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Ideas/inspiration for short/medium haul IHG holiday hotel with 3y’old and new-ish born…
Looking to use points (250~350k points & Diamond) and minimal cash spend.
Previously when asked similar question, IC Festival City came very recommended. Kid friendly, with free breakfast as diamond but also “free” dinner if get lounge access as children can’t go lounge after 7pm so get redirected to buffet restaurant [that still the case?]. Also has good shallow pools and shopping mall next door if need baby supplies.
Would I get automatic lounge access if took out Ambassador?
The ICFC seems to really suit our needs but when comes down to it, not certain on going Dubai.
Anyone got any other suggestions?
Iberostar resorts should/could work but points seem bit lofty for what you get..
You don’t get lounge access with Ambassador. Personally with kids I would go somewhere with a decent amount of space (ideally a separate sleeping space for the kids) and some basic food preparation facilities. Also when are you going as you don’t want to be trapped inside for a big chunk of the day due to ridiculous temperatures?!
Hi there,
Looking to go Oct – Dec this year. It will be my final year [ever] as diamond so looking to get all I can from my final remaining IHG points as otherwise I’ll just end up spending them 35k a time in HIExpresses just off UK motorways on uninspiring journeys
I hear you! However, with a young family, Staybridge Suites could be of interest to you in future as it also includes breakfast and the properties are generally a lot nicer than HIEX.
My strategy for 2025 is to do 40 paid nights (with Emyr benefits on a good number of these) and get the lounge pass.
I don’t find IHG properties the best with children, which is probably why we’ve only really started using them in the past 3/4 years.
In a completely different direction, the Kimpton Seafire in Grand Cayman is a definite sweet spot – entry-level rooms are 70k points per night, and come with 2 double beds and a little kitchenette. It’s right on the beach and also has really nice pools, including a kids’ pool. You’ll get the free breakfast (which normally costs nearly $100 per day for 2!), plus wine/beer hour in the evening. The inevitable “resort fee” is spendy at $80 per night, but IIRC this might include some sort of kids’ meal deal, which would be useful.
If you want to blow your remaining points on somewhere fabulous, this is where I would recommend! There’s usually good avios availability to GCM as well.
I did IC DFC with similarly-aged children and it sounds like you’ve read my other recommendations so I won’t repeat myself too much.
I think the sweet spot room for your circumstances is the 1 bed suite with lounge access as then you’ve got a separate area you can hang out in during nap times. If your three year old is anything like mine they will also be mesmerised by the views.
I know you’ve mentioned using points, but worth being aware that you can currently get third night free on an IHG luxury and lifestyle rate (e.g. with Bon Vivant) on top of the usual perks. If you do want to use points, they will be able to upgrade you for the difference in best flexible rate between the room you’ve booked on points and the one you want. Ambassador wouldn’t get you lounge access, but you would get a bogof night voucher that could be good value for the $200.
You can get 30% off in the hotel’s restaurants and bars https://www.ihg.com/content/gb/en/deals/hotel-offers/dining-deals. There’s also a range of dining and drinking deals https://www.dubaifestivalcityhotels.com/diningoffers which will stack with the discount.
Q4 makes it a bit of a weather gamble with much of the European Iberostar portfolio, although early October might work. Have a look at Albufera Park or maybe the not-yet-open Intercontinental in Crete. Canaries are the obvious option for pleasant weather later in the year, have a look at Anthelia and Lanzarote Park.
IC Festival City has a pool at about floor 8 (i could be wrong) with sunbeds, splash pool for kids, and various strips of grassy area with sunbeds leading to the Crowne Plaza’s pool. It is not a huge space overall and I think kids could go stir crazy there after a few days. Wide open beach and massive pool it ain’t!
IC Festival City is where I tend to stay the night before a flight home to ensure 16.00 checkout and then a meal on site before leaving for the airport around 22.00. However I wouldn’t linger there. For reasons unclear to me it attracts a rather more orthodox Arab crowd than other Dubai hotels I’ve been to. It’s the sort of hotel where I’d find some reason to not get in a lift if a local man and wives were also waiting.
I didn’t fancy any of the IHG properties in Dubai. We stayed at GH, but if I was going with kids Le Meridien Beach was delightful – multiple pools and a flock of resident peacocks in the lovely grounds (also polygamous, I think!)
We’ve got the IC Doha Beach & Spa booked for next Feb (hopefully still be Diamond until the end of the month 😬), it looks nice for families with a big beach area. It’s around 40k points per night but I don’t know if the base rooms would sleep four.
You can always ask about a paid upgrade to a room or suite which includes lounge access.
