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IHG opens the voco Oxford Spires hotel – and it’s just 20,000 points per night

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IHG has completed the rebranding of Principal Oxford Spires as voco Oxford Spires.  The hotel website is here and there is a picture below.

vovo is IHGs new upscale ‘conversion’ brand.  It allows hotels to become part of IHG without having to sign up to the strict list of ‘do’s and dont’s’ which come with its other brands such as Crowne Plaza.

voco Oxford Spires

These demands can be exceptionally picky – when I toured Kimpton Fitzroy in London, for example, I was told that they had to add flavoured water to the fridge in the gym, alongside normal water, because it is a brand requirement.  The delay in converting Principal Manchester to Kimpton is, I understand, over the requirement for an expensive air conditioning system.

As a launch offer, you can book voco Oxford Spires for just 20,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night until mid February.  This is very good value, especially for peak dates.

For comparison, the second voco in Oxford – voco Oxford Thames – is 40,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night.

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.

Category

IHG One Rewards

Comments (157)

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

  • Matthew says:
    23 Nov23 November 08:21

    I’m staying in the W Abu Dhabi next week for the F1 Grand Prix. Managed to bag a 5 night points redemption over the race weekend for 100,000 points. Not bad when cash rates have consistently been about £1k per night! 🙂

    • N says:
      23 Nov23 November 08:50

      Wow, well done!

      • Matthew says:
        23 Nov23 November 09:25

        A few rooms became available for a short time about 5 months ago. I actually set an alert on another website to let me know when a standard room became available and then as soon as it did….points reservations were open.

        I don’t think it will stay as a Cat 4 hotel now it’s become a ‘W’.

    • S879 says:
      23 Nov23 November 08:50

      Please do report back as staying there with family in April 2020.

    • EJH says:
      23 Nov23 November 08:57

      Good work! Just curious, when booking was it possible to book the trackside rooms on points (or not available / no distinction made)? Just tried a dummy booking for other dates (non-GP weekend) and they only offer one category (no distinction made) of room. Thanks!

      • Matthew says:
        23 Nov23 November 09:23

        You just get the standard room in points and they add a request for trackside and try to accommodate. I will keep fingers crossed but prob will just be a normal view! Still…it will be fab experience/atmosphere over race weekend anyhow.

        • EJH says:
          23 Nov23 November 09:27

          Absolutely! Thanks for the intel, and enjoy the weekend!

        • JP says:
          23 Nov23 November 09:50

          We did this on points last year, charged £100s for passes we did not want. Special race weekend menus with very special race weekend prices. The passes give you access to a garden next to the hotel, a 330 ml Heineken was £20 and a glass of Moët £70 😮 bottle of Dom Perignon £1300 😂

    • BLT says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:46

      Am staying at the W for the F1 aswell. Managed to use my legacy Marriott Travel package for the room, which I couldn’t find any other use for, so in effect cost me minimal points. Have also used a cheap Marriott moments for qualifying day which gets me access in the evening to the RC Yacht.

      • Matthew says:
        23 Nov23 November 11:58

        Same here – we have used points for the Sat and Sun Grandstand passes and access to the yacht so will see you there!

      • Matthew says:
        23 Nov23 November 12:45

        Just had the itinerary through – and they’ve changed access times to the yacht, no longer Sat eve. A little bit of a shame as that would have been superb. I’ve dropped them an email to ask why…

        • BLT says:
          23 Nov23 November 15:00

          Matthew, is the race day still evening access to Yacht? Seems a bit odd to change qualifying day, I have also emailed querying this. See you there!

          • Matthew says:
            23 Nov23 November 15:07

            Race day was always ‘brunch’ at lunchtime on the yacht. It was just Fri and Sat evenings on the yacht. That was the only reason I redeemed for the Sat as well as the Sun!! Yes see you there. I’m going with a pal of mine from work Fri-Wed. All the best, Matthew.

  • The Original Nick says:
    23 Nov23 November 08:32

    OT, has anyone any idea when the IHG Q1 2020 Promotion will show up given previous years?

  • Kai says:
    23 Nov23 November 08:44

    Courtyard at 12500 points is a much better deal.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      23 Nov23 November 08:55

      Depends if you have a car and not all points are equal.

      But given cash rates the courtyard is a great deal on some nights.

  • The Streets says:
    23 Nov23 November 09:32

    OT in people’s experience how long does it take to transfer points from Marriott to an airline programme? Over the phone yesterday they said it should be instant but it has now been more than 24 hours

    • Rob says:
      23 Nov23 November 09:48

      Absolutely not instant. Took 28 days for a Miles & More transfer a few years ago! That is extreme though.

