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Get 30% off IHG hotels in Europe until December 2018 with Mastercard

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IHG, owner of the InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Indigo and Staybridge Suites brands, has extended its generous discount promotion in association with Mastercard for another year.

This deal DOES seem to offer genuine discounts.  I used the rate myself when we stayed at the Crowne Plaza Salzburg in February and it beat any other deal we could find.

The special booking page for this offer is here.

Here are the rules:

You must book 21 days in advance and only via this link 

Valid at selected UK and European IHG properties

30% discount at all brands except InterContinental, valid Friday, Saturday and Sunday

20% discount at InterContinental, valid on stays which include a Friday or Saturday – this rate includes breakfast

Some hotels may offer discounts on other days of the week

Discount based on Best Flexible Rate although these promo rates must be prepaid

You must have a Mastercard in order to book but there is no obligation to pay with it

In theory you should print off the paper voucher on the booking page although, in reality, you are very unlikely to be asked for it

You must book by March 31st 2018

Last day to stay is December 31st 2018

Does this deal offer genuine savings?

Yes – although not the full 30%.  This is because the discount is based off the Best Flexible Rate whilst all hotels offer cheaper Advanced Purchase rates.  They are pretty good though.

Looking at the Sheffield area for 16th – 18th June we find:

Holiday Inn Sheffield – £64.40 (standard non-refundable price £75.67)

Holiday Inn Express Sheffield – not available

Holiday Inn Rotherham – £74.80 (standard non-refundable price £88.33) but the rate is only offered on a suite

Looking further afield at the two InterContinental hotels in Paris:

InterContinental Le Grand – €465 with breakfast  (standard non-refundable price with breakfast – €519)

InterContinental Avenue Marceau – €376.80 with breakfast (standard non-refundable price with breakfast – €456)

When searching an InterContinental, you MUST select the ‘Partner Discount 20%’ option on the booking page or it will not display.

Note that, annoyingly, the website hides all other rates so you need to visit the main IHG booking site to see alternative prices.

I have added details of this offer to our ‘Hotel Offers’ page for easy reference.

The booking page for the Mastercard deal is here.

IHG One Rewards update – April 2024:

Get bonus points: IHG One Rewards is offering 2,000 bonus points for every two cash nights you stay (not necessarily consecutive) between 1st April and 31st May 2024. You can read our full article here and you can register here.

New to IHG One Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG One Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG One Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG One Rewards points, you can buy them here.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (28)

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

  • Alex W says:
    11 May11 May 04:11

    Thanks Rob. Any news on whether your double base points deal will return?

    • Rob says:
      11 May11 May 08:44

      It doesn’t seem so. The truth is that IHG massively underestimated the admin involved and, as it was all done by the UK office and not the Philippines back office, I think it got a little costly on manpower.

  • John says:
    11 May11 May 05:00

    Does this rate still get points and qualify for accelerate without having to waste time calling the “service” centre?

    • Wilson Tang says:
      11 May11 May 08:40

      Yes, it does. I regularly use this rate to book into Intercontinental hotels and it’s great.

  • Alan C says:
    11 May11 May 07:39

    Yes points and qualification for Accelerate unless T&C’s have changed from the last MasterCard offer. This will be handy for me as my Challenge was for 4 x 2nt weekend stays – the toughest part of my 70,000 point challenge.

  • Pangolin says:
    11 May11 May 07:40

    It’s a little deceptive to advertise a 30% discount but to make this in comparison with the more expensive flex rate when what you get is a non-refundable booking which should really be compared with the advance saver rate.

    Accor now does the exact same thing with its Secret Deals at 20% – you have a prepaid booking but it’s 20% off the flex rate, not the prepaid rate.

    What next? Maybe they should say it’s 50% off a rate that includes breakfast and lounge access but not give you either of those.

    • Rob says:
      11 May11 May 08:46

      All hotel companies do this. Every Hilton sale is ‘30% off’ but, compared to Advance Purchase, only 10-15% off in reality.

      Remember that IHG has already had its knuckles wrapped by the ASA over the HIX ‘free’ breakfast, which they are now unable to call ‘free’ (in a decision I consider mad).

      • RussellH says:
        11 May11 May 09:58

        As to whether it can legally be described as ‘free’, I bow to the AA’s greater knowledge of these things.

        As to whether it truly constitutes ‘breakfast’ is another matter entirely.

        🙂

        Far too subjective for the ASA, I would guess.

  • Wally1976 says:
    11 May11 May 08:43

    OT (but hotel related!) – I have a Marriott redemption booking for which I had insufficient points at the time I booked. I now do have the points and wish to ‘pay’ for the booking using them but can’t seem to see a way to do it! Do I just have to wait and they automatically take the points 14 days beforehand or something? Thanks.

    • Rob says:
      11 May11 May 08:47

      I need to do this on one of my bookings, haven’t tried yet. Don’t you click ‘order e-certificate’, either in your confirmation or under your online reservations list? Honestly don’t know.

      • Wally1976 says:
        11 May11 May 10:19

        I’ve tried via the online reservations list, in the app and the original confirmation email – still can’t see a way to do it! Please let me know when you find out.

        • mark2 says:
          11 May11 May 13:56

          If you ring them on 020 7012 7312 they are very helpful and will create the e-certificate for you and send it to the hotel.

  • Carl says:
    11 May11 May 08:51

    OT. Does anyone know how long it takes for hotel statuses to upgrade once you apply through your Amex platinum? If you did cancel the card before they upgraded would that cancel the request?

    • Rob says:
      11 May11 May 08:58

      Hilton took 2 days recently, Melia 5 days (this was upgrading existing accounts). Cancelling your card during the process may stop it because the hotel group would send Amex a bill once it was processed which they would not pay.

      • Carl says:
        11 May11 May 10:17

        Thanks Rob. Mine are taking longer to upgrade (I applied on the 21st of April). Perhaps it’s because Amex have not applied the fee yet on my card.

    • MattyS says:
      11 May11 May 13:28

      You also apparently need to link the amex card to the account either in your HH online account or by calling Hilton. I failed to do so before cancelling the card so probably too late for me (for six months).

  • Red says:
    11 May11 May 09:14

    Just an FYI – this rate doesn’t appear to be available on your mobile. Link takes you to a different site than on desktop.

  • Sandgrounder says:
    11 May11 May 09:55

    I think bonus points is usually just £5 on top of the flex rate? This has added about £20 to my target-chasing spend this quarter 🙁

    • Vinvin says:
      11 May11 May 10:28

      Yeah, that’s what I’ve been finding. I haven’t got any hotel stays planned for the future so that’s either an excuse for a weekend away or a ~£50 mattress run. Luckily with the bonus point packages, they’re flexible so have free cancellation up until 4pm on the day of check-in.

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