[AnotherUser]

I was looking round the city between bits of work, so did a random mix of stuff, but really enjoyed visiting! Cycling along some of the waterfront is fun. In terms of striking architecture, it’s ‘s worth going by the Sibelius monument,and into Kamppi chapel, and going by the Helsinki Music Centre and Finlandia Hall.

Suomenlinna is an interesting island to visit.

[AnotherUser]

Don’t know about a list. The Indigo in Dundee might be worth a look – it’s a nice hotel and can be around £60/night (without paying for points) in cheap periods.

Are you going to be close to getting Diamond on points? I’m not – I briefly considered buying points to get status, but realised there was no way I’d get value from this

[AnotherUser]

AJA wrote:

The train in Spain is mainly on the http://www.renfe.com.en

Sorry couldn’t resist. 😉

Yeah – very likely best booking on this site. Check out the Trainline.com, too – in case there’s a better deal from a competitor to Renfe.

On Renfrew, ‘comfort’ seats are generally in what would have been 1st class. Can sometimes be had for not much extra (you just get a nicer seat/more space, no other perks).

[AnotherUser]

ThriceForgiven wrote:

Thanks everyone for your input! Plenty of food for thought, and I appreciate that the question was somewhat vague so thanks for all your input. I’m beginning to think potential staycation with pampering in London could be another option, though not one we’d be thrilled with…

There’s loads of great places to stay in London, but if the two of you are more excited about heading further afield I’d vote for doing that. It’s not *that* bad travelling over Easter, and while travelling with a kid can be great fun it’s a very different experience to going just as a couple.

[AnotherUser]

meta wrote:

Bear in mind that many places will be closed on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday (including many restaurants, etc) in Paris and Brussels as well as in Spain and Portugal.

Good point about the holidays

[AnotherUser]

We enjoyed Madrid and Barcelona when we were able to take pre-baby breaks. Enjoyed them 🙂 Hotel prices outside of the big US chains aren’t bad, and easy places to get around by taxi or public transport if walking is tiring. Fantastic food, museums, culture etc. Not sure what will be going on around Easter, though.

Brussels often has decent hotel rates at weekends, and easy to get to by Eurostar. Lots of good places to eat, and the Grand Place is spectacular

[AnotherUser]

Yeah – when they’re young it can be fairly easy to have long meals at nice restaurants with them. Try explaining to a toddler that they should sit and eat for a couple of hours, though! It’s still fun to take them out to try new foods etc when they’re older, but it’s a very different experience!

Agree about getting a nice room. If they’re sensitive to noise it’s particularly useful to have a room with a separate bedroom and living area or a balcony (so they can sleep in one bit while you do whatever else in the other).

One thing where child-friendly is relevant even at 4 months is if there’s a pool – is there somewhere you can take them for a splash, or is it adults only?

In your situation, I might try to book a cancellable longer and shorter trip then see how you get on when the baby arrives. I think my partner and I would have been too knackered when ours was 4 months to enjoy a long haul trip (though the baby would have been fine!) How a baby is sleeping, feeding etc by 4 months will vary a lot, too.

[AnotherUser]

If it’s a cancellable rate, I book the cheapest room (or just the room I want) then ask for a travel cot and a room that’s good for a child. Never had anywhere say no (though I wouldn’t do this with somewhere like an airport ibis where there genuinely might not be space).

The Kimpton Glasgow is a lovely hotel 🙂 If you’ve got a heavy buggy, bear in mind there are stairs to get to the main entrance (though if a doorperson is there they’ll help), or you can phone to get let in a side entrance. If you’re price sensitive, you might also consider the Voco Grand Central (also very nice and can be a lot cheaper some nights…have tended to get upgrades to nice large rooms there as Diamond). No pool/spa in the Grand Central, but kids aren’t allowed in the Kimpton pool anyway.

[AnotherUser]

Grant wrote:

Glad you enjoyed your stay @AnotherUser. Out of interest what room did you book before being upgrade to the Junior Suite?

I have a two night stay coming up, first night on points and second night on credit card voucher. Given the points stay books in to the base room I am wondering if I should can it and pay cash for the first night for a King in the hope that my Amb status bags an upgrade to a Junior Suite which they let me keep for the second night.

I’m staying Friday / Saturday on a rugby weekend so it’ll no doubt be busy which will mean upgrades are thin on the ground. A King room is c. £300 whereas my base room is booked for 64,000 points.

I’d booked a King Premium City View room – they just upgraded me one room category. If you definitely want a particular room category, I’d be inclined to email the hotel and ask (or, if making a cash booking, go through Emyr and ask him).

[AnotherUser]

I was upgraded to a junior suite with Ambassador – an being upgraded like that doesn’t include lounge access (or isn’t meant to, at least). If you pay to book a junior suite, you’re entitled to lounge access.

You get a complementary mini bar in the junior suite, too, and a decent mix of capsule and machine coffee options

[AnotherUser]

Thanks for all the info here. I had a really nice stay 🙂 The junior suite was bigger than I expected and had a proper wall/door dividing the lounge from the bedroom – everything seemed good quality and well arranged in the room. Do the junior suites all have a separate lounge and bedroom, or was I lucky?

Breakfast was very good. The restaurant was a nice space and food came pretty quickly, with well cooked A La Carte options and good quality buffet (though they need a better coffee machine!) Service was very helpful, though could have been a bit more organised.

