Home » Hotel Groups (Page 9)
Category Archives: Hotel Groups
Breaking: 15% IHG award nights globally
IHG has brought back its beloved award night sale, and you don’t wanna miss out!
Here’s what we’ve gathered so far:
- Book and stay from September 12th
- Stay by October 26
- 15% off all award night redemptions globally
For now it’s a “pre-sale” to select members (Diamond / credit card holders?) only, and will be rolled out to the public in a few days. We don’t know the book-by date yet.
You won’t see any discount in Europe or Americas yet, as the offer doesn’t kick in until midnight hotel’s local time. If you search hotels in Asia however, you can already see it:
Scandals are that IHG increases the redemption price at some properties soon after the sale starts, so you may want to lock in some reservations as soon as possible.
Book The Singapore Edition for only 40K points!
Marriott Bonvoy’s Edition brand is launching another location in Singapore, and they’ve now started to accept bookings from December onwards. It is a great opportunity to burn your Marriott points!
As you can see from the rate calendar, award nights in December starts at only 40,000 points.
Unfortunately the price climbs up quick from January to up to 70,000 points. However, as its cash price hovers around the 800 SGD mark (~$600), it still yields outsized value.
For the date I checked in December, the Edition costs only marginally more points than the Aloft and Courtyard. As Marriott has a dynamic pricing system in place, I’d suggest you to lock in the redemptions sooner than later if you have any travel plans.
IHG anniversary offer: 10K or triple points
IHG has been trying to diversify its bonus offer forms lately, and some people have received an incentive to celebrate their anniversary.
In this particular case the offer is sent to members who are having their 5-year anniversary with IHG. The bonus is 2,000 points per night, up to five times. You can try signing up here, but it is a very specific offer so I’d be surprised if you succeed.
There are two other variations:
- 1-year anniversary: 1,000 points per night, up to 10 nights
- 5- and 10-year anniversary: triple points for 90 days
Another offer that is triple bonus points for 90 days, is targeted at those with 10- and 15-year anniversary.
Meanwhile, IHG has been sending out reminders to update your birthday in the profile recently. The current birthday offer is 3,000 points for one stay, although it seems that not all people received it.
My review of Leeds Marriott Hotel
This is a quick review of the Leeds Marriott Hotel. I was half-way through my £100 off £300 Amex cashback offer and needed to find a participating Marriott property to fulfil the spend requirement. I didn’t want to travel far, and Leeds Marriott came to my attention.
The hotel sits in front of the Trevelyan Square. It is very close to the train station and Trinity shopping centre.
The lobby and restaurant:
I received an upgrade to an executive room on the top (sixth) floor, which is actually a corner room.
The room is bright with large windows on two sides of the walls.
Here’s the problem though: noise level here can be really bad. The rail tracks are 50-ish yards away. And as if that’s not enough, there are many bars and pubs just around the corner.
I complained the next morning and they moved me to a double-double room which is sort of interior facing. It is a lot better.
Set-up of the executive lounge is a bit strange. It’s like another boutique lobby inside the lobby area.
Presentations are nice, but it is a very small lounge. You can imagine it being very busy in the evening.
Soft drinks, fruits and coffee machine are available throughout the day.
Happy hour is hosted between 5.30pm and 7.30pm. Two hot dishes and a decent spread of canapes are on offer.
Breakfast in the main restaurant isn’t comp’ed, but you can have it in the executive lounge.
It is an average Marriott hotel you expect in this country, and there’s nothing particularly good or bad. If you are a light sleeper and sensitive to noises though it may not be for you.
Marriott Q3 promotion: 1,500 points per stay
Marriott has revealed their Q3 global promotion, which is called Go Your Way + Earn Bonus Points.
You can view the details and sign up here. Note that the registration hasn’t officially open yet, so don’t panic if you see an error. In summary:
- Register by November 22
- Stay between September 12 and December 6
- Earn 1,500 bonus points per eligible stay
- Earn 3,000 bonus points for every three brands stayed
As usual, certain brands including Marriott Executive Apartments and Homes & Villas are excluded. Only paid stays count – reward nights and free nights won’t.
Remember that Marriott hasn’t proactively offered any good incentives for a while, and in that context this offer is quite decent, especially for cheap one-night stays.
IHG’s new targeted 14K / 20K bonus points offer
This morning a reader reached out about an email he received, that contained a new targeted promotion.
You can (try to) sign up here.
- Book your paid stays by October 31
- Stay by December 31
- Earn 3,000 bonus points for each stay, up to 3 times
- Complete 3 stays for an additional 5,000 points
It is a very good offer, and there isn’t any minimum-stay requirement, which means it can be three one-night stays.
I have, on the other hand, received a different version of the offer.
- Stay between September 1 and October 10
- Stay 4 nights to earn 10,000 bonus points
- You can earn the bonus twice
It turns out there’s third version: stay 4 nights to earn 4 elite night credits, and the same rules apply as the offer above. This offer may come handy if you are aiming for the annual lounge pass milestone this year.
Hilton Q3 promotion: 2x or 3x points
Hilton has just revealed their offer for the rest of this year, and you can register here.
- Stay between September 6th and December 31st
- Earn triple base points at select destionations
- Earn double base points elsewhere
The full list of properties that are eligible for triple points can be found here. It is mainly capital and larger cities, and for the UK it seems to include only London and Manchester.
The list is a bit messy but the offer itself is rather straightforward, and if you are staying at a 3x-bonus property then the earning is quite generous. For reward stays unfortunately you won’t earn any bonus, unless base points are generated due to incidental spend.
My review of The Westin Excelsior Rome
I found myself a ridiculously cheap flight ticket from Rome to Abu Dhabi, and I took this chance to properly visit Rome for the first time. Being a major city in Europe, Rome hasn’t really established a massive portfolio of good hotels. Waldorf Astoria is maybe the only one that comes up in my mind, but it is quite far out of the city.
I booked the Westin in the end, which like many other hotels are situated in the Borghese Park area. It looks very close to the Spanish Steps, but the roads here are very hilly and crooked and it’s not as easy to walk around.
I arrived into the Rome Central station via Leonardo Express from the airport, and then it took me 15 minutes to walk to the hotel. The hotel has definitely seen better days, but it’s not as worn as I had feared.
I received a one-level upgrade to a Grand Deluxe room, which measures 40 square metres.
Premium wi-fi is chargeable, but waived for Platinum members upon check-out.
I chose breakfast as my welcome amenity.
There’s a swimming pool in the basement.
There’s an ice cream shop across the street called Neve di Latte that I highly recommend – I truly enjoyed my massive four scoops for only €5!
I wasn’t aware of the hotel’s atrocious 7.2 rating on booking.com until after I have completed my stay, but honestly speaking it doesn’t feel that awful. InterContinental Rome has opened its door recently, and I might try it out next time.