I’ve actually been to the Doha IC (only time in the middle east). Got the biggest upgrade will we ever get there…
Had 2 points nights booked there in 2019. I was only IHG Gold due to my Creation White Card. Got to hotel about 8am and asked if we could stay by pool until check in that afternoon. About 11am they come find us and say room is ready. We’d been bumped from the basic entry room the the apex Royal Suite with full privileges!! 200sqm room with 3 bathroom and a sauna (!) all to ourselves. There was a Moto GP on at the time and lots of race teams in hotel. Maybe that was only room they had left
I hope they offer you the same experience. 🙂
IC residences Abu Dhabi is another option. Base rooms are one bedroom apartments, so lots of space for the child. Facilities are shared with main IC, so you get a small beachfront, pool, kids club, spa etc.
It can also be good for visiting theme parks in Yas island – the sea world and Warner brothers are good even for small kids. Though I believe there’s a Staybridge on the island itself.We stayed there recently and had a great stay Lots of value for your points. Diamond breakfast excellent. If you could get a suite upgrade, they are huge and good for a little one. Plenty of eats nearby and a creek cruise goes every evening from the Hotels doorstep. The lounge food is great but limited options during the day.
We found a mixed clientel and no issues. There a few cabanas on the pool deck that are free if you can nab one, and there were plenty of little ones enjoying the water.
Very amenable for a late checkout if you have an evening flight back too.
We stayed at IC Festival City for 5 nights last year and were upgraded to a very large suite. Lounge was great at breakfast, afternoon tea and drinks in the evening and staff were superb. I decided one day to go for a swim and couldn’t get near the pool (which I think was on floor 3 or 4). The whole area was rammed full so choose your times to head there.
It’s attached to a Mall with several eating options, a night market on the quayside and a very good supermarket if you need supplies for the kids. I also liked how the hotel was set back from the main busy areas of Dubai. The Creek is undoubtedly quieter than the beachfront.Thank you for all your input. ICFC still seems like very solid choice. Although a dirty word on this site, all 4 of us (2 adults, 1 x 3y’old and a baby) could fly “Economy” for £310 & 155,000 avios return. If can agree a hotel upgrade for ~£700, that’s a family of 4 having a 5* 5-6 night holiday in Dubai for £1k-ish… That’s really not bad going.
I will look at the IC Crete though, and although that doesn’t seem to have opened yetz, maybe could get opening deal (?)
Thank you for all your input. ICFC still seems like very solid choice. Although a dirty word on this site, all 4 of us (2 adults, 1 x 3y’old and a baby) could fly “Economy” for £310 & 155,000 avios return. If can agree a hotel upgrade for ~£700, that’s a family of 4 having a 5* 5-6 night holiday in Dubai for £1k-ish… That’s really not bad going.
I will look at the IC Crete though, and although that doesn’t seem to have opened yetz, maybe could get opening deal (?)
As a single person I’ve been stung by late opening new hotels. I personally think you’d be crazy to risk it with a family in tow. I got given 3 weeks notice by IC Rome last spring that they couldn’t honour my upcoming booking. Fine, I negotiated a settlement and travelled anyway. But I wouldn’t want to be facing that as a family group.
Re your calculations, an economist would say the holiday isn’t £1Kish. That’s just your cash portion. The cost is also the value of the Avios redeemed and the IHG points redeemed.
I’d suspect you’ll still come out a lot better on the hotel using points than cash. The flight might be more of a toss up as there’s scant value in redeeming for economy so I hear on here.
Overall I think you’ll save money and get a better quality of stay in Dubai than some wildly priced Med resort so I do hope you give it a try.
If OP is travelling Oct-Dec, the Med is a risky choice weather-wise. I’d stick with Canaries or ME.
IC Crete did look a gamble. You can win on those but equally it’s not worth the risk at the moment. Also, at time when we’d be look to go, it probably wouldn’t be that warm. Pleasant, but not warm.
I completely agree with your comments re. the “actual cost” of the trip and not just my focus on the cash component. Although I’m all about trying to squeeze every penny out of every point, sometimes when it comes down to it, I can pay my mortgage and buy nappies with the remaining cash in the bank, whereas i can’t with avios or IHG points.
I’m sitting on about 400k of avios and in the olden days when it was just my wife and I, they would have used on First or Business flights for our one or two trips a year. Today though, the additional avios and taxes would be wasted on us and it’s more about getting somewhere of quality for as little financial output as possible. It’s the same game but with new objectives.
Due to Covid, children and illness, we haven’t been anywhere since 2019. Last year I had to cancel 3 attempted holidays. Maybe this one, could be the one that finally gets us back on a plane!!
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