Full List of Radisson UK Hotel Category Changes
I was too early to post about the Radisson program restructuring yesterday – it appears that the change is actually global rather than just for the Americas, and they were just a bit late in posting the update on the main site.
You can see the announcement here. As a reminder:
- There will be five hotel categories in the new program, staircasing by 15,000 points
- The minimum points required for a free night increases from 9,000 points to 15,000 points
- The maximum points required for a free night increases from 70,000 points to 75,000 points
- Family Room and Premium Room redemption are kept
- A new scheme called RewardSaver will be introduced where a 1/3 discount is applied when redeeming certain hotels at off-peak season, similar to Marriott’s PointSaver
You can see the new category and point requirement for all hotels (excluding Americas) in the pdf here. It’s a bit tricky as there’s no filter for country / city and you don’t see the current award category in the file.
To save your time, here are the 49 hotels in the UK, with the old and new award night pricing.
29 hotels are moving up and 22 are moving down. It may not be a devaluation as you’d think though, because:
- London is the worst hit city on the list; however there’s no London hotel worth spending your points on already from my point of view, so it really doesn’t matter if they hike up the price further
- There will be two hotels at 15,000 points, which is an improvement
- Radisson Blu Cardiff and Park Inn York are both reducing the point requirement, which is great news as both cities can be very expensive during peak seasons
- The same is true for the two hotels in Edinburgh, including the Radisson Collection Royal Mile, although my stay there was very underwhelming
And here are some hotels worldwide that I find may be worth checking out:
It’s a very short list as it was very difficult going through their lengthy list. The biggest winner appears to be Bangkok, as all three 28,000-point hotels are joining the 15,000-point league which is almost 50%-off reduction. Although I didn’t dig too much, I believe it’s bad news for India travellers as the majority of the 9000-point hotels are in that country.
If the hotels you intend to redeem will go up in price, remember to lock in your award nights now. I’m expecting another 100%-bonus point sale anytime between now and June, so watch this space!
Major Devaluation Coming to Radisson Rewards Americas
Radisson Rewards is in the process of splitting into two different programs, mainly because the hotel group is owned by China’s Jin Jiang Group, and the US Government doesn’t want them to have access to any data of the States anymore.
They have been communicating the update to members recently, and the main change so far appears to be you can only earn night credits for hotels in the respective program in the future. If your travel pattern spreads across the two regions, it will be more difficult for you to earn or maintain status.
You can have both accounts and status match to have reciprocal benefits. Points can be transferred between the two programs too.
What just got revealed though, is that a major devaluation is coming to the Americas program at the same time.
- There will be five hotel categories in the new program, reduced from seven
- The minimum points required for a free night increases from 9,000 points to 15,000 points
- The maximum points required for a free night increases from 70,000 points to 75,000 points
- Out of the existing 612 hotels, 392 (64.1%) will move up in price, 180 (29.4%) will move down, and 40 (6.5%) will remain unchanged
With almost 1/3 of its hotel requiring more points to redeem, it’s hard not to see it as a devaluation.
There are a couple of good news too:
- A new scheme called RewardSaver will be introduced where a 1/3 discount is applied when redeeming certain hotels at off-peak season, similar to Marriott’s PointSaver program
- Family Room redemption is kept and the price appears to have dropped
If you do not reside in the Americas (United States, Canada, Latin America and the Caribbean), there isn’t any change to the main Radisson Rewards program yet. Just double check your address in the account to make sure your account is migrated to the correct program in June.
Sheraton London Park Lane Grand Suite for £280
Sheraton Grand London Park London is having a “secret sale”, should you be interested in staying in a big suite in central London!
To book, simply visit the hotel’s website and search for any date. The rate should pop up if the suite hasn’t been booked out yet, and it’s available on many dates including next year.
You’ll need to look under the Prepay & save tab. The best room available in the hotel, Grand Suite, is only selling at under £300 which is the same as a standard room. People have reported seeing as low as £217, and the original rate is ~£2000.
You can expect a 1000-sqft one-bedroom suite, overlooking Green Park with executive lounge access.
By “secret sale”, I was referring to an error fare of course as the hotel definitely didn’t put out such a low fare on purpose. The rate is non-refundable if cancelled more than 1 day after your booking, although changeable until 2 days prior to arrival.
To be honest, the hotel is unlikely to honour the reservation and may just reach out to cancel it soon, however you could try your luck and see what happens if you are truly interested.
Are There Any Good Deals at Hotel Week London?
In a bid to encourage (domestic) travellers to visit and stay in London, the capital city is hosting a Hotel Week London event which intends to offer some attractive hotel deals.
You could find more information here. The event is from May 28 to June 6, although most hotels will run the promotion for stays up until the end of June.
