Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

IHG adds a Surrey countryside hotel to its voco brand

Links on Head for Points may support the site by paying a commission.  See here for all partner links.

This is an interesting one.

IHG is adding the Lythe Hill Hotel to its voco brand later in the Spring.

Lythe Hill is a historic country house hotel set in 22 acres of woodland on the Surrey / Sussex hills. It is a converted farm house and outbuildings on the outskirts of Haslemere, parts of which date back to the 15th century.

Don’t be fooled by this picture:

voco Lythe Hill Hotel

…. because it is actually quite a large complex. What is a little odd is that this is, looking at its website, a wedding venue with only a handful of rooms. This means that it will be heavily booked virtually every weekend already and potentially doesn’t need the additional ad-hoc guests that being part of IHG One Rewards will bring.

The rooms look a little dated but the spa looks decent and there is also a swimming pool:

voco Lythe Hill hotel pool

The hotel currently has 43 rooms but IHG is saying there will soon be 99, so clearly some construction is going on prior to it adopting the voco brand

Lythe Hill is already bookable on ihg.com as an unbranded hotel, with the switch to voco still to come.

It is decent value for redemptions. All dates are currently fixed at 30,000 IHG One Rewards points whilst cash rates in Summer reach £200 for entry level rooms.

You may prefer to pay cash regardless, however. Oddly, whilst the entry level rooms can reach £200, the top suites are only £240. I’d pay the extra £40 and enjoy massively more space.

The hotel is here on ihg.com.

PS. IHG has also added three new UK Holiday Inn hotels recently:

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 (17)

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

  • Willmo says:
    4 Mar4 March 07:34

    I’m sure I’m missing something here, but I thought Aer Lingus wasn’t allowed to operate domestic U.K. flights. Doesn’t Belfast – Isle of Man fall into that category?

    • Rob says:
      4 Mar4 March 08:28

      Emerald Airlines UK Ltd seems to be the operator, presumably with its own CAA licence.

      • Stu N says:
        4 Mar4 March 08:52

        They have 5 aircraft based at Belfast City flying to Great Britain so must have a UK operator’s licence.

        The Cork-Bristol flight is a welcome return to Cork, I hope it’s a beachhead at ORK for them. Suspect it will be a W pattern from a Dublin based aircraft. Stobart who used to be the franchisee for Aer Lingus Regional had a base and 2 or 3 aircraft at Cork, there was clearly a market pre-covid, let’s hope Ryanair haven’t eaten their lunch in the meantime.

        Cork is well worth a visit, both the city and the surrounding countryside and it’s a great wee airport – like a micro T5.

        • Michael says:
          4 Mar4 March 10:58

          Emerald has a U.K. licence and an Irish licence. It needs the U.K. licence for BHD domestics though the DUB and ORK to GB routes could be operated under either licence.

          I flew with them from BHD a few times this week. On all the flights the crew made an announcement about the flight being operated by Emerald Airlines on behalf of Aer Lingus. That said, two of the four flights were on a G reg aircraft and the other two were on EI reg aircraft. I thought all the U.K. domestic routes had to be on G reg.

    • Nick says:
      4 Mar4 March 11:08

      IOM is significantly less domestic than the dozen or so other UK routes Emerald operates from Belfast!

      The key thing that Willmo is missing is that these aren’t operated by Aer Lingus but rather Emerald Airlines, which does have a UK AOC. If the ATR had been considered enough capacity they could have taken over the LHR route from EI, but it isn’t so they didn’t.

    • Mark says:
      4 Mar4 March 11:40

      The IOM isn’t actually part of the UK. It is a self-governing British Crown Dependency…

      • Willmo says:
        4 Mar4 March 19:47

        Haha, thanks for all the insightful responses and educating me.

  • Blair Waldorf Salad says:
    4 Mar4 March 12:11

    Emerald’s overheard compartments are tiddly so can be problematic if connecting on or off a long haul at DUB as EI mainline sized cabin bags must ve put in the hold.

    • Stu_N says:
      4 Mar4 March 12:18

      …which isn’t so bad going US – Dublin – UK as you can gate check it and drop it at the steps, less good going to the US.

      Common source of grief at Edinburgh particularly with US travellers; saw one argument resolved by the cabin crew allowing lady to take bag on the plane so she could see it doesn’t fit for herself….sheepishly returned to them to check it.

  • NorthernLass says:
    4 Mar4 March 12:54

    The “new” HI at MAN is usually over £150 pn (£170 flexible) for cash and isn’t offering reward nights at all atm. The HIE just off-site is a much more reasonable option if you’re driving, especially as of course breakfast is included, whereas it’s an extra £10 pp at the HI.

    • TGLoyalty says:
      4 Mar4 March 14:01

      Unless you’re diamond 😉

      • NorthernLass says:
        4 Mar4 March 15:25

        Diamond is a bit like Schroedinger’s cat atm. I both am, and am not, in respect of future bookings!

        • Matarredonda says:
          4 Mar4 March 16:50

          In my case not atm but so long as I complete 8 paid bookings by end of March am back in!

  • Chrisdf says:
    4 Mar4 March 16:30

    OT, my Marriott status still shows as platinum. I gained it early 2020 and it’s been rolled forward as platinum to my understanding til end Feb 2023. Have I somehow got lucky or will it drop to gold in the coming days?

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

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Got any questions? Ask them in our forums.

Latest Forum Posts

Get 40,000 bonus points (worth 40,000 Avios) and £300 dining credit with The Platinum Card

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Get £10 when you spend £150 on your free Currensea card

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.7 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

SME? EARN POINTS WORTH 10,500 AVIOS WITH CAPITAL ON TAP

Get 20,000 bonus points, four airport lounge passes and your first year free with American Express Gold

The UK's biggest frequent flyer website uses cookies, which you can block via your browser settings. Continuing implies your consent to this policy. Our privacy policy is here.

Got it!