What are the best hotel promos for December 2018?
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Welcome to our regular round-up of the best hotel promotions currently running. This has run slightly later than usual this month, but it does not make major difference as most of the offers featured are continuing from November.
All of the information in this article can also be found on our ‘Hotel Offers’ page which contains details of all of the current offers, together with links to our major articles on each hotel scheme. However, a positive response from readers – especially our 12,500 email subscribers – means I am now running this monthly article as a handy summary of what is going on.
Where should you credit your stays in December?
With all of the Autumn promotions now launched, we have a clear view of what IHG, Hilton, Accor, World of Hyatt and Marriott / Starwood will run until the end of the year.
Hilton’s offer is the easiest – double points (triple on luxury and resort stays) with no restrictions. This is good until 3rd January.
Marriott / Starwood are offering 2000 bonus points per stay but you must stay 2+ nights, and if you are at expensive hotels the bonus looks a little puny. This deal runs until the end of January.
Even IHG’s double points offer has a catch this time, as it only kicks in from your 2nd stay. This could still be the most generous offer but it depends on your personalised targets. For UK residents the offer has been extended until 31st December.
Accor does not have a global promotion at the moment but is offering triple Avios until 31st December if you choose to automatically convert the points from your stays.
The only schemes to avoid if you are seeking bonus points are Radisson Rewards and World of Hyatt which are not offering any global promotions.
IHG (Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, InterContinental, Indigo, Staybridge Suites etc)
IHG has pulled back a little this quarter which is a shame. However, because everyone gets personalised targets, you may be pleasantly surprised.
The new offer is called Double Points Plus More. It runs from 16th September to 31st December.
It is simple. You earn double base points from your 2nd stay. There are additional personalised targets which could be worth a lot more. The original cap of 15,000 bonus points has been removed and there is now no limit on what bonus you can earn.
This is my article on the offer. You can register on the IHG site here.
I got the following extra targets:
11,200 bonus points for staying at two different IHG brands
6,800 bonus points for making four bookings using the corporate code of the firm I haven’t worked for since 2010!
12,000 bonus points for making two stays of 4+ nights
15,000 bonus points for completing three of my four targets
This is fairly useless to me, frankly. To hit 15,000 base points would require spending $1,500, before VAT, on IHG stays over the next three months (plus the spending on the first stay, which won’t be doubled) and that isn’t happening. The 11,200 points bonus for staying at two different brands is an easy one, however. If I value an IHG point at 0.4p then I’m getting £45 of points back from those two stays – plus double base points on the 2nd stay – which is a good deal.
My wife got the following extra targets:
11,200 bonus points for staying at two different IHG brands
3,200 bonus points for booking two stays on the IHG app
8,400 bonus points for staying two weekends (a Saturday night and another night)
Again, this is not hugely exciting. However, 11,200 points for two brands is straightforward enough, as is the app bonus.
You need to register for ‘Double Points Plus More’ – the link is here where you will also find your personalised targets. The IHG home page is here.
Hilton (Hampton, Conrad, Waldorf-Astoria etc)
The Hilton offer is very straightforward. You will receive double points on every stay from 10th September to 3rd January. There is no minimum stay required and every Hilton hotel is participating. Even better, stays at luxury (Conrad, Waldorf) and resort hotels earn triple points.
I wrote about Hilton’s double and triple points offer here.
Hilton is still status matching too. If you have status with another hotel programme, Hilton will match you to Gold or Diamond for 90 days – I explain how to do it in this article.
You MUST register for the double and triple points offer by visiting this page of hilton.com. The Hilton booking page is here.
Le Club AccorHotels
Le Club AccorHotels, the loyalty scheme for Ibis / Novotel / Sofitel / Mecure etc, is running a special Avios promotion at the moment. There is no global points offer however.
Your will earn triple Avios on every stay before 31st December. Your earning rate varies by brand but will generally get you 7.5 Avios for every €1 you spend.
Full details are on the Accor website here. Registration is not needed.
There are two positive points:
the last booking date is also 31st December, so the promo will still work on last minute stays, and
there is no minimum stay requirement
The one negative point is that existing bookings made before 10th October do not count. You should rebook as long as your rate is flexible and the price has not gone up.
This promotion is running with Iberia Plus. Whilst there is also a British Airways version, you want to credit to Iberia Plus because the exchange rate is double. Accor points transfer 1:1 into Iberia Plus whilst they only transfer at 2:1 into British Airways Executive Club.
My full article on the triple Avios promotion is here. You can find out more via the Accor website here.
Marriott and Starwood (Renaissance, The Ritz-Carlton, Sheraton, Westin, W, Aloft, St Regis, Luxury Collection, Moxy etc)
Following the merger of Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest on 18th August, the two companies are now operating as one even though the individual brands will remain until January.
The current offer is called ‘MegaBonus In More Places‘. It runs from 26th September to 31st January, although registration closes 7th January.
You receive:
2,000 bonus points for every 2+ night stay plus
1,000 bonus points for each new brand, starting with your 2nd brand
10,000 bonus points for staying at 10 different brands
(a virtually impossible) 29,000 bonus points for staying at all 29 Marriott and Starwood brands
Given that Marriott / Starwood now covers all of these brands – AC Hotels, Aloft, Autograph, Courtyard, Delta Hotels, Design Hotels, Edition, Element, Fairfield Inn, Four Points, Gaylord, Le Meridien, Marriott, Protea, Renaissance, Residence Inn, St Regis, Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, The Ritz-Carlton, Springhill Suites, Towneplace Suites, W, Westin – you won’t be struggling for places to stay.
Our main article on MegaBonus In More Places is here although it does not mention the 10 brand / 29 brand targets as these were added later. You can register for the promotion here.
The main Marriott booking page is here.
Radisson Rewards (Radisson Blu, Park Inn, Park Plaza, Radisson Red)
Radisson Rewards is not running a global promotion at present.
World of Hyatt
World of Hyatt is not running a global promotion at present.
And finally …..
If you booking a luxury hotel, remember that we can offer you exclusive additional benefits at Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, Peninsula and similar hotels. Click here for details of our luxury hotel booking service in association with Bon Vivant / Virtuoso. Feedback from readers who have used this service so far has been excellent and we have booked over £890,000 of rooms so far.
Hotel offers update – April 2024:
Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.
Want to buy hotel points?
- Hilton Honors is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 14th May 2024. Click here.
pommy ray 
Graham Walsh 
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