Any real value in the IHG scheme vs. booking through an intermediary?
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As I understand it, the IHG scheme only gives benefits for direct bookings, ie. via IHG or the hotel.
I have booked for 14 nights at the Holiday Inn Algarve via Mercury Holidays for £796.80 including return easyJet flights, a double room for sole-occupancy and on a ‘full board plus’ basis (i.e. three meals plus wine while eating). Checking the IHG site for the same dates and room type, the hotel is £1889 on breakfast and dinner, i.e. no lunch, no wine and no flights!
Is there any value at all in booking direct?
There won’t be £1000 worth of value booking direct, that’s for sure.
Booking direct isn’t always the best value (though I hope the food at HI is good enough for 15 days’ full board!). E.g., often you can get hotel plus parking at HIE at MAN for considerably less than booking direct via Holiday Extras, and hotels .com had had the Hilton Doubletree there for less than the HH rate.
hotels .com had had the Hilton Doubletree there for less than the HH rate.
You should try a Hilton best rate guarantee if the rate conditions were the same.
That price difference is too big to care. My only concern with 3rd Party bookings is getting the crapest room, no doubt some (most/all?) hotels prioritise direct booking in terms of allocating nicer rooms.
Package holiday companies — which I assume Mercury are — can access cheaper hotels and cheaper flights than the rest of us. Your example is extreme, but not entirely surprising.
That price difference is too big to care. My only concern with 3rd Party bookings is getting the crapest room, no doubt some (most/all?) hotels prioritise direct booking in terms of allocating nicer rooms.
And some hotels seem to delight in giving top status members the worst room
@John – I did ask the Doubletree about this, they told me to book via hotels.com and that they would honour my gold status in terms of upgrade and breakfast (though everyone seems to get breakfast there and we’re usually leaving too early to eat it anyway). For the sake of one night I wasn’t bothered enough to push it – it was another night towards the free night from hotels .com which will outweigh any points I would have earned on the booking.
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