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Kimpton Fitzroy London hotel now bookable with IHG Rewards Club points

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The Kimpton Fitzroy London hotel in Russell Square is now bookable via ihg.com This includes reward nights, which are pricing up at 70,000 IHG Rewards Club points.

The hotel website has launched and is here.

This hotel was briefly known as Principal London before IHG bought Principal Hotels.  It was the Hotel Russell before that but bears no resemblance to those days.

Before it reopened as Principal London, the hotel underwent one of the most expensive and thorough refurbishments ever seen in London.  At £85 million, it cost more than the refurbishment of the InterContinental Park Lane a few years ago – and that involved adding an extra floor.  Whilst I haven’t seen the rooms, I am tempted to bet that this is now the best IHG Rewards Club hotel option in London.

IHG clearly agrees at 70,000 points per night.  Given that rates start at £350 for random midweek dates this Autumn, that is fair.  That said, remember that the InterContinental at the O2 is only 45,000 points per night and is a very pleasant hotel indeed – see my InterContinental O2 review here.

Elite members of IHG Rewards Club receive a $15 equivalent minibar credit, as they do at all Kimpton properties ($10-$15 depending on hotel).  All guests, with or without status, can also join in the nightly one hour wine reception which is another signature Kimpton feature.

Kimpton Fitzroy London suite

Get 10,000 bonus IHG Rewards Club points …..

As an opening offer, IHG is offering 10,000 bonus IHG Rewards Club points if you book for two nights or more.

You need to book via this link.  You need to book and stay before 31st March 2019, stay at least two nights and book via the promotional page.  I am guessing that the bonus points do not count towards IHG status.

Above is a picture of one of the suites.


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.

Comments (152)

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

  • Lady London says:

    Premier Inn is looking at tiny room basic hotels too.

    • Anna says:

      Privacy tends to be our main priority. I’d prefer a tiny room with another connecting tiny room for a teenager over a “family” room any day!

    • Relaxo says:

      They already are in the tiny room market with the Premier Hub properties.

  • Stu N says:

    OT: SPG Amex. Noticed that the move to £1 = 3 points has given a better outcome on rounding of transactions. It’s still rounding down but applied to the nearest whole point, rather than whole point. A transaction for £1.35 gets 4 points and £1.67 gets 5 points. Previously £1 to £1.99 would be 1 Starpoint. If you put a lot of small transactions through, this is rather beneficial.

  • Richard says:

    OT – I had an Amex Platinum from around March-April this year. I maxed out the 90,000 referral points before closing the card. I do not have any other Amex MR cards and have not had an Amex MR balance since closing the card.

    I will be taking the Platinum out again in a week or two. Does anyone know whether I will be able to earn further referral points this calendar year? I am aware that there is a limit of 90,000 referral points per Amex MR account per calendar year, but I don’t know whether I will be regarded as having the ‘same’ Amex MR account when I take out the new Platinum (as I am the same customer), or whether I will be given a ‘new’ Amex MR account (as I have not had once since April).

    Any thoughts/experience on this?

  • BJ says:

    OT: Could somebody please remind me if the amex Hilton spend £250 offers are cumulative?

    • KevMc says:

      They always have been before, yes.

      • BJ says:

        Thanks, always had them covered in one transaction before so didn’t pay attention to comments on shorter cheaper stays.

    • Rob says:

      Yes, triggered the previous one recently on cumulative and partly on prepay despite the rules.

  • Simon says:

    70,000 points or £350 makes the recent 100% bonus purchase offer very appealing, assuming I have done my maths correctly!

  • RussellH says:

    I am looking for some advice re Hilton Barclaycard offer of Gold status for spending £10K during the calendar year.
    Rather surprisingly, I find I can achieve that this year.
    Dioes anyone know when the Gold Status arrives, and for how long it lasts?
    Is there any advantage to leaving the spending that pushes over the £10K line until mid-to-late December (which, ideally, I would want to do anyway, as the money does not have to be spent until 29 January 2019).
    Thanks in advance.

    • Anna says:

      What happens if you’re already gold? I’m guessing you don’t get upgraded to Diamond…

      • RussellH says:

        AFAIK no, but since there is no way I would ever get Gold from actually staying at Hilton, the point is moot. I would not normally get anywhere close to getting Gold through the credit card either!

    • Simon B says:

      As far as I remember, the Gold status arrives shortly after the statement is generated after you have spent £10k. It then lasts all the way through to April after the next calendar year. If you are Gold already, it will just mean that your Gold status will be retained as above.

  • MarkH says:

    OT – I want to treat my mum and sister to a spa weekend at Hilton Syon Park and pay for the night using my points. Is that possible? Or will it cause a problem that I’m not the one checking in?

    • BJ says:

      Yes, no problem, done this for my sister. Just call Hilton and they will use your points but issue reservation in name of your mum and sister, sending you and/or them the confirmation email. If you have status they msy or may not also get your status benefits, IIRC past commentsvon this have been mixed.

  • Alex says:

    From memory I got gold as soon as I reached the £10k spending limit. Just looked back at my emails and I achieved gold status on 16th May 2016 (when the email was sent) and the expiry was Mar 31st 2018 so virtually 2 years.

    • RussellH says:

      Thanks. That sounds not too bad. If I trigger Gold in December, then it should last until 31 March 2020, so a bit over a year?

      • TGLoyalty says:

        Yep. Ofcourse can always sign up for Alex platinum in January and get it for 2.5 years

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