    • Chrisasaurus says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:29

      Depends on the airline

      I’ve done three or four transfers to AA and they’ve all been 3 working days

    • Lyn says:
      23 Nov23 November 14:55

      3 days to Alaska this week. it shows as transferred out of SPG/Marriott instantly, perhaps that is what they meant. I think I’ve seen an article somewhere with the approximate transfer times to different airlines.

  • tony says:
    23 Nov23 November 09:34

    This is interesting as Montcalm does have a loyalty scheme, but it is closing. Wonder if the whole thing is going over to Bonvoy? I’ve got 13,000 points there but it’s not enough for a free night.

  • Froggitt says:
    23 Nov23 November 09:39

    Talking of Oxford, the Crowne Plaza Heythrop Park is no longer a Crowne Plaza or part of IHG.

    • John says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:59

      Thank god for that. Love Crowne Plaza brand but that hotel was terrible and not worth price charged to stay there.

  • Shoestring says:
    23 Nov23 November 10:20

    O/T how soon do we get to see the new Virgin/ Delta/ AF/ KLM combined loyalty prog/ mutual points redemption activated, now it got the go-ahead from US Department of Transportation?

    • BJ says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:32

      AFAIK, it is just a partnership, not a combined scheme.

      • Rob says:
        23 Nov23 November 11:27

        Article on Monday. I assume not long given how long they have had to prepare.

      • Shoestring says:
        23 Nov23 November 11:28

        yep but most Virgin miles holders just want to know when they can use them on AF/ KLM

        could just be weeks away

    • Doug M says:
      23 Nov23 November 13:17

      Do KLM/AF have an equivalent to RFS, are fees reasonable on short haul?

      • Rob says:
        23 Nov23 November 16:13

        Up to Virgin as to what fees they charge. Immaterial what Flying Blue charges for the same flight.

      • the_real_a says:
        23 Nov23 November 18:27

        KLM / AF – reasonable depends on your definition of the alternative. You are looking at £80-100 (return) fees on short-hauls, more with a connection. I have never bothered with a redemption despite having a pile of points when the lo-co alternatives are cheaper and do not require any points. I’m quite sure there will be some oddball exceptions. Personally i feel its a waste of space.

        Hopefully Virgin will feel the need to compete with RFS someway.

      • BJ says:
        23 Nov23 November 20:30

        The key point is that if you get one of the shorthaul seats at 6000 miles you will find that the amount of cash you have to pay for it is similar or more than you would expect to pay for a flight with the likes of Easyjet or Ryanair. Were you to take a return for 12000 then you would find that the amount of cash is not that much different for a return cash flight on the same AF/KLM flight. You might start to think of some circumstances under which the redemption might make sense…until you check availability and discover tge amount if miles required under these circumstances is much more than 6000.

  • Ed says:
    23 Nov23 November 10:35

    From the Curve FAQs

    Can I use Curve to make payments to HMRC?

    If you decide to use the Curve card with a credit card selected as your payment card, starting on the 21st of January 2020, you may be charged a fee. For Curve Blue (free) and Curve Black (including Curve Black Legacy users) customers you will be charged 1.5% of the amount of the transaction. There is no charge to Curve Metal customers.

    • Leo says:
      23 Nov23 November 10:48

      Thanks for the heads up – showing on the website as you say. Right then – that’s Curve binned after this year’s tax being paid a couple of weeks early. I’m not even sure I can be bothered to continue to pay the £99 for the IHG Black card anymore. Life changes mean that I don’t travel long haul now for work or leisure (Europe only) and the various changes over the last 12 months with Amex at al mean I’m virtually out of the airmiles and hotels points game with this last blow. I continue to wish Rob well with this site but interest must have taken a battering over the last 18 months or so….

      • BJ says:
        23 Nov23 November 11:13

        OT @HarryT: Be sure to read replies to your comments on Atlanta a350 article.

      • Rob says:
        23 Nov23 November 11:22

        No, oddly. Readership is virtually identical to a year ago despite Amex changes. Bulk of readers are regular business travellers remember who earn most of their points the hard way – the 100 who provide the comments are not representative of the 40,000 total.

        Bizarrely the biggest hit has been the end of the £50 Amazon Business sign-up promo which was almost 10% of our revenue whilst it was running! And that had nothing to do with miles …

        • Doug M says:
          23 Nov23 November 13:26

          By hard way you mean flying? I always think that’s the easy way.

          • BJ says:
            23 Nov23 November 16:31

            +1, especially if employers are paying.

