Free night voucher and 50% dining discount for joining Hyatt Gourmet Club in Germany
For some unknown reason, many of the mainstream hotel groups have dedicated dining schemes in Asia Pacific that offer great discounts, but not in other continents. Whilst staying at Hyatt Regency Cologne I found out that it exists for Hyatt hotels in Germany as well.
You can visit the Gourmet Club homepage here. There are six participating hotels:
- Grand Hyatt Berlin
- Hyatt Regency Cologne
- Hyatt Regency Mainz
- Park Hyatt Hamburg
- Hyatt Regency Dusseldorf
- Hyatt Place Frankfurt Airport
For €299 a year you enjoy the following benefits:
One Free Night Voucher
You get a complimentary night voucher for the hotel from whom you purchase the membership.
Dining Discount
When at least two people dine in participating restaurants, one complimentary meal is offered, which means 50% off for two, 33.3% off for three and 25% off for four etc. This works quite similarly to Accor Plus in Asia Pacific.
The discount can be redeemed up to 12 times in the membership year.
Room Discount
10% off at participating Hyatt hotels.
Free Bottle of Champagne
One SPA Day Pass
The free night voucher itself can be quite valuable already, as it costs typically €200+ to stay one night at Park Hyatt Hamburg or Grand Hyatt Berlin. If you plan to stay at any of these hotels and dine, the Gourmet Club could make sense even if it’s just for one-time use.
It’s also specified in the terms that all benefits are transferable. So in theory you can share the membership with your friends and family when they visit Germany.
IHG Europe offer: 10% off, £80 credit and room upgrade with Mastercard
IHG has historically teamed up with Mastercard to offer rate discounts in the EMEA region. A new offer has just turned up, in a new form though which may interest a different audience group.
You can access the offer page here. It’s basically Mastercard’s version of FHR for high-end IHG hotels – you need to be a Mastercard World / World Elite / Platinum / Black Edition cardholder, although I doubt IHG has a way to verify that. That said, in theory you do need to pay with a Mastercard.
The following benefits apply when you book a two-night minimum stay at participating hotel in UK and Europe:
- 10% off best flexible rate
- Room upgrade, subject to availability
- 10am check-in and 4pm checkout, subject to availability
- $100 credit per stay at Regent, InterContinental and Kimpton hotels
- $50 credit per stay at Hotel Indigo
One-night deposit is required however you can cancel free of charge up to 7 days in advance. Book and stay by June 30, 2022.
Here are some participating hotels with nightly rate examples:
- InterContinental London Park Lane £332
- Kimpton Fitzroy £219
- Hotel Indigo Kensington £126
- Hotel Indigo Birmingham £156
- Kimpton Manchester Clocktower £175
- InterContinental Edinburgh the George £235
- Hotel Indigo Berlin Centre Alexanderplatz €99
- Hotel Indigo Paris Opera €250
- Kimpton De Witt Amsterdam €189
- Hotel Indigo Madrid Princesa €103
- InterContinental Lisbon €211
The benefits look quite similar to IHG’s Luxury and Lifestyle program, with some pros and cons:
+ 10% discount
+ Greater range of hotels included, especially mid-level Hotel Indigos
– Minimum 2-night stay requirement
– No breakfast included
– Less generous cancellation policy
With room upgrade and early check-in / late check-out thrown in, I think it can be good value if you have no IHG status. In terms of the $100 / $50 credit, make sure you compare the Advance Saver or other promo rates to understand what value they really have.
Other IHG offers:
- Save 20% on IHG hotel bookings with Railcard
- IHG Europe offer: 10% off, £80 credit and room upgrade with Mastercard
- IHG Luxury & Lifestyle: 3-for-2, $100 credit, breakfast, room upgrade and more
Travel business class from US to France and Caribbean for only 34,500 miles
I wrote an article to talk about the boomerang tricks for redeeming Flying Blue miles. Basically Flying Blue’s redemption chart is zone-based, and the pricing doesn’t change even if your interchange airport is out of the zone.
A reader just approached me about an interesting itinerary he found:
Instead of flying directly from Seattle to St Marin in the Caribbean, you can do it the long way by stopping over at Paris first. The flight time will be MUCH longer, however you get to travel in business class with both Delta and Air France. Even better, you only pay 34,500 miles plus €183 in fees which is dirt cheap!
As I mentioned, this is because the pricing is based on your departure / destination and Paris doesn’t play a role here. You can also book SXM-CDG-SEA the same way but surcharges will be much higher.
