What are the best hotel promos for September 2019?

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• GOONFACE says:

  9 Sep9 September 06:17

  IHG accelerate Q3 for me is quite simply, stay once and earn 1,000 points. That is it.

  I checked with IHG and they said this was correct and sorry I wasn’t eligible for anything better.

  I’ve decided to dedicate preference to Hilton for the rest of 2019 as I have already hit status with IHG, so net-net I’ll be better off points wise with crediting my stays to Hilton properties.

  • Stephen C says:

    9 Sep9 September 06:26

    Same here, so much for being Spire elite 🙁

    • tony says:

      9 Sep9 September 06:41

      I think something has changed in terms of Accelerate. Maybe it wasn’t delivering what they wanted but my offer for this quarter is very weak too, and I’m not putting much at all IH’s way at the moment.

      I have 8k for 2x 2 night weekend stays, 2.8k for staying in 2 brands and 6.6k for buying two bonus points stays – which I couldn’t even find on offer the last time I looked at an IHG hotel.

      • John says:

        9 Sep9 September 08:58

        You don’t need to book a specially named “bonus package”, at basically every IHG hotel there is an option to add bonus points during the booking process, but you just need to find one with a reasonable price (like less than £5 for 1000) as some can be outrageously priced.

        I don’t think anything has changed except the offers are getting generally weaker. Sometimes you get a good set of targets and sometimes you don’t. It has run for what, 10 times now, and I probably got good targets 5 times – the other 5 periods I simply used up the points I earned.

  • John says:

    9 Sep9 September 08:54

    Why are you bothering to earn IHG status in the first place?

    • Lady London says:

      9 Sep9 September 13:21

      The only reason i keep hoping Accelerate challenges will go back to at least relating slightly to my stay pattern, is that unlike say, Accor, IHG points costs for a stay are predictable.

      • Lady London says:

        9 Sep9 September 13:24

        But I have lost patience with IHG after 4 ridiculously impossible sets of Accelerate targets. Those wanted huge numbers of stays for b***”‘” all points earned.

        When I want to stay in a hotel now it’s Hilton, and when I need to it’s Accor.

• Graeme says:

  9 Sep9 September 07:23

  The Hilton promotion is for double/triple bonus points, not base points.

  • Brian W says:

    9 Sep9 September 08:14

    “Double Points” means you will receive a bonus equal to the number of Base Points earned during a stay.

    From the terms. Same difference!

  • John says:

    9 Sep9 September 08:55

    The double points are the bonus, and they are the number of base points, doubled.

• TripRep says:

  9 Sep9 September 09:56

  Word of warning with Hilton & Platinum Visa

  Booked the Conrad Istanbul using the GBP rate on website (mobile app doesn’t do currency conversion or allow flexible date search)

  Payment page shows Euros rather than GBP. I go online chat they confirm that I’ll be charged the GBP rate that was advertised with no exchange rate fees or credit card charges.

  Check my Visa statement a week later, I’ve been charged in Turkish lira and paying equivalent of £5 more / night than the advertised GBP rate

  Phoned Barclaycard Visa, they refund difference, said that I only need to show evidence (I have screenshots of the chat and the GBP rate) if the hotel queries it.

  Wondered if anyone else had encountered similar?

  • Shoestring says:

    9 Sep9 September 10:16

    5bobbill had it the other month

  • Andrew says:

    9 Sep9 September 10:57

    The Website makes it absolutely clear that you will be charged in local currency and the Sterling equivalent is an indicative rate.

    As soon as you select GBP, this warning box appears underneath your selection:-

    “The currency conversion is for comparison only; your reservations will be booked in the local hotel currency displayed. Currency rates utilized in each conversion rely upon several different public sources from other parties without independent investigation or verification and should be used only as examples. Hilton does not, and cannot, verify the accuracy of any rate conversion examples.”

    • TripRep says:

      9 Sep9 September 14:08

      Andrew – thanks for that honestly didn’t see it when I booked. And the agent also clearly misinformed me too.

