Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Get a great points deal at the new Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour hotel

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If you’re heading down to Sydney this year, here is a good hotel deal to consider.

In mid April, a new Crowne Plaza hotel is opening – Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour.

I don’t know anything about Sydney so I can’t comment on the location, which is apparently in the CBD near the Convention Centre. However, I can comment on the value!  As a redemption, Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour is currently just 30,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night.

Cash rates are around A$400 (£210) per night, so you are getting a far better deal than my usual 0.4p per point.

It is also worth noting that the Holiday Inn Darling Harbour is 40,000 points per night but noticeably cheaper than the Crowne Plaza for cash.  There is nothing surprising about this, though, as IHG will often use discounted redemption rates to push business towards brand new hotels.

The hotel website is here if you want to take a look.  The official opening date is 15th April but history shows that you should have a back-up plan if you are planning to stay within 2-3 weeks of the stated opening date of any hotel …..

PS.  If you missed it, take a look at our recent article on 10 good reasons to get the FREE IHG Rewards Club Mastercard credit card.


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 (122)

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  • Brasov says:

    Melia’s homepage shows a £50 Amazon gift card with January sale bookings. Does anyone know the T&Cs – I can’t find any

    • Brasov says:

      Thanks. Worth an article perhaps? It’s as good as Hilton’s offer.

      PS. Are you going to the party?

      • Brasov says:

        I wonder how they define city hotel

      • Shoestring says:

        no – unfortunately impossible to justify the time required (I live in Cornwall) as my wife is often unavailable (eg in Germany for 6 days right now) and 3 kids to sort out

        hope everyone has a great time & look forward to some reports/ photos

  • xcalx says:

    OT I used a lloyds voucher to book LBA-LHR-BCN for 2 x pax I was only allowed to upgrade 1 flight so chose LHR-BCN. Will I get CE baggage allowance, can I check in at CE desk and will I have lounge access at LBA. Thanks

    • BJ says:

      I replied to this for you late in the day you originally posted so you might want to have a look.

      • BJ says:

        Sorry, I see you clarify by mentioning two pax this time, that means you can only upgrade one way. However, you chose outbound so the LBA-LHR sector should also be in CE which would allow you the extra baggage, priority check in, fast track and lounge at LBA (if available) as well as LHR. The CSA has processed this all wrong so I suggest you get back on the phone. You will have no perks for return flight from BCN-LHR

        • Anna says:

          +1 – both legs should be in CE, I have never not had this happen with 5 Lloyd’s vouchers!

          • xcalx says:

            Thanks BJ and Anna. Sorry for not replying yesterday, was at the football (don’t ask)
            I should have been clearer this is only a one way booking to connect with a cruise to Tampa.
            The Agent was insistent that only one leg could be booked in CE so chose the LHR-BCN leg.

            I should have ended the call prior to booking as the guy was useless but it had taken hours of waiting on the phone to get conected to this “special department” to use the voucher. As it stands now I have 2 x pax LBA-LHR in economy then 2 x pax LHR-BCN in CE.

            However I am not ticketed because he said he could not take payment that day because of a system error that would not allow ticketing from any Canadian airport plus EDI and LBA and would be in contact when the problem was sorted. I will be ready now with your information when/if he rings back.

  • letBagonesbe says:

    OT: Does anybody know that if I use my Virgin upgrade voucher to pay Economy miles for Prem Economy, can I then upgrade to Business by using more miles?

    • Ed says:

      I asked this question the other week and the answer seems to be that the PE ticket is issued in a class that isn’t able to be upgraded with miles. I wonder if you can use the upgrade bid section on MMB to upgrade with cash though?

      • ChrisC says:

        If it is offered (and accepted) then yes.

        But you definitly can’t use miles to upgrade to UC in advance. They might do it as check in on the day though.

  • andy says:

    Rob – any news from your friends at IHG about a Q1 accelerate promotion? I’ve got some hotel stays to book that I’ll probably go with Hilton unless there is a good IHG promo worth holiday off for,…

    • Rob says:

      No, it’s a bit odd I admit.

      • Andy says:

        Hmm very! Oh well, I’ll give them a few more days and then book with Hilton if nothing comes up.

        • Andrew says:

          Maybe once the current x4 promotion ends at the end of this month

          • Lyn says:

            Perhaps they consider the “up to 4x” promotion good enough for the rest of January and are waiting to merge the different accelerate cycles from last year back into one.

      • Andrew says:

        Oh well, I had 4 IHG stays lined up for the next few weeks that I’ve switched to Hilton due to no Accelerate.

        • TGLoyalty says:

          4x was a pretty good promo had c33k from it so far I only managed 35k from the Q4 accelerate.

    • ChrisC says:

      Bit annoying isn’t it/

      I was hoping for one as well. I was in Manchester last weekend and booked a night in the Crowne Plaza and 2 at the Holiday Inn hoping that would set me on the way as I usually ger a ‘stay in 3 braands’ bonus.

      Still I got the 2 and then 3 x bonus miles so not all doom and gloom (as well as getting upgraded at both hotels)

  • chef says:

    Neil, You may want to check the *taxes* on MAN-LHR-TLV in first as compared with LHR-TLV?
    Much as the Avios is the same us northerners get shafted on the extra *taxes*

  • Shoestring says:

    [MONZO co-founder Paul Rippon has stepped down from the digital bank to farm alpacas with his wife in Northumberland.]

    smart – get out while the going is good

  • luckyjim says:

    You cannot compare Darling Harbour to Sydney Harbour. The Holiday Inn is one if the best located hotels in the city for views of the Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge. The extra 10k is well worth it, particularly if you have status.

  • Anna says:

    OT – has anyone ever used the Club America lounge in Concourse F at MIA? We will be there in April for an onwards flight in economy to the Caribbean and will have 2 free Lounge Club passes (but presumably will have to pay the fee for our teenager). I was considering using the passes there but the reviews on TripAdvisor are absolutely awful!

    • Michael says:

      It is truly awful. Visited a couple years ago when flying airberlin (that was their designated contract lounge). I walked in and left again 2 mins later. The terminal was grim too but seemed preferable!

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