There are around 30 participating hotels at the moment, most of which belonging to major hotel groups such as Hilton and Marriott, together with a handful of independently operated ones.
Before you get too excited, I’d recommend to read through the terms as many of the so-called deals are laughable. Novotel Canary Wharf wants £189 for a standard room – without breakfast even, and the hotel was typically priced at under £100 for a weekend night pre-Covid. Pullman St Pancras, which is also an Accor hotel, has an asking price starting from £190, and it usually sells for circa £120 during sales.
That said, there are still a few highlights that may be interesting.
100 Queen’s Gate, a Hilton Curio Collection Hotel
- Book a two-bed Family Room, and enjoy a complimentary second night
- Upgrade to Duplex Suite Family Room subject to availability
- Free breakfast for up to 4 pp
- £50 hotel credit per stay
- Guaranteed late check-out
You can book on Hilton’s website directly for the first night, and then contact the hotel to add the second. The price I was quoted was £462, which isn’t bad for the package.
London Marriott Hotel Park Lane (Rate Code 12092)
St Pancras Renaissance Hotel (Rate Code 12092)
- 25% off if you book two rooms
- Includes breakfast, early check-in and late check-out
- Complimentary upgrade to Executive Room for the first room
Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill
- 20% off Best Flexible Rate
- Breakfast and £25 hotel credit included
- 10am check-in and 6pm check-out
The Tower Hotel (promo code LDNHOTELWEEK)
- Special price of £99 per night for a standard room
- Reduced price of £79 for May 28th, 29th and 30th
15% Dining Discount at GHA Hotels Worldwide
It’s nowadays very common for hotel programs to offer dining discount to its loyal customers, most notably in Asia Pacific. For example, Accor has a (paid) Plus scheme that offers up to 50% off dining discount, whereas Marriott Bonvoy members enjoy up to 30% off when dining at its hotels in China as well as earn points.
GHA Discovery appears to be the next one who joins the party. Through September 30, all GHA members get a flat 15% off discount when dining at participating hotels, and no stay is required. A member can be accompanied by up to three guests, and you only need to show your digital membership card when settling the bill.
Unfortunately there isn’t any UK hotel on the list at the moment, yet you can find Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Montenegro in the Europe section.
Personally I don’t tend to eat at hotels when I’m on vacation, but it’s just something you may want to keep in mind in case you visit any GHA hotels in the next few months.
Amazon Assistant £5 Voucher Offer
Amazon is giving away free vouchers to promote its Assistant plugin, and you can access the offer page here.
Unlike previous promotions, it doesn’t seem to tell you whether you are eligible or not, so the best way to check is to install the Amazon Assistant browser plugin. Open the plugin and if lucky, you should see the following promotional message:
Click Start Shopping to activate the offer. It works as a £5 saving against an Amazon purchase of £25 or more (fulfilled and sold by Amazon only), and you have until May 10 to use the voucher.
In theory only those who haven’t installed the plugin before get targeted, but I think I already took advantage when there was a similar offer last time. Don’t forget that there’s a separate £5 voucher offer for Subscribe & Save as well, and very surprisingly I’m eligible for both!
IHG Ambassador Free Night Voucher Promotion Is Coming Back!
IHG Ambassador Program had a very interesting enrolment / renewal offer last year, where you could get a free night voucher for joining it. It appears that the same offer is coming back this year.
The following poster is shared in China’s frequent flyer forum Flyertea:
If you don’t understand Chinese 😉, here is what it says:
- The offer runs from 15 April to 31 July
- Everyone who joins or renew their Ambassador membership can participate
- After the purchase, you need to stay once at an InterContinental, Kimpton or Regent hotel by 31 August
- And you’ll receive a Free Night Voucher to redeem by 30 November
It’s not mentioned in the poster, but I suppose the voucher still has the same 40,000-point cap like the last time.
After the very recent devaluation, 40,000 points will get you into fewer nice IHG hotels now. However it’s still a decent promotion – if you intend to purchase the membership or are due the renewal, remember to hold out a little longer!
£5 Voucher for Amazon Subscribe & Save
Finally another Amazon gift voucher promotion, and this time I’m even eligible?!
You could try you luck here. At the top of the page it should tell you whether you are eligible for the offer.
If you are eligible, there’s no sign-up needed. Simply place a Subscribe & Save order, minimum purchase value £20, by 13 June and a £5 Amazon gift voucher will be emailed to you within two weeks. The voucher has a £20 minimum spend requirement when redeeming.
Subscribe & Save is an Amazon purchase option, where they automatically resend you the same product every few months. You can always cancel the subscription free of charge anytime though, so there’s no liability.