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Bits: Luxury Travel Diary deals, bargain at the new IC Perth, Etihad business sale

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News in brief:

Luxury Travel Diary auctions ending soon

The Luxury Travel Diary site dropped us a line about a new wave of its auctions that are closing within the next 48 hours.

Most of the items offered tend to go for far less than the standard retail price. Included are hotel stays, travel equipment and various gift vouchers.

Interesting options closing either today or tomorrow include:

5 Nights At Jannah Resort & Villas Ras Al Khaimah, UAE

5 Nights At 5* Miraggio Thermal Spa Resort, Halkidiki, Greece

7 Nights In A 5-Star Chalet For 10 People In Chamonix France (not in main ski season)

4 Nights At InterContinental Mauritius Resort Balaclava Fort

3 Nights At Belmond Grand Hotel Europe, St Petersburg, Russia

It’s worth taking a look at the different auctions. Not everything will work for you, either in terms of location, length or dates, but you’ll probably find something of interest if you poke around as there are about 110 different items.

Bargains at the new InterContinental Perth City Centre

InterContinental is about to launch a new hotel in Perth, Australia.  It is currently due to open on 15th October.

The InterContinental Perth City Centre website is here.  It looks impressive.  The building used to be the Rydges Perth hotel but has had a top-to-toe refurbishment.  See the images above and below.

As often happens with IHG hotels, it is discounting reward nights whilst the hotel builds up occupancy.

You can currently book the InterContinental Perth for just 35,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night.

The cash price is around A$350 per night (£205) which makes this an excellent points redemption.  Even better, the 35,000 points rate is available for any night currently open for booking, even in 2018.  If you plan to visit Perth and have some IHG Rewards Club points it might be worth locking in a reward night now, as the price is likely to jump to 50,000 or 60,000 points per night when the hotel is open.

PS.  Anika will also be checking out the brand new InterContinental Ljubljana in a couple of weeks, so look out for that review.  The editorial budget won’t stretch to Perth unfortunately …..

Etihad launches a business class sale

Etihad has launched a business class sale – you must book by 27th September for travel by 30th November.

Regular readers will know that I rate Etihad highly, with the A380 Business Class studio (reviewed here) potentially being the best business class seat on the market.

Headline deals from London are (all flights are via Abu Dhabi):

  • Abu Dhabi £1613
  • Bangkok £1610
  • Kuala Lumpur £1811
  • Melbourne £3014
  • Mumbai £1711
  • Singapore £2060

Similar prices are available from Edinburgh and Manchester.

These are not ‘bargain basement’ fares but, given that you get to start in the UK and are flying a top quality product (at least from Heathrow with the A380) it is not a bad deal.

Full details of the business class sale are here.

How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards

How to earn Etihad Guest miles from UK credit cards (April 2024)

Etihad Guest does not have a UK credit card.  However, you can earn Etihad Guest miles by converting Membership Rewards points earned from selected UK American Express cards.

Cards earning Membership Rewards points include:

Membership Rewards points convert at 1:1 into Etihad Guest miles which is an attractive rate.  The cards above all earn 1 Membership Rewards point per £1 spent on your card, which converts to 1 Etihad Guest mile. The Gold card earns double points (2 per £1) on all flights you charge to it.

Category

Etihad and Etihad Guest, IHG One Rewards

Comments (44)

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

  • Mike says:
    25 Sep25 September 05:15

    How is it cheaper to fly to Bangkok via AUH than to AUH only when Bangkok is about another 7 hours from AUH and then another 7 hours back?

    • John says:
      25 Sep25 September 05:25

      Why is Rob’s house in Kensington more expensive than a 10-acre farm in the Scottish highlands?

      • Talay says:
        25 Sep25 September 07:06

        Surely the pressing question is why Rob’s 10 acre estate i Kensington is worth more than …. (insert name of small country) 🙂

      • Clive says:
        25 Sep25 September 07:33

        You’re missing Mike’s point. This would be like receiving the place in Kensington and the farm in Scotland for less than the price of the Kensington place alone. As he says, the flight to BKK includes the flight to AUH.

        • Rob says:
          25 Sep25 September 08:25

          Abu Dhabi is a direct flight. If you are off to Bangkok you are changing plane which makes Etihad less attractive than BA or Thai, so they need to discount more.

      • Waribai says:
        25 Sep25 September 10:21

        99% of properties in London are more expensive than 10 acres of farmland in Scotland!

    • PalCsaky says:
      25 Sep25 September 06:33

      There’s currently a glut of seats to BKK. As a result, BKK fares are low with most airlines.

      • Talay says:
        25 Sep25 September 10:58

        Thai King’s cremation is going to put a damper on most things in Thailand for much of October.