You may be able to use this itinerary to just travel to Paris (cheaply) and drop the second leg. If you are handbag only there shouldn’t be any problem, otherwise make sure there’s a long transit time so you can convince the airport agent not to check through your luggage to the final destination. Also beware that if you do this too often, you may be on Flying Blue’s radar and get into trouble.
Unfortunately the max stopover time is 24 hours so you can’t really break the itinerary into two proper trips. However, if you are very keen on going back to travel after having been trapped home for the last year, this can be an attractive deal.
IHG UK & Europe 34% off Sale
Lacking in creativity, IHG has resurrected its 3-for-2 sale for UK and Europe hotel stays.
You could access the offer page here.
- Book by 30 April
- Stay by 31 May
- The Special Night on Us rate is 34% off the best flexible rate
- A non-refundable first night deposit is required
- Date is amendable up to 48 hours before the stay
Here are some London examples (rate per night):
- InterContinental London Park Lane £208
- Kimpton Fitzroy £157
- Crowne Plaza London the City £76
- Crowne Plaza Kings Cross £60
- Crowne Plaza London Kensington £76
- Hotel Indigo Paddington £67
- Holiday Inn Regents Park £65
- Holiday Inn Express Vauxhall Nine Elms £46
- Holiday Inn Express Hammersmith £40
It’s a bit weird that IHG still wants a deposit for your reservations given the current climate.
Remember to register to the 2,000 bonus points for every two nights promotion, and if you are eligible for the Milestone Bonus you can earn even more.
IHG 3-for-2 UK & Europe Sale
IHG has launched a new Night On Us sale in UK & Europe – well, “launch” isn’t the correct word, as similar deals have been coming round in the last six months or so.
- Book by 31 December
- Stay by 31 March, 2021
- A minimum stay of three nights is required
- Enjoy 34% off the Best Flexible Rate
- Non-refundable first-night deposit is required
- Changeable up to 48 hours before arrival
And here are some rates I found in London (per night):
- InterContinental London Park Lane £175
- InterContinental London The O2 £93
- Crowne Plaza Kings Cross £56
- Crowne Plaza London Kensington £76
- Hotel Indigo Paddington £69
- Holiday Inn Regents Park £60
- Holiday Inn Express Hammersmith £29
Some of the rates are quite good. However, beware that there’s a non-refundable deposit for the booking, so make sure your trip is going ahead before reserving anything.
Instant Platinum status for Red by Dufry
(This promotion has expired but there’s an alternative)
Red by Dufry is a membership programme for duty-free shoppers. They are running a promotion at the moment which elevates you to the top-tier immediately.
To participate, simply download their app and create an account if you don’t have one (you can also sign up online here). Once you’re logged in, click My Profile and you’ll see a place to enter promo code – use REDPLATSMART0821.
You may need to log out and then back in to see your status updated. I’m not sure how long the Platinum status is valid for.
One of the best Platinum benefits was $10 for a Dragonpass single entry, which unfortunately has been discontinued and all members have to pay a flat $27 now.
However, you can still enjoy 10% off at Dufry shops – this includes World Duty Free shops at Heathrow and many other airports globally.
Double Accor points for Europe stays
Accor has launched a good rewards offer for hotel stays if you intend to travel in the next month.
You can sign up to the offer here.
- Book by 8 January
- Stay by 10 January
- Your stay(s) will earn double reward points
Note that you must register before making the booking, and the stay must be in one of the following countries: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bosnia And Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Republic Of Macedonia, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Accor is terrible in writing terms & conditions, and in following them. In the t&c it sounds like the offer may only be valid only once, however I won’t be surprised if it’s valid every time instead.
Back in stock – Heavily discounted Melia points vouchers
We wrote about the dirt-cheap Melia points vouchers on Amazon a couple of weeks ago, which sold out very quickly. They are back online finally, at the same very reasonable price.
The link on Amazon UK is here. You can buy 55,000 points for £161 (0.29p per point) and delivery will take place in approximately two weeks.
The link on Amazon DE is here. You can buy 55,000 points for €179 (0.29p per points) and it’s currently in stock so shipping will be faster. However there’s a four euro charge to post to a UK address.
There points behave like normal Melia points (12-month rolling expiry, convertible to miles / Avios). I’ve written a lot about the valuation of Melia points so won’t elaborate here, but I genuinely think it’s a great deal.