      • Roy says:

        9 Sep9 September 19:34

        That’s pretty standard. Many (most?) hotels bill in local currency only.

    • TripRep says:

      9 Sep9 September 21:11

      I know why I missed it now, it assumes/requires that you scroll down after selecting the currency from the combo box that happens to be located at the very bottom of the screen. Something you’re not going to do if the room you’re after is the first choice at the top of the list..

      Poor User experience design on their behalf, should be a dialog box or state it on the payment page, which as I mentioned before actually shows euros, hence why I contacted the online chat.

      So its also inconsistent there too as my card was charged in Turkish Lira

  • John says:

    10 Sep10 September 08:59

    This is nothing new, basically every hotel in every country charges in their local currency, even if some hotels in Turkey advertise prices in euros. Maldives is the exception as the tourist islands operate in USD entirely.

    No hotel will charge you in GBP (except through DCC, which definitely won’t be the GBP rate using Hilton’s currency converter)

• Benylin says:

  9 Sep9 September 11:33

  OT: Does Marriott allow you book reward bookings even if you don’t have the points right now? If so, when do you need to pay the points by?

  • Rob says:

    9 Sep9 September 11:52

    Yes. However, under the new rules the price is not fixed so you are exposed if the hotel goes up in points price between the day you book and the day you get the points. I think you have until 14 days before arrival to earn them?

    • Freddy says:

      9 Sep9 September 12:09

      Is this new rule enforced now or only after 14th sept? I.e if I book now will the points remain the same if there is any change

• Graham Walsh says:

  9 Sep9 September 12:17

  Does anyone know how to add a booking to your Hilton account that is upcoming? Corp travel agent booked it and want to add my Diamond number to it before check in.

  • Travel Strong says:

    9 Sep9 September 12:23

    Quickest way is to just call the hotel, they will happily amend it.

  • AndyGWP says:

    9 Sep9 September 18:35

    Twitter always works for me 👍🏻

    • Graham Walsh says:

      9 Sep9 September 22:00

      Thanks

      • Lady London says:

        10 Sep10 September 14:49

        It’s a cut and paste.
        I usually call the hotel and add my number anyway, in any program, even if I’m not expecting benefits. Just want the programme to see that stay even if they don’t reward it.

        And the occasional hotel can be decent. Last one I did was overbooked and pretty sure that meant I wasn;t walked when I could have been based on no status unknown customer.

• Bootlace says:

  9 Sep9 September 13:55

  Since discovering HfP two years ago, I have become Hilton Diamond, Spire Ambassador, and Titanium Elite on Bonvoy so huge thanks to Rob and team for the info that has allowed me to achieve this.
  I tend to use Hilton the most regularly, their promotions in my experience are usually the most straightforward. As regards IHG, I will complete, or get close to my accelerate target in one quarter and then the next quarter I don’t use them at all, and substitute with Marriott or Radisson,. So far, its worked for me, as my Accelerate targets have been fairly generous, but hey, who knows the vagaries of the hotel chains algorithms around loyalty!

  • BJ says:

    9 Sep9 September 21:03

    Just curiou, which one do you feel has best-recognised your status? To date I love Hilton butam considering doing a Marriott challenge too. Spire has be little benefit to me last time or currently. Don’t really want to put effort into Marriott if their status recognition in Europe or Asia is lacklustre.

• Mr. AC says:

  10 Sep10 September 06:49

  Not sure about IHG, but e.g. Avios purchase from BA is actually via points.com which doesn’t have an airline MCC code.

• RICHARD GREEN says:

  11 Sep11 September 05:05

  i use hilton now and found it good value with the gold benefit,
  im looking at a holiday to stay at Le Meridean phuket beach resort , its a marriot, i can get a deal on expedia with business on quatar at 6300, i can save 200 booking seperatly BUT does Mariiot gold member get free breakfast like hilton ?
  also any advice on qatar planes to get best seats, were silver Ba so this will push us up well into gold

  • Rob says:

    11 Sep11 September 06:39

    Need to be Platinum with Marriott to get lounge or breakfast.

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