Accor promotion: Europe 500 points and China triple points
Accor is committed to a green initiative at select European properties, and is giving its members an incentive to stay with them by offering bonus points.
You can sign up to the offer here.
- Book by September 15
- Stay between August 15 and October 15
- Minimum two night stay
- Earn 500 bonus points per stay, up to three times
500 bonus points is equivalent to €10 when redeeming at Accor hotels. The page has a link to the list of participating hotels, which appears to be mostly Ibis, Novotel and Mercure in the UK and other European countries.
There’s an offer for Accor hotels in Greater China too.
- Register by October 9
- Book and stay by October 10
- Earn triple points for all stays up to 5 nights
My review of St Ermin’s Hotel, London
I doubt I can make Marriott Titanium this year, but I’m just a couple of nights short of Platinum. Having already stayed at numerous Marriott properties in London I want to add one more to my collection, and St Ermins stands out after I’ve checked some reviews.
The hotel is just one block away from the St James Park tube station, and thus fairly close to the Conrad London hotel. On the one hand it’s a really quiet neighbourhood, on the other hand it’s only a few minutes from the London Eye and Buckingham Palace. I’m visiting Tate Britain in the afternoon, which is also nearby.
The hotel entrance is lightened by a small but beautiful courtyard garden.
The lobby doesn’t look bad either. The front desk is very friendly, keeps checking if I have any request. My room isn’t ready yet at 12pm so I left my bags with the concierge.
Reports say that their standard rooms are tiny. My Suite Night Upgrade cleared a couple of days before my stay for the best suite of the hotel. It’s good, but nothing spectacular I’m afraid.
Door to the small balcony is locked, but I guess you can ask the staff to open it.
The bedroom is cosy.
Bathroom looks nice although a bit tired as well.
The rain shower is controlled by a digital panel.
Breakfast is complimentary to Titanium members, and you can choose 1,000 points or $10 credit on top.
It’s mainly buffet but I think there are some egg dishes you can order as well. The selection and quality are mediocre.
Gym:
Given what I read online and that I used a SNU award, I had high expectations and I can’t stay the hotel stands up to it. It’s a bit disappointing especially considering what SNU got me at the Marriott County Hall hotel. If you would like to stay in this area, I think the Conrad is a better choice.
New great Radisson hotel redemptions in Blackpool and Inverness
Radisson’s hands have been pretty tied by all the administration stuff. First the program split between the Americas and the rest of the world, then full-on chaos involving both programs, and now the Americas program is being sold to Choice.
Given what’s going on, I thought the program had stopped expanding. Well I’m obviously wrong, as Radisson is now running a promotion for new hotels and there are a few of them.
You can register for the offer here. Stay two nights or more at participating new hotels in the first six months of its opening to earn 2,000 bonus points.
More importantly, I’ve noticed some new UK hotels which could be good to redeem points on.
- Blackpool FC Stadium Hotel 15,000 points
- River Ness Hotel 45,000 points
- Radisson RED London Greenwich The O2 60,000 points
Remember that if you have the Amex Gold or Platinum card, you could transfer Membership Rewards points to Radisson Rewards at the ratio of 1:3.
The Radisson Red O2 hotel isn’t cheap at 60K, although it might make sense if you are attending an evening event in the arena.
The other two properties are more interesting: neither Blackpool or Inverness are sufficiently represented by international hotel chains, and Radisson may be a game changer here. Both reward night prices are very reasonable.
See also:
Good Wyndham promotion: stay four nights and earn 21,500 points
Just like Best Western, Wyndham is an unpopular hotel chain and loyal program due to the lack of aspiration properties and meaningful member benefits.
Unlike Best Western, Wyndham runs a lot of ludicrous promotions, and when stacked they can generate a huge amount of bonus points after just a couple stays. Using them wisely you can build up your Wyndham Rewards balance very quickly and earn a lot of free nights.
There are two offers that you can benefit from at the moment.
Stay Twice & Earn a Free Night
- Book by September 2
- Stay by September 6
- Stay twice to earn 7,500 points
- Redeemable twice
- Book by August 14 on the mobile app or a mobile browser
- Stay once by September 30
- Stay three nights to earn 14,000 points, or two nights to earn 7,500 points
- Redeemable once
I believe only paid stays count. The second promotion is titled Travel to Europe and is advertised as a Shell gift card offer. However both are misleading – there’s no region restrictions and you just earn bonus Wyndham points which you don’t have to convert to Shell gift cards.
If you stay twice (3 nights + 1 night) you should earn 7,500 + 14,000 = 21,500 bonus points. With Wyndham Rewards a free night starts at 7,500 points, which means that’s almost enough for three free nights at their lower-end properties.
My review of Great Northern Hotel, London
Marriott has a “Spend £200 get £75 back” offer with Amex, and I thought it would be a shame not to use it. I decided to spend one night at the Great Northern Hotel in the end.
It is part of the Tribute Portfolio, which was brought to Marriott by the SPG merger. I doubt Marriott has given the brand any thought since, as its footprint is barely growing at all. The only other hotel that I’ve stayed at is the Abbey Hotel at Bath. In my opinion Tribute should probably just be absorbed into the Autograph Collection.
The hotel is very well located as an annex to the Kings Cross station. Although not super central, Kings Cross has arguably the best transport links within London. You may consider staying here before taking the Eurostar.
The hotel doesn’t look so Great when compared to the Renaissance across the street.
Walking through the tiny entrance, turn left for the guest rooms and right for the reception.
The lobby is pretty micro too.
Jokes aside, the hotel does look very new and fresh, which gives a totally different (and maybe better) vibe than the Renaissance. The lift looks like an infinite mirror room.
I’ve received a double upgrade to an Edwardian King Room, High Floor. As far as remember there isn’t much difference between their room types though.
