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Don’t forget IHG Rewards Club ‘Friends & Family’ rates for cheap hotels

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Back in 2009, when the hotel business was in real trouble, IHG Rewards Club launched a special deal for stays at Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Indigo, InterContinental, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotels.

It was called ‘Friends & Family’ and was nominally aimed at people who were friends or relatives of hotel employees.

IHG Friends Family rate

However, the company made no secret of the fact that they were happy for anyone to use it, and even posted links on forums that could be used.

After some pushback, people claiming to be friends of Steve Sickel, the head of the programme, found that hotels would occasionally not let them use the rate. Other links, such as this ‘Friends and Family’ link that I use, continue to work just fine.

The Friends & Family deals are usually priced below the ‘Advance Saver’ rate for the same dates. They carry the same conditions, ie no changes and no refunds.

The only difference is that these rates do NOT earn IHG Rewards Club points. Hotels do a VERY good job of enforcing this rule. You won’t earn stay credit either. Bear this in mind when booking, especially if you are taking part in the ‘Accelerate’ promotion.

Availability under this programme is worse than it used to be but you can still find the odd deal.

In London on Saturday 12th March, the Friends & Family link gives:

  • InterContinental Park Lane at £231 vs £265
  • Staybridge Suites Vauxhall at £96 vs £114
  • Holiday Inn Bloomsbury at £132 vs £156

Various other properties were available as well. This rate is valid worldwide, not just in the UK.

You have absolutely nothing to worry about by booking this rate using the link above. You will not be asked for any special ID or proof of your friendship with Jennifer.  Just be very clear that you will NOT receive any points or stay credit.

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IHG One Rewards news

IHG One Rewards update – April 2025:

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

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 (300)

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

  • bmi-fan says:
    17 Feb17 February 10:34

    Here’s another referral code to the pile:

    GdJIw

    Good luck everyone, I’m well excited about this!

  • mark2 says:
    17 Feb17 February 10:36

    Who is behind this?
    Have they got the capacity in infrastructure and finance to handle any volume?

    • Rob says:
      17 Feb17 February 10:44

      Start-up, backed primarily by the people behind TransferWise (but it is not part of TransferWise). Could they handle 100,000 applications in a week? No. That is why the beta is 10,000.

  • RTS says:
    17 Feb17 February 11:04

    One thing I would say is that, you aren’t protected by Sec 75 of the Consumer Credit Act. So I’d still use your Amex to pay directly where you can but use your Curve for withdrawals and at places where they don’t accept Amex.

    “Will Curve give me the same protection as when I pay directly with my credit card?

    Curve offers similar protection to a standard UK high street bank debit card where users will not be liable for unauthorised purchases from the moment they inform us that their card has been stolen (see terms of service for full information).

    Similarly to PayPal or Amazon 3rd party purchases, using Curve is not a direct purchase from the user’s original card, so the purchases are not covered by Section 75 of the Consumer Credit Act.

    However Curve users are protected by MasterCard chargeback rights where refunds can be provided if goods are damaged, not as described, or the merchant has ceased trading.

  • James says:
    17 Feb17 February 11:04

    There is a clause in the terms that people should be aware of. It’s 2.2 and it states that this card is for business use only and should not be used for personal expenses. I’m not saying everyone sticks to the rules, you pay your money and takes your chances but should Curve ask for proof as your credentials regarding being a business owner or self employed, then you may wish to consider applying?

  • Jonathan says:
    17 Feb17 February 11:06

    Anyone “employed” (as opposed to Sole Trader/ Director) applying for this?
    As mentioned previously this sounds like free Amex… don’t quite believe it will last.

    • Andrew says:
      17 Feb17 February 11:41

      There are lots of mentions in the T&Cs of only lifting spending limits if you complete their risk assesments. I can see anyone who doesn’t provide evidence of being self-employed being given a fairly useless spending limit

      • harry says:
        17 Feb17 February 11:46

        There are ways around that, eg you get a £500 limit but need to pay a £10K tax bill. You’d simply pre-fund the a/c before paying HMRC.

        • Rob says:
          17 Feb17 February 12:15

          I have done the risk assessment. All they want is name, date of birth, address, old address if moved recently.

        • Andrew says:
          17 Feb17 February 12:16

          I don’t see any mention of being able to pre-fund an account. Funds are requested from your sources as and when you make a purchase. Even if you could the limit is a ‘spending’ limit, not a ‘credit’ limit.

          Maybe it will work differently in practice but the T&Cs suggest that there’s no way of spending more than your daily/monthly/annual limits short of jumping through their additional risk checks to get your limit raised.

  • Waribai says:
    17 Feb17 February 11:24

    I think “fair usage” is a key term here. Would they have to give a definition?

    • Jonathan says:
      17 Feb17 February 11:43

      T & Cs say for the highest group possible (best credit worthiness I guess)

      Maximum card transaction is £5k
      Daily ATM limit is £1k
      Monthly ATM limit is £20k
      Annual ATM limit is £100k

      • harry says:
        17 Feb17 February 18:47

        Missed some of these posts up top. So you believe we can make ATM withdrawals of up to £100K per annum?

        Yeah, right 🙂

        Of course we’d just withdraw the maximum each month and immediately re-credit our Amex a/cs. Hey guys, thousands of free MR points 🙂

        Who exactly will be paying for our free Avios? I bet they’ll be as happy as a sandboy.

        I simply don’t believe that will turn out to be permissible, not even for a few days.

  • Ben says:
    17 Feb17 February 11:28

    Do you really have to have an iOS phone? Anyone know?

    • James says:
      17 Feb17 February 11:30

      Given that you need to use the App with the card, it’s probably not worthwhile paying the card fee to find out you can’t.

      • Jonathan says:
        17 Feb17 February 11:45

        You don’t need the App to use the card – the app only allows you to view transaction and to change the card being charged to, it’ll use the same for forever until changed.

  • James says:
    17 Feb17 February 11:30

    Because despite the fact it is not fee free, it’s a very cheap way to hit a spend target quickly. If you had a £10,000 HMRC bill, for instance you could potentially pay it on the Curve, using a BAAP, meet the spend required for the 2-4-1 voucher and downgrade the card to a fee free one until you have utilised the 2-4-1 voucher. Not exactly the be all and end all for everyone but it will suit me. Until it’s tested and confirmed as working I won’t get too excited.

    • RTS says:
      17 Feb17 February 11:52

      It is actually a MasterCard Debit Card though… So – there will be no fees using Curve to pay your HMRC bills.

      • Rob says:
        17 Feb17 February 12:13

        No it isn’t. It is a prepaid MasterCard. I tried to pay my Amex bill and it was refused.

      • James says:
        17 Feb17 February 12:13

        I’ve been emailing Raffles about this and I think we’ve pretty much agreed that it’s a wait and see with regards to it even being accepted by HMRC. Well worth the £70 punt in my eyes anyway. I’d happily pay the 1.5% credit card fees so if it does indeed get accepted as a debit card so much the better.

    • Genghis says:
      17 Feb17 February 12:19

      And the 1.5% fee for HMRC cc transactions is matched say by the 1.5 avios / £ earned (using BAPP and valuing Avios at 1p). Same maths as Amex travellers cheques MS.

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