The lounge was a bit underwhelming but as we had visitors it worked out decent value at £60 for a day – got a couple of afternoon teas, and some nice wine/whisky and softs, for us and guests. There could be a broader range of food and drink (and something savoury with afternoon tea) but the quality of what there was good and it was a nice place to sit. It was often unstaffed which was a shame, but the people who were there were helpful.

In terms of service, everyone tried to be helpful and make things work. People often seemed a bit unclear what was going on, but everyone seemed to err on the side of saying ‘yes’. Very child-friendly – e.g. remembered his name and would happily get him something he liked if it wasn’t on the buffet, or let me stay past 4pm checkout because the kid was napping. I got the sense there was lots of staff turnover and maybe some inconsistency, but it worked out to be a good stay!

I may be less particular about hotels than many here, or price may also have helped set my expectations – stacking various offers meant the junior suite worked out under £120/night, and my expectations might have been different if I’d been paying £500! I know this is a fairly quiet time, too, which may have improved my visit. I’d happily go back, though 🙂

[AnotherUser]

One more thing to consider if it’s a marginal decision whether to sign up or not is that the Ambassador helpline tend to be better than IHG’s general customer services (and I’ve found they seem a bit more likely to offer points in compensation for problems). That’s worth something, especially if you stay with IHG often.

Personally, I think I’ll let my Ambassador lapse and just renew if I can use the free night.

[AnotherUser]

Yeah – I think I lucked out once, but mostly not. IHG’s T&Cs don’t offer this, so you can’t chase the nights if you’re not credited.

Are you using IHG Business Rewards? https://www.headforpoints.com/2023/09/20/ihg-business-rewards-review-4/ You won’t get the nights credited if you’re the booker, but can get some extra points (and let the employees also get nights/points if they want)

[AnotherUser]

Thanks – that’s really useful! I’m using the 2-for-1 voucher on my stay, but this is from the Ambassador membership that’s just about to expire (will expire around a week after my stay). Using the voucher shouldn’t be a problem in these circumstances?

[AnotherUser]

Sounds like a great trip! You’ve planned a lot 🙂 One thing you don’t mention is laundry – if you’re staying in hotels, it’s worth planning where to do the mountains of laundry that a baby can produce (at hotel laundry prices, my son would send me broke I think).

I guess you may start weaning them during the trip, assuming they pass 6 months old there. We found baby led weaning fitted very well with travel – fun to let them join in at meals 🙂 You might also find something like a totseat handy if you’re going places without high chairs.

We travelled with a kid a few months older. Very glad we did! I’d plan a lot less than I would without a kid – seeing one area/museum and having a couple of nice meals in a day felt like a lot! Also bear in mind that you may need to change plans if you have a very different baby by the end of the trip then the start. Ours got a lot more mobile quite quickly, so we had to adapt!

[AnotherUser]

I’ll earn and burn – normally happy accepting 0.5p/point. Points stays can be cancelled if a better offer shows up, and you can buy points if there’s a great deal for a points redemption that you don’t have the points for.

If you’ve got status with IHG, you’ll get better value booking at a hotel that treats elites well. Likewise with Ambassador status at an Intercontinental

[AnotherUser]

@Tracy I’d think many hotels would be happy to do this (and the George were happy to take payment for a future booking of mine in advance). Some have systems set up to not allow advance payment for F&B spend, but definitely a reasonable request on check-in. I’m sure the hotel prefers customers who spend a few hundred on F&B over tightwads like me 🙂

@dst87 I don’t think the hotel us obliged to block out a higher category room at the time. To show you as updated then reverse it is crappy, though!

[AnotherUser]

Thanks for the replies! I’d not realised about the free evening meal option

[AnotherUser]

@t0m sadly I think that option has ended now.

I’d be curious if anyone knows a way to convert Amex membership rewards on a UK card into Choice Privilege points

[AnotherUser]

Thanks! I wasn’t that taken by Oslo (or the area that the Thief is in) when I visited, though it does look like a good value redemption. Will have a think.

[AnotherUser]

aq.1988 wrote:

bubbatrautt wrote:

ill call them….
the email i received is definately in their usual colours and font and has all the usual words and menus etc

I would err on the side of caution, and not call the number on the email, but find the number online yourself, and have them verify this is a new security measure.

Whilst that is the email I received an email from Nectar yesterday, I think the ‘from’ email can be spoofed.

You’re right – the ‘from’ address is trivial to spoof

[AnotherUser]

Yeah – that is disappointing! I’d found the service and the room very good earlier this year (hence planning to come back), though it sounds like I lucked out with the weather! Good to know that they’re being fairly restrictive with free upgrades now – booked a room category where a 1 category ambassador upgrade will give me a junior suite, so at least we should have a decent size room

[AnotherUser]

RonnieB wrote:

Thanks, thought so, pity.

And you’re right not from IHG

If you’re close to diamond, you can often pay a slightly higher rate when you book a room to buy a few thousand extra status-qualifying points per night

[AnotherUser]

@LiamG is the Junior Suite worth paying extra for? With the guarantees Ambassador upgrade, there’s some nights where I could get the room category below it for around £50 more than a standard double

[AnotherUser]

I got a similar offer. £30pppn. Could work out ok value if the lounge and food/drinks are good quality, even with a diamond breakfast – the website talks about afternoon tea and evening cocktails. Hard to know quality in advance, though!