    • Nick says:
      25 Sep25 September 06:45

      ……….because LHR – AUH is a direct flight and LHR – BKK with Etihad involves changing aircraft in AUH and has to compete with EVA, Thai and BA who all fly direct from LHR to BKK. First principle of airline revenue pricing is that passengers will pay substantial premium for direct flight. LHR – AUH is a direct flight.

    • Bariummeal says:
      25 Sep25 September 11:01

      I have been working in AUH. Corp biz ticket £3k from London. But ticket from London to Tokyo with a fortnight stopover in AUH – £2k. A nice free Japan vacation for me!

  • Gavin says:
    25 Sep25 September 07:12

    Anyone here had any success/bargains with luxury travel diary auctions?

    • Jen says:
      25 Sep25 September 07:50

      Had a few good things, but double check the real ‘value’ – sometimes the quoted worth is way out. You are put in touch with the vendor/hotel manager/etc directly and so far, everything has been really easy.

  • Phillip says:
    25 Sep25 September 07:30

    Am I right in thinking the IC Robertson Quay in Singapore is also new, or is it just a refurb? Their opening cash rates are really good, although I haven’t checked redemptions.

  • the real harry1 says:
    25 Sep25 September 07:36

    free film tickets from Amex – no idea if it reviews well
    https://www.americanexpress.com/uk/entertainment/tickets/Complimentary-regional-screenings-of-Battle-of-the-Sexes

  • signol says:
    25 Sep25 September 07:43

    For Perth, spend some Avios on the non stop Qantas flight? 😛

  • the real harry1 says:
    25 Sep25 September 07:49

    gosh – not a word of comfort/ optimism re: Uber from Sadiq Kahn on Radio 4 a few minutes ago!
    cf https://headforpoints.com/2017/09/23/uber-loses-london-private-hire-licence/

    a very unsympathetic stance, repeating the 4 issues making Uber not able to satisfy the ‘fit & proper’ requirement

    no intervention from the Mayor likely – ‘we’ll see them in court’

    • Talay says:
      25 Sep25 September 10:58

      I hope they ban Uber worldwide. A service yes but nowhere near regulated enough.

      • Rashad says:
        25 Sep25 September 11:57

        I actually rely on UBER quite heavily around the globe where English is not spoken widely and I don’t have to explain the driver where I need to go. I can do without UBER in London (as no choice longer) but luckily here in Sri Lanka where I’m currently its been a life saviour

      • aliks says:
        25 Sep25 September 11:58

        Perhaps better to keep Uber but force each car to have a man with a red flag walking in front shouting – ” this car offends local taxi drivers”

        • Lostantipod says:
          25 Sep25 September 12:02

          Somebody stop this thread drift before we need to launch the coast guard to find it again

      • CV3V says:
        25 Sep25 September 12:13

        Uber in other parts of the world is excellent and a far better service than the ‘regulated’ taxi drivers. Far safer and dont rip you off.

    • Mr Dee says:
      25 Sep25 September 22:24

      The whole thing isn’t about Uber its about them trying to control the unstoppable, whether Uber is banned or not, a universal app where you can call transport will come whether they like it or not.

  • N says:
    25 Sep25 September 08:44

    O/T – got a free weekend weekend car hire from Avis (in the EU) to use before March, I lose Hilton Diamond in March too so would like to use that one last time in the hotel that looks after Diamonds. Trying to save the pennies so looking for an RFS destination. Looking for somewhere to go with nice/beautiful drives or at least the opportunity to do so. Any ideas, thoughts or suggestions for somewhere to go for a weekend?

    • David says:
      25 Sep25 September 09:23

      Fly to INV and then drive down to Edinburgh, through Deeside and avoiding the A9, and then back from there. Of course, that assumes you’re starting in London, which may not be the case…

    • Rob says:
      25 Sep25 September 10:01

      Conrad Algarve would seen suitable, there is also a new Lake Como property opening soon.

      • N says:
        25 Sep25 September 11:11

        On Lake Como – “This hotel will soon be joining the Hilton Portfolio of Brands and is presently accepting reservations for arrival March 1, 2018 and beyond.”

        Thanks for suggestions!

        • Rob says:
          25 Sep25 September 11:23

          Grief, that has slipped. Earlier in the year Hilton wanted me to go and visit THIS Easter.

    • N says:
      25 Sep25 September 11:37

      As a follow on to this, my Diamond expiry is 03/18. Is this 01/03/18 or 31/03/18?

    • Alex W says:
      25 Sep25 September 22:49

      Avis like to slap hidden charges on to the “free” weekend rental on pick up. For me it worked out cheaper the following year to pay for a Hertz rental instead!

  • Dave H says:
    25 Sep25 September 09:16

    The IC is 10K more points per night for the weekend I want than the Hilton which is nearby, there are a number of new hotels opening in the next year so hopefully a little more competition and some better offers, I quite fancy the new Doubletree on the river bank.

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

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