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What are the 101 IHG Rewards Club hotels which got cheaper?

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Just before we went away, I wrote that IHG Rewards Club had revealed that it would not be increased the points required for ANY hotels this year.  In fact, 100 hotels were going to get cheaper!

IHG did not publish the full list of hotels, annoyingly.  However, Loyalty Lobby has produced a list which can be found on their site here.

IHG Rewards Club

In the UK, there are ten hotels getting cheaper.  These include the Crowne Plaza resort at Heythrop Park near Oxford (now 20,000 points per night) and the Holiday Inn at Glasgow Airport (now 15,000 points).  The Belfast property is tucked under Ireland and not Northern Ireland, if you are wondering where No 10 is!

There is nothing in London, New York or Paris, unfortunately.

It is obviously good news to see a programme reducing the points required rather than increasing them.  That said, a lot of properties were made disproportionately expensive compared to their cash price when the scheme was restructured last year. 

Reward nights are a key source of revenue for hotels and I get a feeling that there are a lot more IHG hotels out there who would love to come down a category.

IHG Rewards update – September 2021:

Get bonus points: IHG Rewards is not currently running a global promotion.

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

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You will receive a mystery bonus, usually 100%, when you buy IHG Rewards points by 8th October 2021.

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Comments (23)

  • Volker says:
    25 Apr25 April 07:22

    I booked the HI GLA only last week, and it was a positive surprise that they did not want more than 15,000 points as the rate for this usually pretty cheap property was unusually high on the desired date.

  • Felixstowe Flyer says:
    25 Apr25 April 07:26

    With friends and relatives who live there, the reduction in the HiEx Hamilton is a result for me! It’s also a town centre based hotel which is good.

    • Chris says:
      25 Apr25 April 23:05

      Hamilton is a decent HIEX especially when compared to the HIEX Strathclyde Park and HI East Kilbride which are either side of it. The car park is my only bug bear due to it being shared with the retail park.

  • Erico1875 says:
    25 Apr25 April 07:46

    HI Glasgow Airport is often around £35. imo its only worth 10k points on that price.
    Strange, but the HIX’s Hamilton and Strathclyde Park are often more expensive at around £50.

    • Volker says:
      25 Apr25 April 07:58

      As mentioned above, the price for the required night was unusually high, so I am very happy with the decrease. I only use hotel points as a backup and usually go for cash bargains 🙂

      • James67 says:
        25 Apr25 April 19:22

        Agree HI GLA is good value either revenue or points. An uninspiring hotel with two major pluses; parking and a sub 30 second walk to the terminal so it is fit for purpose. Just recommend anyone avoid eating dinner there. Stayed HIE Hamilton recently for first time. Good property with adjacent restaurants, cinema and supermarket amongst other shops (street and retail parks.). Adjacent to motorway, and about 10 minutes walk fro train and bus station.

  • Dominic says:
    25 Apr25 April 08:49

    On a related IHG matter, I’m about to book a reward stay in Washington DC, and have (more than) enough points to splurge on either the Intercon or the Crowne Plaza, both a short walk from the White House. I’m Platinum (cos of the credit card) and Ambassador (thank you for the tip, Raffles). Will I do better for perks in the Intercon or the CP? On this instance I don’t need the late check-out; my memory is that my status will not get any kind of breakfast at Intercons, but will get me a lounge breakfast at CP… is that right?

    • Rob says:
      25 Apr25 April 12:16

      Depends what the policy of the CP Washington is on lounge upgrades – it is not automatic or guaranteed. The IC is meant to be a very impressive historic hotel, though.

    • Simon says:
      25 Apr25 April 16:04

      I stayed at the IC in Washington on points for 2 nights last year. I’m platinum but no perks provided. Like most US hotels one of the big advantages was being able to get 2 adults and 2 kids in one room on points (something that seems v difficult to do at IC in London). Nice hotel though. As with a lot of hotels the room was the room but the public areas and bars were good and location was great for White House etc. Added spice for us was that the Iraqi PM was staying which resulted in a mass of security people. The hotel was very apologetic. My kids thought it was awesome.

  • Manuel says:
    25 Apr25 April 09:09

    Is the price retro-active for past stays that are already booked?

    • Rob says:
      25 Apr25 April 12:16

      No, you would need to cancel and rebook. Points come back instantly though.

  • Froggitt says:
    25 Apr25 April 09:45

    Crowne Plaza resort at Heythrop Park – although nice hotel in lovely grounds, the bar menu was awful (e.g. those frozen pizzas from Tesco at £1 for a bag of five on the kids menu), and the standard rooms were teeny tiny.

  • CV says:
    25 Apr25 April 11:12

    On a related matter has the cancellation conditions changed for Rewards Nights? I made a rewards booking yesterday, after checking the cancellation conditions it reads that I need to give one months notice if I want a full refund!

    • Rob says:
      25 Apr25 April 12:19

      ?

      Always had rooms refunded immediately.

      • CV says:
        25 Apr25 April 15:34

        Sorry, ambiguous wording on last post. Made a booking for August 30th. Cancellation wording states:

        ‘Canceling your reservation before 4:00 PM (local hotel time) on Thursday, 31 July, 2014 will result in no charge. Canceling your reservation after 4:00 PM (local hotel time) on 31 July, 2014, or failing to arrive will result in forfeiture of your deposit. Taxes may apply. Failing to call or show before check-out time after the first night of a reservation will result in cancellation of the remainder of your reservation.’

        Implies that no refund will be given if cancelling within one month of the stay.
        What is odd is that the cancellation policy isn’t say that for any other room rate that I have seen before. I’m quite tempted to cancel now and rebook to see if it changes.

        • Alan says:
          25 Apr25 April 15:42

          I haven’t had this before with IHG but with Hilton certain properties had longer cancellation periods than the standard 4pm on day of check-in one.

          • CV says:
            25 Apr25 April 16:16

            I wonder if its due to it being a Crown Plaza in Edinburgh city centre for the August bank holiday weekend, was actually quite surprised to find a reward night at all, people end up booking rooms in Glasgow that weekend to then travel to/from Edinburgh.

          • Alan says:
            25 Apr25 April 16:47

            Ah that might well be it – hotel rooms are like gold dust during the festival!

          • James67 says:
            25 Apr25 April 19:35

            I have seen cancellation policy 1 or 2 days earlier but never a month. Guess it is festival. Getting a new city centre apartment this summer. Seiously consudering renting it out for festival and hogmanay.

          • Chris says:
            26 Apr26 April 13:18

            Is it the Roxburghe? IIRC they also had an extended cancellation policy on AP rates last year as well.

            I had a quick look at rewards visits for this property for August and a random date in November. There is a 30 day cancellation policy in place for August but its the standard 4pm in November so it definitely looks like its due to the festival.

            Fair play to them to be honest. From speaking to someone I know who works for Hilton in Edinburgh the number of on the day cancellations last festival were quite high.

          • CV says:
            26 Apr26 April 13:59

            Its the one on Royal Terrace, although both show rewards nights being available. Cant complain really as nearer the time there won’t be any rooms whatsoever, even for cash!

          • CV says:
            27 Apr27 April 08:11

            Lol, well thanks for the tip(s)! Think i will switch to CPRT, just car parking there is more of a hassle, but by then Edinburghs tram system will be running so could give that a go to get into city centre.

  • Choccie says:
    28 Apr28 April 23:28

    Hi, firstly thanks for your great site and posts – always helpful. Just wondering how long IHG points should take to post? We checked-out on 18 April and still haven’t received any points. I did use all the bonus point codes posted earlier, but I’ve not even received the base points.

    Thanks for your help and advice.

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