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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)

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  • Jamie says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:20

    we used ours in Paris back in the summer and were very happy, we had a lovely meal and wine.

  • Dan says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:32

    My girlfriend and I went with another couple, I only had one 100 USD vocuher and it worked out at 63 pounds, we used all that and ordered a bottle of champagne on top. When the bill came they forgot to charge us for the bottle! Total bill for over £140 worth of drinks…£4!

  • leigh says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:48

    You can also use the points in Gong for drinks providing you meet the minimum spend.

  • Simmo says:
    14 Jan14 January 08:54

    Used mine for a lovely meal over looking the river at Salathip at the Shangri-La Hotel, Bangkok.
    Only had the one voucher – But that covered us for 2 starters, 3 dishes to share, 2 sides and a bottle of sparkling wine.

    Only Issue I had was swapping the voucher for the XE THB amount, the business center was just closing (after earlier in the day they told me it was 24hr!), However I think they did it at the front desk in the end, and brought it to our table.

    One of the best freebies I’ve ever had!
    Just wish I was quick enough to get the family involved in doing the same.

  • Nick says:
    14 Jan14 January 09:11

    Ate at the Jen Orchardgateway Hotel in Singapore last night using free points (I still had 700 after using the other 500 at Shangri-La in Singapore on a previous visit which didn’t get us very much). Buffet for 2 and unlimited wine at Jen came to 588 points, which was incredible value, and of course was completely free anyway. Still have some points to put towards the bill next time. I would highly recommend this recent addition to the Shangri-La family.

  • CV says:
    14 Jan14 January 09:11

    A timely post, but please all note the post on Loyalty Lobby from yesterday where it seems Shangri La are cancelling memberships.

    I used 2 sets of points for the buffet at the 2 Shangri La hotels in Hong Kong last year.

    • Rob says:
      14 Jan14 January 09:33

      That article was a bit OTT. If you read it they are not cancelling them, merely suspending them until you prove your ID. I had this last year and my account was reactivated within 24 hours.

      • CV says:
        14 Jan14 January 10:15

        Agreed, account was actually reactivated when requested.

      • guesswho2000 says:
        14 Jan14 January 10:57

        Took me a few goes to get mine reactivated, the first time they said it’d been done it still didn’t work, there was a bit of to-ing and fro-ing, but they did sort it. Just something to bear in mind if you have a planned redemption, give it a bit of time!

        I used mine at the Shangri-La Sydney back in October, was quickly issued by the front desk in the hotel and the restaurant was excellent, well recommended!

      • Alan says:
        14 Jan14 January 14:49

        Agreed, I couldn’t see what was new about the LoyaltyLobby article, it sounded like just what we’d all found toward the end of last year!

        A friend and I used ours at Gong for numerous cocktails! I travelled back to my hotel via the excellent poppy display and then onto the Underground (£5 off offer) and then £50 of the Hilton hotel stay courtesy of last time that offer was on – great value!

      • Frenske says:
        14 Jan14 January 15:50

        Ditto. Actually I waited till the last day of the year and they reset the expiration date to next year. So I can wait till my baby girl is big enough to be babysit by friends before treating mum do a nice dinner with views.

  • DONE4 says:
    14 Jan14 January 09:49

    When do the points expire

  • Michelle says:
    14 Jan14 January 11:13

    A timely post for me too – seems like many of us thought this would be a way to combat the post Christmas blues! I have a table booked at ting for Saturday, I’ve read previous posts on people transferring their bill from gong to ting to tackle the £30 min spend per head at gong but does anyone know if it works in reverse? We have a late lunch at ting followed by drinks at gong, thanks.

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