Mr & Mrs Smith credit card redemption

[markymarc2000]

Good afternoon,

I have 2 Credit card vouchers from Creation expiring end 2022. I’ve been browsing a European city for ideas and noticed a Smith property. It came up as ‘No availability’ but a box showed ‘available dates’, clicked on that and it showed my preferred date – and room options. This showed all room types including suites, all for Free!.
I went forward to ‘book’ but hesitated as I thought that these vouchers could not be used for Smiths, certainly not for suites, is this a really ‘sweet spot’ or will it be cancelled or even worse will I be charged the crazy amount!
Any thoughts?

[NorthernLass]

Some properties definitely accept the free night vouchers now so if you can see availability get it booked!

*In fact IIRC somebody posted the other week about being able to book a 6,000 euro suite or something similar!

• This reply was modified 54 years, 4 months ago by .

[Peter K]

I’ve booked a suite at a Mr& Mrs Smith property using a creation voucher this year. The hotel just sees it as a cash booking made via the Mr&Mrs Smith system. They don’t even know IHG are involved.

[Rob]

Yes, it’s an IHG bug.

Before booking whatever you’re looking at, see if Cliveden has any suites available ….

[markymarc2000]

Successfully booked, the best suite in the hotel so very happy!

[TopTourist]

If it’s the Lady Astor suite ask to have breakfast on your terrace overlooking the parterre.

[Grant]

Any other Mr and Mrs Smith gems worth looking at if Cliveden isn’t available on my dates?

[Olly]

We’re staying at Heckfield Place on ours this weekend. Comparable in quality/cost to Cliveden

[S136]

how about a 4 bed villa at Marbella club? That was my 6k ‘suite’

[elguiri]

Did this work when searching in the App or the website? I don’t see any popup in the App for available dates.

[SRF.]

Rob Burgess wrote:

Yes, it’s an IHG bug.

Before booking whatever you’re looking at, see if Cliveden has any suites available ….

I’ve got a classic room booked at Cliveden for 97k points (for my wedding anniversary night). Seen many mixed reviews of the “quality” once past how impressive the building is. I’m still not certain if wise use of points or not. Room is now £600pn but price doesn’t always equal quality – however – would probably be my only ever chance to stay in venue like this.

It’s coming up to the cancellation deadline so I need to be decisive.

Thoughts…?

[ben10]

Stayed earlier this year on a free night cert and loved it. Got upgraded to room overlooking the pool and made most of the spa. For some it’s characterful, for others it’s tired and tatty (or they are unlucky with the room allocation).

[Graham-Walsh]

Don’t ever try can cancel a Mr & Mrs Smith CC voucher booking, the policy is no refunds. Had to fight with IHG to get 70k back. They closed the initial CP hotel booking I had as it was used for covid. They assured me that it could sleep 4, but max was 3. Wasted hours on the phone with them. All clueless.

[NorthernLass]

Surely the terms of the free night voucher allow you to cancel it and get it back – if it’s still in date?

[RobH not Rob]

You can cancel as long as you’re 30 days out at M&M Any shorter than that and you lose it.

[d2ux2h]

I’m looking at using my IHG free night voucher to stay at the Cliveden in the Lady Astor suite next April. The room would be £2095 so making good value from my card fee. I’ve been reading reviews about the hotel and it seems to be a really mixed bag but lots of mentions about service charges. Appreciate there’s a National Trust fee (£18) to pay, there appears to be a 12.5% service charge on everything, plus the Cliveden website alludes to a 5% discretionary charge (not sure if this means based on the cash price for the room but potentially ~£100) and while the Astor Suite gives free access to the Butler’s pantry, many reviews says that anything brought to your room (eg milk for some tea) comes with a £10 tray fee each time. Just wondered if anyone has stayed and can tell me what to expect?

I’m not stingy but I’ve recent dropped working days at work and I’m paying a lot of money to go back to university and change careers so the trip is a treat but looks like it might be a very expensive one with all the fees. Sometimes frustrates me that very expensive hotels, particularly in the UK and US, don’t see their rates should be enough to include extras (how can a £2000 room fee not include breakfast when it’s free at a Holiday Inn Express) as to be honest the service is often no better than a much cheaper hotel- I’ll stop ranting!

[memesweeper]

@d2ux2h expensive hotels are expensive. This includes … everything. Getting a ‘free’ room is only half the battle, especially at a remote site like a country pile — you just have to cheerfully pay for everything at whatever rate they want to charge.

[SRF.]

d2ux2h wrote:

I’m looking at using my IHG free night voucher to stay at the Cliveden in the Lady Astor suite next April. The room would be £2095 so making good value from my card fee. I’ve been reading reviews about the hotel and it seems to be a really mixed bag but lots of mentions about service charges. Appreciate there’s a National Trust fee (£18) to pay, there appears to be a 12.5% service charge on everything, plus the Cliveden website alludes to a 5% discretionary charge (not sure if this means based on the cash price for the room but potentially ~£100) and while the Astor Suite gives free access to the Butler’s pantry, many reviews says that anything brought to your room (eg milk for some tea) comes with a £10 tray fee each time. Just wondered if anyone has stayed and can tell me what to expect?

I’m not stingy but I’ve recent dropped working days at work and I’m paying a lot of money to go back to university and change careers so the trip is a treat but looks like it might be a very expensive one with all the fees. Sometimes frustrates me that very expensive hotels, particularly in the UK and US, don’t see their rates should be enough to include extras (how can a £2000 room fee not include breakfast when it’s free at a Holiday Inn Express) as to be honest the service is often no better than a much cheaper hotel- I’ll stop ranting!

I’ve got an email voucher for a free day at a Nat Trust property (earnt through Daily Mail codes). If I use it for Cliveden house on arrival date of my 1-night stay, people think that will dodge the £18 NT charge??

[Harry T]

I mean this kindly – if you are worried about £18 and £10 charges, then you have to consider if you are going to enjoy staying at a secluded luxury hotel.

[aseftel]

I don’t really recall being nickeled and dimed when I stayed at Cliveden earlier in the year. Yes the bar and restaurants are expensive, but you can pop to one of the nearby towns or villages to eat if you want. I suppose you could even BYOB if you are content hanging out in your massive suite, although the IHG/M&MS bookings come with a half bottle of Champagne included anyway. No charges for parking, leisure facilities and the breakfast is pretty comprehensive. The hotel’s boating facilities are expensive but there’s another company on site that is much cheaper.