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435 days after writing about it, we finally had our free meal in The Shard

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Back in October 2013 (yes, 2013) I wrote about a promotion launched by Shangri-La Hotels.  Basically, if you played an online game once a week for six weeks, you would receive 1,200 points in their Golden Circle loyalty scheme.  The most useful redemption was spending 1,000 points for a $100 food and beverage voucher.

At the time, Shangri-La was not present in the UK.  However, I knew that their hotel in The Shard was under construction so I recommended that readers who are often in London should take part.

There were ups and downs along the way.  The opening of The Shard was delayed and delayed.  Once it opened, Shangri-La put a temporary block on redeeming Golden Circle points.  Finally, from September-ish last year, redemptions were allowed.

Last Wednesday, my wife and I finally made it along to Ting, their main restaurant.

We were given an excellent table directly next to the windows on the 35th floor.  Service was very formal and attentive, albeit lightened by the clientele – because it is the main hotel restaurant, they cannot easily impose a dress code or keep out children.

We had the £49 four course set dinner menu topped off with two glasses of wine.  This is not a restaurant site so I will not discuss the menu, but it was all very well done albeit with modest portion sizes.

With service, we only paid a nominal sum on top of the £122 credit we received from our two Golden Circle redemption vouchers.

Our vouchers were issued swiftly by the hotel reception desk (not the business centre as is normally the case with these vouchers, Cairns works the same way a reader told me) when we arrived.  Despite the warnings about taking photo ID etc nothing was required.  I was even issued with the voucher for my wife even though she had yet to arrive.

To keep with the style of evening, I used some free Uber credit to have a Mercedes S-Class pick us up at the lobby and take us home.

If you haven’t yet managed to redeem your Golden Circle points, make sure you do – it made for a very pleasant evening and was (just about) worth the 435 days wait.

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Category

Shangri-La Circle

Comments (46)

This article is closed to new comments. Feel free to ask your question in the HfP forums.

  • czechoslovakia says:
    14 Jan14 January 06:16

    Well done Rob. You certainly earned it.

  • Adam W says:
    14 Jan14 January 06:25

    I thought the process now was just to hand over your membership card when the bill arrives? I seem to recall an email from them about it and that’s what happened when I took my father to the Shangri-La at Abu Dhabi in November.

    I seem to recall the email also stating that you could redeem smaller chunks of points (i.e. 200 points for $20). I can’t seem to find the email at the minute though – or am I going crazy???

    • Adam W says:
      14 Jan14 January 06:36

      Correction: 10 points for $1

    • neuromancer says:
      14 Jan14 January 10:21

      Yes, you can just hand over the card, provided you have one. They won’t send a card until one stays at their hotels.

  • Adam W says:
    14 Jan14 January 06:29

    ….but see that London is not on the participating list 🙁

    • Xavier HC says:
      14 Jan14 January 07:45

      The Shangri-La in Paris is not in the list yet they accepted to use my points when I presented my card after lunch. It took them a little bit of time but all was handled without issue.

  • Nick says:
    14 Jan14 January 06:31

    Looking forward to using my 1,000 points in the next few months, so many thanks again Rob for the heads up on this great one! Is it really over a year ago now?!! Must be getting old!

    • OttoMH says:
      14 Jan14 January 06:55

      Make sure you book early, or call to see if they have a table. I tried to get a Saturday 4 weeks out and nada…. I managed to snag a table on the Friday at a reasonable time though but it is busy. (Probably HFP readers… shall we organize a Shangri-La DO?

      • Rob says:
        14 Jan14 January 08:27

        The problem, I think, is that this is the main hotel restaurant. They are obliged to leave a large % of tables free for walk-in hotel guests and don’t take many external reservations.

      • Nick says:
        14 Jan14 January 08:44

        Thanks for the advice Otto/Rob. Luckily it will probably be midweek, so hopefully I’ll have more options anyway.

        • OttoMH says:
          14 Jan14 January 10:09

          I had more success with a charming phone call than with the Open Table on-line booking 🙂

  • OttoMH says:
    14 Jan14 January 06:53

    A very timely post, Raffles!

    We just booked our table for late Feb as well. We’ve been looking for an opportunity to travel down to London and make use of the GC points. Managed to nab the 2 free nights in the IHG Into The Nights promo ending Dec 31st and traded them for two nights at the IC Park Lane. Combine that with a free-ish dinner at TING and we have a fantastic weekend for next to nothing! I think the trains are the most expensive part (or the cocktails before dinner in GONG might get a bit silly..)

    Thanks so much for flagging both of these promotions – this is what makes the hobby so much fun! Who am I kidding… it’s not a hobby, it’s a lifestyle choice haha!

    Otto

  • Aoife says:
    14 Jan14 January 07:45

    Hey Rob,
    Timely post for me too as I’ve booked a table in the Ting Lounge for lunch next month. Just wondering if the vouchers are generic restaurant vouchers that have to be used the same day or if thwy have he account holders name etc on them when collected from reception (ie they’re just print outs from the account?). Just curious as to how they work it!
    Cheers!

    • Rob says:
      14 Jan14 January 08:24

      You get a generic voucher from the website which can be exchanged at a hotel reception or business centre on any date you want within (IIRC) 3 months.

      However, once exchanged at reception, you get a more specific voucher which MUST be used on the day of issue.

  • JQ says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:00

    £122 for $200 is a bad rate given the ascent of the USD recently!

  • Roger James says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:07

    I have Gong booked for Friday night in a couple of weeks. I am assuming I can also use the vouchers there. Is that correct?

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