Priority Pass & China Southern partnership, plus a 35% off deal
Just like all other companies in the travel industry, Priority Pass has suffered a great deal in the last year or so. In addition to the possible revenue loss, they have also lost the contract with Plaza Premium, although the latter has opted to maintain its ties with DragonPass and American Express.
It was a huge blow to Priority Pass, however it didn’t stop them from expanding aggressively since the beginning of 2021 – their goal is to add 150 locations globally this year, which from the look of it is an underestimate.
In the latest development, Priority Pass stroke an impressive deal with China Southern, which opens the doors to more than 40 CZ lounges across China including some of its main hubs. Due to the slow recovery of travel globally, we may see more of such deals coming our way in the near future.
On a more relevant note, Priority Pass is running a pretty good sale at the moment.
Let’s focus on the Standard Plus membership, which grants you 10 visits to any Priority Pass lounges within the next year, for the price of £122. This is the best deal they’ve done in the history, if I remember correctly.
If you don’t have a free Priority Pass or LoungeKey card via credit card agreements, it may be well worth considering. You can bring any number of guests with you using your visit quota, but again remember they are only valid for a year.
Promo codes: Bolt, Uber Eats, Deliveroo, Bolt & More
Just sharing a few taxi and food delivery deals 🙂 Note that some codes may be targeted so they don’t work on all accounts. For more referral codes please check out this page.
(more…)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 vouchers from Amazon Music Unlimited and Mastercard
A couple of more offers from Amazon today.
First up is a new incentive for joining Amazon Music Unlimited. If you are eligible (haven’t signed up to the Unlimited service recently), you are entitled to a £5 Amazon voucher if signing up to a 30-day free trial. The offer ends August 4, and remember to cancel your subscription if you don’t want to pay after 30 days.
And a joint offer from Amazon and Mastercard. If eligible you’ll receive a £10 promotional voucher once you’ve switched your 1-click setting to a Mastercard. There’s no code needed and it’ll apply to your next purchase automatically.
Amazon offer: £5 or £10 off a £25 order
I was going to write about a new generous Amazon Fresh offer but somehow the landing page isn’t showing for me anymore so no idea if it’s still working. Just now I found another two offers which may be more interesting.
There are two variants of the offer:
- £10 off £25 spend promo code DISCOUNT10P
- £5 off £25 spend promo code DISCOUNT5P
If eligible, enter the promo code at checkout for a basket value of at least £25 to enjoy the discount. Usual rules apply which means only items sold and fulfilled by Amazon count and Amazon devices are excluded.
It says I’m not eligible on the £5 offer page and nothing on the £10 offer page. I tried to add something to my basket, and DISCOUNT10P indeed works:
Act fast though – the offer only runs until July 13 and there appears to be a limit of 5,000 uses per code.
My review of Andaz London Liverpool Street
I’ve never set foot in any Hyatt hotel in my life, largely due to their poor footprint in UK and Europe. However I spotted an awesome deal from the Andaz London hotel, and decided to have a staycation in east London for a few days!
The rate I booked was Hyatt Prive with complimentary third night. For three nights in a King Deluxe room I paid a more-than-reasonable £340, reduced further to £240 thanks to the Amex Hyatt cashback deal. The rate also comes with free breakfast, $100 dining credit and room upgrade, which is very useful since I obviously have no status with Hyatt.
Being the first Andaz hotel in the world, the property is formerly the Great Eastern hotel dated back to 1884. It is just around of the corner of the Liverpool Street station, so transport connection is not a problem. There are also many dining options and shopping outlets in proximity, although the location may be not ideal for tourist purposes.
At check-in I’m told that room upgrade is not included in the rate, which is definitely a lie but I don’t really bother that much. In the meantime they actually honour a credit of £100 instead of $100, which is to our advantage.
I’ve had great troubles with the rooms though. This is the first room I’m given:
The room is in perfect cubic shape, of a very decent size by London standard. It feels more business than leisure for sure, but not necessarily cold or monochrome. The floor lamp is very funky.
Mini-bar is free to all hotel guests. Its content include mineral water, juice and Coca-Cola.
But so much for the good things. Long story short, I had change room twice because:
- Many rooms have no drape, but only blinds. It’s impossible not to be waken up by the early sun.
- The air conditioning unit outside my first room has water leak which leads to noises that prevents me from sleeping
There are some other teething issues but I’m not going to dwell upon them.
This is a floor plan of the building:
As you can see, there are more rooms on the outer circle which also tend to be larger. However the noise level is also higher, plus due to design one wall inclines inward which can be a big nuisance if it’s next to your shower.
I finally got a room on the inner circle, which is larger than the original and features a sofa and a bathtub.
Let’ talk about food then. I was amazed to learn that the hotel has as many as five eating outlets, all of which have opened with the exception of Wine 1901. Average dining cost is about £20 to £25 per person, and during my stay I’ve got a chance to try them all.
Eastway Brasserie
It was the only open one on Sunday evening, which is a pub next to the hotel’s main hall. I ordered a Wagyu steak which has a surprisingly low price tag of £13, and it’s ok.
Lady Abercorn’s Pub & Kitchen
A smaller pub which specialises in drinks and nibbles, with exotic recipes from South Korea, Indonesia and India. My chorizo rolls and buffalo wings are very tasty, and I really like the service and vibes here.