          • Chrisasaurus says:
            23 Nov23 November 16:39

            Not in long haul Y it ain’t 😥

          • Lady London says:
            23 Nov23 November 18:19

            Especially if employers are paying longhaul Y is not OK! 🙂

          • Doug M says:
            23 Nov23 November 19:03

            US North East isn’t bad in economy, avoid 777 10 across and 787 9 across. Essentially picking up thousands of Avios for something you either wanted to do, or an employer is paying you to do.
            Having to fly longer distances in economy for work and moaning is no different to thinking you’re not paid enough. Look for other work, refuse to travel. An employer can’t force you to travel, and if they have an economy only policy it must reasonably allow for rest and recovery either end.
            When I last flew economy LH for work I travelled on work days and when coming home never worked the day I arrived.

        • Leo says:
          23 Nov23 November 20:21

          Pleased to hear it Rob.

        • BJ says:
          23 Nov23 November 20:32

          I forgot there was such a thing as longhaul Y.

      • Doug M says:
        23 Nov23 November 13:24

        I think the biggest loss to me in the last year is not any direct Amex but the Lloyds version. £24 for free foreign spend and Avios on it, along with the very useful voucher was way more impactful to me than the Amex changes. As for Curve, that’s just a milk it until it folds or changes card.

    • Peter K says:
      23 Nov23 November 12:05

      Wow, thanks for that. A frustration and underhanded that they haven’t sent the info out via email, or a banner in the app, just as a note in their FAQs.

      • Peter K says:
        23 Nov23 November 12:08

        Looking at it a different way, it’s no different to HMRC charging 1.5% for taking a credit card directly like they used to…except that didn’t use up curve limits.

    • Alan says:
      23 Nov23 November 16:18

      Yep just saw this mentioned on the Curve Community today – disappointing that they’ve just snuck this out like this. There was a survey a few weeks back that mentioned it but surprised it’s come in so quickly.

      • BJ says:
        23 Nov23 November 16:28

        OT @Alan (@CV3V, @Erico and others in Edinburgh area: Not sure if you noticed but I reported (confirmed by Michael) a couple of weeks ago thst Easter Western Group which owns most car dealerships in Edinburgh take amex. So next time you need new wheels, just pop in your amex, don’t ask.

        • Alan says:
          23 Nov23 November 20:01

          Haha I’m not on here much so didn’t see – however I’ve gone to Tesla now so paid deposit online with IHG and now have £35k 0% 6y loan courtesy of Energy Savings Trust! 👍

          • BJ says:
            23 Nov23 November 20:36

            Did you move home? ISTR you had a charging issue when we discussed electric cars here once before?

          • Alan says:
            24 Nov24 November 00:23

            Nope, just went for Long Range Model 3 and using the excellent public charging infrastructure in Dundee (and the less good Edinburgh!)

          • BJ says:
            24 Nov24 November 05:32

            Yes, really odd, I’ve come across more charging points in the Highlands than U’ve seen in Edinburgh. When we can get a 4×4 crossover or SUV with a 200+ range we’ll join you. Nice car, happy motoring.

    • James says:
      23 Nov23 November 17:21

      In general what are the differences between the Black Legacy and the other curve cards ?
      What don’t us legacy users get ?
      What do us legacy users get ?

      I am not sure what the rules are, the benefits are and thus the best ways to ensure I’m getting the most out of it.
      Does the £200 withdrawal per month still work on the IHG Creation card as a purchase or have they gone the way of Tesco & Lloyds ?

      https://headforpoints.com/2019/10/26/why-you-should-get-a-free-curve-card-to-maximise-your-miles-and-points-from-credit-cards/

    • Lady London says:
      23 Nov23 November 18:13

      I wonder what notice period of such changes to be given to Curve users is required in the terms and conditions? Presumably people can’t be charged a new type of fee that wasn’t charged before to existing cardholders without some sort of notice to each individual cardholder being given?

      • EwanG says:
        23 Nov23 November 18:46

        At least 30 days notice, so they have a month to communicate it out to be effective from 21 Jan 2020. From the BBA: “For normal retail banking services, any disadvantageous change to the level of charge associated with the service should be personally notified to the customer in a durable medium at least 30 days before the change comes into force.”

        Putting the change on the FAQs will be insufficient – this will need to be personally notified, I expect email would be considered a durable medium.

        There is nothing on the website T&Cs about this just now, but I do notice it still refers to the Amex wallet top-up fees (https://www.curve.app/en-gb/terms).

    • Alan says:
      24 Nov24 November 00:24

      FAQ has now been pulled! No reason given but presumably is still on the cards…

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