If you are looking for a cheap London hotel deal between 15th September and 31st December, there is an interesting Holiday Inn offer on Groupon at the moment.
Via this page, you can book yourself into Holiday Inn London West, opposite North Acton tube on the Central Line, for a substantial saving on the usual rate. Importantly, the Groupon rooms are refundable up to 7 days before arrival.
As an example of pricing, for Saturday 9th November, the Groupon rate with breakfast is £80. This compares with £107 on ihg.com, or £117 if you compare it with the flexible rate given that the Groupon price allows 7 nights advance cancellation.
The Groupon deal is here.
(Want to earn more hotel points? Click here to see our complete list of promotions from the major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Promos’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.)
About Head for Points
OT: We are thinking about visiting the London Motor Show next May. Would be grateful for feedback as to whether it is too busy to be enjoyable and, if not, which Excel hotels are recommended? Stayed there once, Ramada ISTR, and area seemed a bit dead; still the same, better to stay central and just make a day trip?
The new hotels (Moxy, Hampton etc are very nice and directly by a DLR station). We have reviewed the two above.
Thanks, will have a look at the reviews. Show dates have not been release yet but I could make a few speculative bookings on points and be covered.
Did the Hampton there twice recently. It’s kind of OK. But rooms are small, seems many have bad light and poor selection of TV channels. The area is still pretty dead. So depending on my plans for thé evening I’d seriously considér staying somewhere else and just coming for the day. There aren’t really any restaurants nearby.
If you really wanted to stay there the Moxy also looked OK and Rob did a good review. If you’re not collecting on any promo the Premier Inn looks good there too.
Thanks Lady London and Andy, it’s a good few years since I stayed there so was hoping things might have changed. My partner dislikes switching hotels so probably one base around Tower Gateway would be better. Also thinking about IC at O2, as Jubilee line is as handy as it gets.
Have stayed at ‘Apex City of London’ near Tower before and that was decent, although wouldn’t work for your points speculative bookings!
Isnt there a nice Hilton (or has it been reflagged) at st Katherine’s Dock?
Hilton Tower Bridge, but on the other side. There is also the DoubleTree TB which is on the St Kaths side. The dump in the dock is a Guoman.
I’ve done recent stints at the Doubletree and the Hampton. Obviously there’s a convenient ‘Aloft’ nearby too. I only stay there for convenience not really got anything bad to say about either of them (apart from I think they only have one type of room, so no real upgrades available – I did get a ‘dock view’ room at the Doubletree though once)
I agree that the area is dead (industrial) and there’s not much life outside the hotels there beyond what exists because of the Exhibition centre.
Not much help I guess – if I wanted a bit more action I’d be tempted to stay at Tower Gateway, and be within 20 or 30 minutes of the inner city action (in one direction) and Excel (in the other)
Thanks everybody, I’ll check out rates/points for the two TB options and try one of those if it’s a good deal.
Had a very inpleasant stay at the Hampton. They made the bed but did not change bedsheets after a departing guest. Never again. Moxy is ok, but bad soundproofing. Try aloft or HIX if not too expensive.
OT – Staying at the HIlton Deansgate in Manchester, regarding car parking, i believe the hotel recommends The NCP Great Northern next door to it but not heard great reviews online and I will be travelling around manchester so hate multiple car parking tickets to claim in the end, wondering if anyone can suggest any nearby suitable alternatives?
Q-Parks on First Street is close by, cheaper and does online deals through their App.
Parking in that part of Manchester is expensive, plus lots of car crime so I advise you park in a reputable car park only.
+1 no problems with Qpark and to keep it site-focused: you can earn a few Virgin points through their app. 1st Street is a nicely developed area. The REAL bargain is a cheap deal at the Premier Inn opposite 1st Street … with free parkingfor guest, if you have a vehicle then the cost covers parking and the room is basically free!
+1 Q-Parks.
In regards to the Groupon deal for Luton lounge – I totally missed on the Groupon site that the deal was only supposed to be valid until 30th September, and bought two for our flights to Geneva from Luton in December. The code OUTLOOK takes 20% off the price, so it was £39.60 for 2 people.
Anyway, it let me book fine on the lounge site you go to to make your booking, so that’s a result! We do have flights in September as well, so would have booked it for those dates if the December one proved to be a problem (in fact I’ve just got my husband to buy two more passes for those flights using the discount code!). Works out slightly cheaper than paying the £20 per person with gold Amex and lounge club (no free lounges for us unfortunately), plus a hopefully nicer lounge that is actually booked. More often than not at Luton the No. 1 Lounge is full and we get turned away.
Tried to book a Gold Priority Award to MUC. Was quoted the highest Avios price + £1 (30K Avios + £1,not say 18K Avios + £35 like previously) and no other pricing options available. In my opinion BA basically gutted the whole Gold Priority Award scheme by doing this.
Oh dear. Hope this is a glitch. Or maybe they can compensate by allowing one to use a 241 voucher?
I booked 4 GPR the other week at the old prices. Seems to be ‘hang up and call again’ time.
OT: Have Virgin matched BA on the cut in economy class fuel surcharge from the US?
A bunch of their routes have the economy class surcharge at £75 looking today.
I could have sworn it was more than 100 quid for the one way when I was looking at similar one ways a few months ago.
Dear Share picking game player,
Just three weeks ago any players who held Thomas Cook in our fantasy share picking game were nursing a holiday hangover when its share price crashed.