Miyako
A Japanese restaurant, and I generally prefer Asian cuisine. Unfortunately my sushi and ramen are well below expectations, and Miyako has to be my least favourite on-site restaurants.
Rake’s Café Bar
I didn’t dine in this Italian restaurant, but had breakfast here every day. I have to say that breakfast is the biggest highlight of my entire stay.
It’s fully a-la-carte with an extensive menu, varying from Full English and its vegan version, Eggs Benedict, Shakshuka Eggs (very rarely seen in a UK hotel), pancakes and porridges etc. You could easily eat here for a week without repeating the same breakfast.
Both presentation and food quality are great.
There is a daily social hour between 7pm and 8pm. All hotel guests can enjoy a free glass of wine with some snacks from the Miyako restaurant.
I was given a bottle of red wine to say sorry about the troubles I had with my rooms. All hotel staff I interacted with after the incident were already informed about it, and I was made sure that the preferences had been added to my profile to prevent such things from happening should I stay in the future.
I can’t say it’s a great stay, and I will stick to IHG, Marriott and Hilton for my future stays unless there’s another great deal with Hyatt.
You can now walk in for the second Covid vaccine dose
I just had my second covid jab today and think it’d be useful to many if I share the new information here. Well it’s not strictly travel-related, but as we believe that fully-vaccinated travellers will not need to self-isolate upon returning from Amber countries soon, you may want to get the second dose as soon as possible if you are keen on international travel.
Firstly, you can now book your second appointment with 7-week gap on NHS’s website, as opposed to the original 10-weekish. If you have a previous booking, you may want to cancel and rebook for a nearer appointment.
Secondly, a lot of the mass vaccination centres are now accepting walk-ins. From the experience of myself and some friends:
- Wembley Park Olympic Way As it is very close to where I live, I’ve been visiting and asking from time to time. Last week I was still told they were appointment-only, but when I tried again today they said yes. Anyone who’s had their first AstraZenica or Pfizer vaccine with a minimum gap of 4 weeks is now welcome.
- Central Middlesex Hospital Another vaccine centre in my proximity. A friend of mine had his second shot last week, and it seems that they take walk-ins every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.
- Novotel Hammersmith A friend walked in last night.
- Ealing CP House A friend walked in this morning, although the receptionist wasn’t very happy and asked them multiple questions before letting them in finally.
- Marble Arch It seems that they’ve begun the walk-in trial since a while ago, and a friend had his jab on Saturday. I tried on Tuesday though and was told for second dose they could only do AstraZeneca.
Hope it helps. The situation can change every day of course, so if there’s a vaccination centre near you it may be worth asking around.
Apart from the mass vaccination centres, there are also mass vaccination event days from time to time, where they aim to accommodate many walk-ins on a single day. There was such an event in Brent last Saturday for example, therefore you should also watch the space on your council’s website.
My review of Hotel Indigo Manchester and a very good £69 deal
I have just finished my one-night stay at Hotel Indigo Manchester earlier this week. I wasn’t too sure about writing a review as it’s probably not of great interest, but after seeing a very good deal on Groupon I’ve decided to do a brief one.
Situated next to the Manchester Victoria station, the hotel is in an original Grade-II listed Victorian building. You may have seen its photo:
But actually it’s slightly misleading. The majority of rooms are actually in the new annex building, which is as high as 13 floors. The reception, restaurant and limited number of superior rooms and suites are in the Victorian building.
I booked an IHG Lifestyle rate plan as I’ve explained before. At BFR (£80) it comes with 2pm late checkout, room upgrade, welcome fruits and most importantly, $50 credit to spend in hotel. I do expect a lot of confusions though, as I suspect I might be the first guest who books this rate at this hotel!
My Double Standard room is upgraded to a King Standard on the 11th floor in the new rotunda. As you can see the shape is a bit unusual:
Its design meets my expectation for an Indigo: modern cosy style with warm colours, and limited furnishing to make the room look more spacious. It’s not gonna be comfortable if you need to spend a lot of time on the work desk.
The floor-to-ceiling window is very nice. Despite of its proximity to Victoria station, I heard literally zero noise throughout my stay.
Here is the free minibar…
Breakfast is £14.95 and all food is cooked to order.
To use my credit I also had a burger for dinner.
Unsurprisingly none of the front desk staff knew anything about IHG Lifestyle, and it took a lot of explanation and I had to send them the screenshot of my reservation details. Apart from that it’s been a pleasant stay.
If you also want to visit this hotel, there’s a very good deal on Groupon which you could access here. It’s for a “Top Secret Hotel in Manchester”, but from the photos I’m 100% sure it’s the Indigo.
You could book and get confirmation right away. There are three room types available: Standard Double, Standard King and Superior. For most dates the rates are £69, £89 and £99 respectively, and on Saturdays they increase to £99, £109 and £129. All rates are inclusive of breakfast.
£69 plus breakfast is roughly the same value as my IHG Lifestyle package. I don’t recommend booking Standard King as the only difference is a larger bed. If you prefer to stay in the old Victorian building you could consider going for the Superior Room.
Travel until end of 2021 and bookings are refundable 48 hours before arrival.