IHG Cyber Monday: 10k points for every two nights
As we have revealed earlier, IHG has now started their lucrative Cyber Monday offer.
The offer page is here, and you can register here.
- Book on November 28 and 29
- Stay by December 31
- Earn 10,000 bonus points for every two qualifying nights
A qualifying night is a paid reservation booked via official IHG channels and the nightly rate should exceed $30. It is a great offer, especially considering that it could stack with the current global promotion, which means you earn 30,000 bonus points for every four nights stayed.
There are two other Cyber Monday offers:
Up to 25% off select catalogue items. However it is still one of the worst ways to spend your IHG points.
25% off Points & Cash bookings:
- Book by December 2
- Say in January & February
- 25% off the cash component of Points & Cash bookings
As we’ve discussed many times, such sales present an opportunity to buy cheap IHG points. In theory it could be as low as 0.42c per point this time, but the usual suspects (InterContinental hotels in Macau) are not open for reservations.
(UPDATE: the following hotels may be available on certain dates:
- Holiday Inn Express Tianjin Airport East 0.46c
- Holiday Inn Express Preston South 0.45c Feb 27
- Holiday Inn Warsaw City Centre 0.46c Jan 21
- Holiday Inn ANA Sendai 0.43c Feb 23
Try other dates if the cheap rate isn’t available anymore on the specified date.)
My review of Air Serbia Premium Lounge, Belgrade
My flight back to London departs at 10.20am, but I wanna review the Air Serbia Premium Lounge so got in quite early.
As you can imagine, Belgrade airport is fairly small and it has only two lounges: the Business Club which is used by the majority of the airlines except Air Serbia, and accepts Priority Pass.
The Air Serbia Premium Lounge is about 10 metres away. admitting the following passengers:
- Business class
- Etihad Guest elites
- Priority Pass
- Economy Comfort, under a current promotion
Economy class booked using miles falls into the Comfort category and thus is eligible for complimentary access to the lounge. As they accept Priority Pass however, gaining access shouldn’t be a problem anyway.
The lounge is separated by a wall with the business area on the left:
And dining area on the right:
There’s a fancy VIP room which is by reservation only.
In terms of food options there’s a decent breakfast spread:
There’s only bottled water in the fridge though. For anything else including soft drinks you’ll need to request it from the bar.
The bathroom is posher than the rest of the lounge. There is a shower room you could use to refresh yourself.
As it’s the flagship (and only) lounge of Serbia’s national carrier, I had high expectations and can’t lie about being disappointed. It’s so tiny to start with and has no natural light, and I’ve been to many independent airport lounges (especially the Plaza Premium lounges) that are better. Anyhow the food is decent and they’ve got a shower room, so feel free to stop by for a bit before your flight but it’s not worth too much of your time.
Buy one get one free – Expedia £30 Black Friday offer for a hotel booking
Expedia used to run ludicrous Black Friday offers, for example 50% off and $500 coupon discount etc. The good old days are gone, but Expedia UK still has an interesting promotion for this year.
- Book by November 28
- Stay by March 31
- Earn £30 in bonus points for a hotel booking
Remember that you must be an Expedia member and activate the promotion first. Terms are opaque, but you will see the 3,000 bonus points on the checkout page if your booking is eligible:
From what I see, you need to spend minimum £31 to earn the bonus. It can be any hotel in any country across the Expedia UK website.
Expedia Rewards points can be easily redeemed against your future hotel or flight booking, so it’s almost like cash if you don’t mind using them. For a cheap hotel booking you are paying £30-ish to get £30 back in points, which is almost buy-one-get-one-free.
Save an additional 20% at UK Kimpton hotels
This year’s Black Friday is a bit of a lacklustre and nothing got me really excited. However, if you live in the UK and is an IHG fan, there is a Kimpton deal that could be useful.
Three Kimpton hotels in the UK are promoting their gift vouchers:
- Kimpton London Fitzroy promo code KFL20
- Kimpton Manchester Clocktower promo code KCT20
- Kimpton Edinburgh Charlotte Square promo code KCL20
You get 20% discount on all vouchers. What I recommend is to buy the Monetary Gift Vouchers, which can be redeemed for accommodation or dining at the respective hotel. If you book via IHG you should still be able to use the voucher, as long as it’s a pay-at-hotel rate, not prepaid.
It should work in addition to whatever discount rate you book on ihg.com, for example the BOGOF voucher via InterContinental Ambassador. Also IHG has an exciting offer coming up this Cyber Monday.
Note that the voucher is valid for 12 months, and must be redeemed in full so choose the value carefully.
My review of Hotel Indigo Belgrade
Having stayed two nights at the very tired Metropol Palace, I needed some fresh air and thus moved to the Hotel Indigo, which opened in October 2021. It is very centrally located in the shopping district, neighbouring a Courtyard and a Radisson Individual hotel.
Unlike most hotels it’s not at the storefront. There is a small entrance that leads to an alley, where there’s an elevator that takes you to the lobby of the hotel. This is a very unique feature, and kind of isolating the hotel from the busy crowd outside.
The art pieces, paintings and other decorations are so beautiful. It feels more like a Kimpton than an Indigo in my opinion.
You can have a drink at the rooftop terrace.
My reservation was upgraded to Premium the second day, then to Queen Suite one week before but then downgraded to Premium again before my arrival. The hotel has only one suite, so not sure if it was booked or upgraded for someone else.
