer Silver, and four flights within six months for Krisflyer Gold
- Booking class G and award tickets are excluded
Matched / upgraded status is valid for 12 months. As the challenge starts immediately once you’ve linked your accounts, wait till you have relevant flight plans.
One biggest catch is how a “flight” is defined. I’ve seen at least three response emails from SG already, and here’s one of them on China’s FlyerT forum:
In addition, a few data points concerning the ongoing Infinite Journey promotion they have with Shangri-La confirm that it is indeed based on bookings not segments. This is bad news as you can’t complete the challenge in one return trip of four flight segments.
(Update: we’ve now received a data point and a reader was upgraded after one PNR of four segments.)
If you are based in Singapore / Southeast Asia it is still relatively easy (and cheap).
There’s also a “hack” for European residents, as SQ has a fifth-freedom flight between Milan and Barcelona.
Four one-ways cost about €400 (with the discount offered by Trip.com). KrisFlyer Silver is next to useless. Krisflyer Gold however, gives you extensive benefits including priority check-in, extra baggage allowance and business lounge across the Star Alliance network.
[Singapore Krisflyer]
- Silver: stay three nights within 6 months for Marriott Silver
- Gold: instant Marriott Gold, and stay ten nights within 6 months for Marriott Platinum
If you are currently Marriott Platinum and above, you could complete the Krisflyer Gold challenge, and at some point link back for the Marriott Challenge, if they allow it.
[Shangri-La Circle]
In case you have Shangri-La Jade membership that’s due to expire, you should participate in the Infinite Journey promotion first if you haven’t done so already. Similarly you’ll get Krisflyer Silver and then need to fly three times in four months to upgrade to Gold.
After 12 months you could then re-do the challenge through Marriott’s offer – their terms explicitly say that previous status match promotions don’t preclude you from being eligible.