Maximising hotel loyalty points – two excellent value options
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) is back with another set of “PointBreaks”, offering great value stays at IHG hotels.
PointBreaks require a mere 5000 IHG Rewards Club points per night, and are widely regarded as one of the very best value “miles&points” redemption options available.
The global list of participating hotels is here. It’s rarely the most glamorous list of hotels, but for 5000 points a night it remains a great deal.
Note that participating hotels are subject to change at any time, and you have until November 30, 2014 to book.
The full European options are currently as follows:
- Finland: Holiday Inn Helsinki
- Ireland: Crowne Plaza Dublin Northwood
- Italy: Holiday Inn Express Foligno
- Poland: Holiday Inn Warsaw Jozefow
- Portugal: Holiday Inn Porto – Gaia
- Switzerland: Holiday Inn Express Luzern Neuenkirch
- Turkey: Crowne Plaza Bursa
- UK: Holiday Inn Express Rotherham and Holiday Inn Southend
Clearly, if you’re not already a member of IHG Rewards Club, then this offer won’t be much use to you. However, you can join here and then participate in future Pointbreaks, should you have racked up enough points.
Elsewhere, it’s always worth pointing out what excellent value can be found by making a points redemption at Starwood hotels’ Category 1 or 2 hotels (i.e. their “lower end” hotels).
The full Starwood points redemption chart is as follows:
As you can see, there is a substantial jump from Category 1/2 hotels to Category 3 hotels. In fact, you can stay at Category 1/2 hotels and barely make a dent in your Starpoints balance. As you can see, you’ll also save an additional 1000 Starpoints if you stay at the weekend (Friday or Saturday night).
So where are these hotels?
All current Category 1 hotels are listed here. European options are:
- Four Points by Sheraton Kecskemet Hotel & Conference Center, Hungary
- Aloft Bursa Hotel, Turkey
- Four Points by Sheraton Zaporozhye, Ukraine
All current Category 2 hotels are listed here. European options are:
- Sofia Hotel Balkan, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Sofia, Bulgaria
- The Westin Zagreb, Croatia
- Sheraton Athlone Hotel, Ireland
- Four Points by Sheraton Bolzano, Italy
- Sheraton Catania Hotel & Conference Center, Italy
- Le Méridien Vilnius, Lithuania
- Four Points by Sheraton Ljubljana Mons, Slovenia
- Sheraton Adana Hotel, Turkey
- Sheraton Bursa Hotel, Turkey
If you’re not currently a member of Starwood Hotels’ Starwood Preferred Guest scheme, but wish to join to take advantage of these redemption options in future, you can join for free, here.