The room feels simple but cosy.
Being on the top floor isn’t necessarily a good thing, since the pitched roof confines the space even further. You can see the St Pancras station through the window.
Actually the hotel isn’t particularly small, but somehow they don’t even have a gym, let alone a swimming pool. I guess it’s due to it being a railway hotel.
Titanium members can choose breakfast as a welcome amenity. It’s fully a la carte and the food is quite good.
There is a Club Lounge on each floor – well that’s how I call them 😉, they are actually just pantry rooms with a coffee machine, some fruits and cookies.
In a word, the hotel is decent, but also inevitably dwarfed by the Renaissance St Pancras Hotel next door. If you want to stay at a Marriott hotel in the area, I’d definitely recommend the latter just for the experience.
New IHG promo? Heavy discount on reward nights
It appears that a new IHG promotion has just come live.
I’m expecting an announcement from IHG soon, but here’s what I find:
- Available from October and runs through 2022 and 2023
- Not all hotels / all dates are available
- Fixed reward night pricing for participating properties by brand:
- Kimpton – 45,000 points
- Regent / InterContinental – 35,000 points ~ 45,000 points
- Voco / Even / Hotel Indigo – 30,000 points
- Crowne Plaza – 25,000 points
- Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express – 20,000 points
Needless to say it’s most worthy of spending your points ta Kimpton, Regent and InterContinental hotels. The InterContinentals at London and Amsterdam cost 40,000 points per night:
The ones at Maldives and Bora Bora are even cheaper at 35,000 points:
I don’t have any travel plans at the moment, but might as well make some speculative bookings just in case.
Free cocktail monthly at Shangri-La restaurants
Back in 2020, Marriott started the concept of monthly member day in China, and it didn’t take long for Hyatt and IHG to follow suit. Shangri-La has finally joined the party too, and also expanded the idea globally.
The monthly event is called Six Times The Fun, and you can read more on their offer page. It’s mostly about exclusive hotel packages that offer breakfast and dining credit etc, which also earns you 6x Golden Circle points. More interestingly, all Shangri-La Circle members can have a freebie each month.
You can read about This Round is on Us here. Basically you can enjoy one complimentary cocktail at participating Shangri-La restaurants and bars on the 6th of every month.
There are about 20 restaurants available, which isn’t many. However, the Ting Lounge at Shangri-La London is included.
I don’t think you need an accompanying meal to redeem the free cocktail, but for many venues, including the Ting Lounge, mandatory reservation is required to attend.
This is not a life-changing benefit, but if you’ve got Circle points or vouchers you may turn up in one of the restaurants anyway. I just used my voucher towards an afternoon tea in the Ting restaurant recently, and a free cocktail wouldn’t hurt.
My review of Kimpton Clocktower, Manchester
(08/2022 Update – just had a second stay here)
I was visiting Manchester again, and although I didn’t intend to stay at the Kimpton again, it’s very cheap using the Ambassador BOGOF voucher (£125 for two nights) so I decided to give it another try.
The current social password Stay Cool surprises with me a postcard, oh well…
The room I’ve got this time is on the 3rd floor. Although not as big as last time, it feels so much better – refreshed furniture, bright daylight from the massive windows, and very high ceiling.
Social Hour is hosted 6-7pm on weekdays and 5-6pm on weekends. There’s a nice selection of drinks.
Diamond members can choose breakfast as their welcome amenity, which is served in the Refuge bar.
It’s mainly buffet, but with a few cook-to-order options too.
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(Originally posted 07/2021)
I’ve stayed at both Kimptons at Edinburgh and Glasgow, and I like them both. Therefore I’ve chosen to try out the Kimpton Clocktower hotel at Manchester to use my Ambassador BOGOF voucher. The Clocktower is significantly cheaper than the other three Kimptons – I paid only £158 for both nights.
The hotel is located off the Oxford road. Despite its proximity to the road and train station I barely heard any noises in my room. It’s not central, but Canal street, the Piccadilly station and city centre are just a short walk away.
The highlight of the hotel is, no doubt the lobby, which is hugely impressive:
Built at 1895 it was originally an office building, and converted to a hotel nearly one hundred years later. If you are a history fan remember to request a free brochure when you check in.
The secret password gives me a Manchester Bee and a box of cream fudge.
Having booked the very basic Urban Double, I’m then upgraded to Deluxe room for which category-wise is quite generous. Upon opening the door you see a small vestibule:
And the actual room is actually on the higher floor. The whole setting is kind of a duplex.
However, the room looks nothing like the stock photos, in a sad way. Sorry for the bad photos, but it brings up the first point I want to make: because of the positioning most rooms are very lacking in natural light, which is worsened by the fact that windows are very small.
Furnishing is tired and dysfunctional. Bed is ok, but I have no idea why anyone would think that 18th-century desk and stool are by any means comfortable enough for anyone to sit. Instead of properly installing the mirror they just leave a standalone one against the wall which feels quite strange.
The bathroom actually looks much better. Maybe they are in the middle of refurbishing all rooms?
I have to stay that I have never felt as depressed in a hotel room like this before. It just doesn’t give you the cosy feel that a luxury hotel should aim for at all.
Breakfast is charged at £18.50pp and there’s no discount if you order upfront. After realising that it doesn’t even include the cooked-to-order items it is a definite no from me. However, a £10 drinks voucher is provided to IHG members, and you could spend it at the famous Refuge Bar.
Although I was really amazed by the glorious hall at first sight, the room unfortunately is a big disappointment and is nowhere near a five-star hotel’s standard. The hotel and its Refuge Bar is still worth a visit, but in my opinion there are many better accommodation choices in Manchester, e.g. the new Indigo near Victoria station.