However, my Premium room more than does its job already. Unfortunately I can already see some wear and tear, but overall it’s a very clean, comfy and functioning room.
Unlike the Indigos that I’ve visited in the UK, minibar here isn’t free (or cheap). There’s a supermarket right in front of the hotel so I suggest to top up there.
The hotel restaurant, on the other hand, is very reasonably priced and I had a simple dinner here.
Breakfast is free for Diamond members, which otherwise would cost €15 per person. The spread may not be the richest, but it’s carefully curated and food quality is excellent.
You can order one item from the menu for free too.
The hotel is pretty small but still has a gym.
They also reserved a taxi to the airport for me, which cost only 1800 dinars by metre. I am very satisfied with my two-night stay and can highly recommend Hotel Indigo Belgrade if you visit the city. From what I learned the Courtyard has a similar vibe, but obviously if club lounge and swimming pool are important to you, you need to look elsewhere.
IHG Cyber Sale preview: 10K bonus points for every two nights
IHG has just sent out an email hinting on an upcoming Cyber Monday Sale, referring to it as the biggest member event.
Although we don’t know anything about 2 & 3 yet, details on the first mystery offer has already been revealed on InterContinental Perth’s offer page.
- Book between November 28 and December 2
- Stay by February 28
- Enjoy 10% discount, and earn 10,000 bonus points for every two nights stayed
It is in line with other allegedly leaked information that I saw earlier, although the booking window spans across 5 days which is inconsistent with what the email suggests. My speculation is, the five day window is for the 10% discount, whereas the bonus points offer has a shorter booking window, presumably November 28 and 29.
(UPDATE: I just saw a screenshot of the 10k offer registration page:
- Booking window: November 28 – 29
- Stay by: December 31)
It should stack with the other ongoing global promotion, which means you’ll earn 30,000 bonus points for every four nights stayed!
Book St Regis Marsa Arabia Island Doha’s premium suite for 31,000 points
World Cup is happening in Qatar, and although I don’t follow football at all some interesting articles have surfaced recently about what new hotels have opened, and which hotel each team is staying etc. I did a bit research myself, and it turns out that Doha has become a great location for a bargain holiday in luxury hotels, by using points of course.
The outstanding property is the new St Regis Marsa Arabia Island, The Pearl Qatar.
It is a brand new hotel set to open its doors in December. It occupies a private island, owns a private beach and has seven restaurants for dining. Most importantly, it’s an all-suite hotel which means you never need to worry about being trapped in a small room even if no upgrade is provided.
Ready for some even better news? Premium Suite, which is two-level above the entry-level suite, is available for redemption for the same price.
The suite measures 122 sqm, with sea view and a terrace. It’s retail price is roughly 3,600 QAR (£837) a night, whereas for the Christmas period redemption costs only 37,000 points. It gets to as low as 31,000 points on some January dates. It is no doubt one of the best Marriott redemptions in the world – at least for now, as with Marriott’s dynamic redemption system the price could shoot up drastically any time.
There are a couple of more Marriott hotels worth mentioning:
- Le Royal Meridien Doha – new hotel in the West Bay, costing only 20,000 points a night or lower
- Ritz Carlton Doha – all room types including suite are available for redemption. Club Room (with lounge access) costs 44,000 points or 28,000 points + 300 QAR, great value if you are looking for an all-inclusive stay
Batch search Cathay Pacific’s award availability
Cathay Pacific is a reputable airline and Hong Kong is an important hub when people visit Asia from Europe or the States. As Cathay is an Oneworld member, you can book their award tickets using BA Avios or Alaska miles, but as with most airlines the availability is much thinner compared to booking with Cathay directly.
Having been laid off by Twitter, I suddenly have a lot of free time to kill, and decided to go back to China despite the still ongoing quarantine policy. Transiting via Hong Kong is the most economical choice, and in terms of direct flight only Cathay Pacific is operating at the moment.
I still have 200k+ Avios surplus in my account but finding Cathay availability especially in business class is very difficult. Therefore I’m switching to Cathay instead, as they are an American Express Membership Rewards transfer partner and I have a lot of points to spend too!
Cathay Pacific upgraded their website recently and searching for award availability is no longer trivial, as there isn’t a straightforward calendar view of some sort. To facilitate your search, I recommend using a Chrome add-on developed by @jaytw from Taiwan, as it has helped me a lot for booking my flight ticket.
@jaytw has explained his work in this flyertalk post. If it’s still unclear, here are the steps:
- Download the Tampermonkey Chrome plugin which allows you to run client-side scripts
- Install Cathay Award Search Fixer
- Visit Cathay’s award search page and log in
- You’ll see an Unelevated Award Search box
Using this new tool, you can batch search award availability for a 20-day window, and different cabin / transit options are all displayed.
It is a lot easier than having to click through various dates or even perform multiple searches.
I found my LHR-HKG flight and transferred my US Amex MR points to Cathay which arrived instantly. UK Amex MR is also a partner but if I remember correctly the transfer takes a few days.
Here’s a reminder how much Cathay’s LHR-HKG in business class costs:
- Cathay Pacific: 65,000 miles + £360
- BA Avios: 92,500 Avios + £360
- Alaska Mileage Plan: 42,500 miles + $298
Alaska’s cost is the lowest, but it’s not an Amex MR transfer partner, and its access to Cathay’s award inventory is limited just like BA.