But picking the world’s oldest package holiday company for your portfolio paid off last week, when Thomas Cook’s share price unexpectedly rocketed.
It was particularly good news for player Squillion who picked Thomas Cook on Tuesday at 1.30pm and by the close of the stock market on Friday was an astonishing 98.47% up.
That was enough to bag him the latest £500 weekly prize for the best fresh share pick of the week, squeezing out other players who also profited in the game from Thomas Cookbut not quite to the same extent.
I call that an iPad Pro 🙂
or 50,000 free Avios 🙂
You deserve it – well done mate.
thanks Russ! 🙂
Well done @Shoestring.
heh heh 🙂
you should give it a go – there are currently 9000 players, so not too bad opposition – half of them will be choosing Unilever so out of the game – you need to choose silly penny shares that might double in a week
I’m up 54% on a share this week (which would have won me the £500 in the first 4 weeks).
rules are important, timing is pick a share after 5pm Friday, it runs for share picks every 24hrs
* sorry every week after Friday 5pm, ie 7 days
https://sharegame.thisismoney.co.uk
What can I say 🙂
I won a neat iPad off Nespresso as well 🙂
Share the love…give it to Rob for an HfP competition 🙂
Well done Harry!
Do you do a lot of competitions Harry or just the odd one here and there? Reports seem to suggest that those who take it as seriously as we take avios etc win a lot.
just a couple a year, mostly on HfP!
@Shoestrinh, in that case keep the iPad for yourself.
I think we both know there are vast differences between games of chance and games of skill
OT – a follow up to my question yesterday. I have a reward return booking with BA using 241 voucher. I have flown the 1st leg of the booking, but have been forced to postpone the 2nd (inbound) leg for a year due to an injury.
Question – can I call BA and add another leg (outbound) to the same booking to make use of the same 241 voucher Avios savings?
I don’t think you can make changes once you’ve flown the outbound, though I may be wrong. But I’m very confused about your circumstances, have you been repatriated early? Hope the injury heals soon anyway.
Changes to the return are allowed once outbound has been flown but it isn’t possible to cancel it for a
refund. Following yesterday’s question I am guessing illuminatus has changed it and now
hopes they can add the original 241 to a new outbound to pair with the changed return. If this is correct it is not going to happen as that would be a 341. However, I too am confused about the circumstances so that might not be it.
OT: In Tesco extra today the toll operator refused to allow me to use an amazon gift card to meet the threshold to use a MOC. First time this has ever happened to me, maybe I just got unlucky or perhaps Tesco or this specific store are now tightening up on this.
The switched on ones do. Best to pick a youngish looking one who doesn’t know ar*e from elbow (or if they do probably doesn’t care)
Yes, if I’m going to Tesco I normally go on a Sunday for that reason but today we were out of almost everything including petrol (the 10p voucher started today I think ).
@Mark, I hot the warning bells immediately as the guy even asked if I would be using any coupons before he started putting my stuff through. He was lucky that I was only £2 short of spend requirement and could easily pick up another item to make it. Otherwise I might have been tempted to walk because my more usual split is about 50/50 groceries and giftcard. I’ll be back to old school milk and giftcard on a Sunday from now on.
When I used to get MOCs I always used them completely for gift cards. You do have to choose the cashier and if they demur make them cancel the transaction and try another day/store.
They even say no alcohol in the small print I think? Often added a bottle of port or scotch to meet the minimum with no problems – maybe give this a try.
OT: Just out of idle curiosity, I was trying to compare the IBIS Business Card with the Accor Business Plus subscription. Both appear to be explicitly open to everyone (including non-business customers).
The (more expensive) Accor Business Plus gives a bigger discount across most (all?) Accor brands, but am I right in thinking it *doesn’t* grant elite status in Le Club AccotHotels – unlike the cheaper IBIS Business Card, which gives Gold.
Is it possible to have both at the same time?
Although Accor Business Plus does advertise guaranteed room availability 48 hours out, which is normally a Platinum benefit.
It’s eniirely academic, as I’ve already optied for the IBIS Business Card to get Gold status, and really am not interested in paying more than that. Am jsut curious, is all…
When I had the Gold Business it did guarantee availability 48 hours out.
the only good thing about this card for me was that basically you were getting the same rate as a nonchangeable booking, but able to cancel on the day most of the time.
the so-called 10% off practically never happens. 5% is what you get almost all of the time no matter what your Accor level or subscription.
Oh, and no discernable improvement in Accor’s complete waste of time customer service either through paying for the card.
I;d advise you to calculate 5% on your regular stays and work out if you cover the cost of the card or not. Other than the 5% the only benefit is the late cancellation on a non-cancellable-level rate.
So it depends on the amount of changeability you need, if the card is worth it or not to you..
Choose carefully which country/currency you buy the card in, and from where.
Also beware in the year I had it, the Gold status cancelled at the end of the calendar year even though the expiry date of the card was in the New Year. When I pointed out to Accor Customer Service that this meant someone was only getting one month of the benefit that was sold as valid for a year, they said “that’s the way it works and we can’t change it”. I’d be interested to know if that has been fixed.
Thanks for the detailed write up, Lady London. According to a recent post by Accor on FT, the Ibis Business Card gives you Gold until the end of the year in which the Business Card expires.
Having just signed up for the 2-year Business Card, I will be rather peaved if I only get 5 months of Le Club Gold, rather than the 2 years plus that I’m expecting. I’ll report back in the new year, if I remember…
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