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Want to see Charles crowned King? Here is where you can use your hotel points

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Last week, the date for King Charles III’s coronation was announced as Saturday 6th May 2023.

Hotel availability quickly dried up – either from people eager to book or from hotels promptly pulling all inventory so that they could charge more later. Rooms which are bookable have shot up in price.

There are, however, still a decent amount of rooms available that you can book with points. To make your life easier, we thought we’d put together a list of all the central London hotels where you can still book a standard redemption on points for the coronation weekend.

Here is what we found. All prices are in points per night and based on a two night stay from Friday 5th to Sunday 7th May – you may find more availability if you just want one night.

We have only included hotels with available at standard rates in the case of Hilton, or ‘not totally crazy’ rates for Marriott and IHG which use a version of dynamic pricing. In addition, a hotel had to be either:

  • situated in walking distance of Westminster Abbey, or
  • lower cost but close to a DLR or tube station with frequent links to the centre

We excluded Accor Live Limitless and Radisson Rewards because those schemes use 100% dynamic pricing. They offer no opportunity for ‘bargains’ when using points.

Hilton Honors

Hilton is offering a bonus of 80%-100% when you buy points via this link by 22nd November.

  • Hart Shoreditch, a Curio Collection Hotel: 80,000 points
  • Hilton London Hyde Park: 60,000 points
  • The Gantry London, a Curio Collection Hotel: 70,000 points (in Stratford)
  • DoubleTree by Hilton London Excel: 60,000 points
  • Hampton by Hilton London Docklands: 45,000 points
  • The Waldorf Hilton: 80,000 points (your best option based on location)
Marriott County Hall London South Bank

Marriott Bonvoy

Andaz Liverpool Street room space

World of Hyatt

IHG One Rewards

IHG is offering a bonus of 100% when you buy points via this link by 21st February.

  • Kimpton Fitzroy London (reviewed here): 115,500 points
  • Holiday Inn Express London Victoria: 115,500 points (crazy price but a short walk)
  • Holiday Inn Regent’s Park: 68,500 points
  • Crowne Plaza King’s Cross: 72,500 points
  • Hotel Indigo London Paddington: 89,000 points
  • Holiday Inn Express London City: 59,000 points
  • Hotel Indigo London Kensington: 68,500 points
  • Holiday Inn London Whitechapel: 48,500 points
  • InterContinental London The O2 (reviewed here): 67,500 points
  • Holiday Inn Express London Stratford: 62,000 points

There are plenty of options to choose from, at least for now, with Hilton having the tightest availability. As usual, Hyatt is your best bet because it guarantees to make standard rooms available for points if they are available for cash.


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.

Comments (35)

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

  • johnny_c-l says:

    Interestingly the Waldorf seems to have restricted availability for single night despite having availability for the weekend. Not something I’ve noticed the chain do before.

  • KevinS says:

    You need a suitcase full of cash to be able to pay the rates being asked by hotels that weekend!

  • William Denby says:

    I have a spare 59000 virgin miles. I can transfer to Hyatt ihg or Marriott I think. The conversion rates are different. Is there one particular scheme where the conversion/ redemption rates mean it would be best to use a particular chain?

  • Chrisdf says:

    Off topic, I’ve made a points restriction for 1 night for my parents at my local Marriott. I’ve got platinum status but there’s not a huge benefit at this hotel. Should I bother contacting the hotel to ensure their names are added and mine removed or just let them check in?

    • Rob says:

      Give them a credit card of yours that they can show as ID to be you and it’s fine.

      • Deb20 says:

        Most UK Marriott hotels now insist on photo ID on check-in from ordinary mortals!

  • John G says:

    Do Marriott have a box in the abbey as I’d also like to get in to watch the show?

    • AJA says:

      They’re likely to have a box on the wall of your hotel room (called a TV). This will be far more comfortable and you will get close up coverage and detailed commentary from the likes of Gyles Brandreth, depending on your broadcaster of choice.. What’s not to like? 😀

    • ankomonkey says:

      LOL 🙂

  • Tim says:

    What are the chances that a greedy hotel will cancel a points booking to resell the room.

    • Rob says:

      Low, because the hotel will get paid 95% of its standard rate by the programme if the hotel is 95% full. I just got the bill (accidentally) for a Kimpton Paris points stay on Monday and it was €638. IHG is paying that.

      • Steve says:

        Interesting! I got the room bill accidentally for a stay in a London hotel for Friday past where rooms were selling for £250 and up and IHG were paying the magnificent sum of £39 plus VAT on my behalf.

        • John says:

          You can always see how much IHG paid in your account, you don’t need to get the bill accidentally

  • Richie says:

    Another shorter article might be ‘Want to see Eurovision in Liverpool?…’

    • Michael C says:

      Yes, please!
      Our current option would be 4 of us sleeping in our Hyundai i10 in a car park…

      • OP says:

        I believe the Aloft pulled all the points availability as soon as Liverpool was in the mix, and that’s allowed as Marriott hotels can allocate blackout dates…

        They were selling entry level rooms for 999GBP (now sold out)

    • Sussex bantam says:

      I think your bigger issue might be getting tickets

    • lumma says:

      I have a feeling that Liverpool hotels (and vicinity) will come down a lot once hardly anyone who wants to go gets tickets

      • Save East Coast Rewards says:

        That’s quite likely I got some bargains in London during the 2012 Olympics. When there’s a big event on hotels tend to put their prices up to maximise profit then assuming rooms are left free they end up going on sale cheaper nearer the time.

    • John T says:

      Agreed – the prices are absolutely absurd. A crappy one-bedroom Airbnb is £2,000 per night. Surely people just won’t go if they have to pay that much for accom?

    • Save East Coast Rewards says:

      All this information is freely available if you have points in a hotel chain, just log in and do the search yourself! Waiting for an article appear just means people who are more determined to get the tickets have more time to do so before you jump in.

  • janolabs says:

    What about Conrad London St. James (by Hilton)? You can’t be closer to Westminster Abbey than that…!? Sold out?

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