InterContinental Hotels Group London

London Hotels-points or cash? Depends-weekend or weekday!

a bus painted on a stand

London has been on my mind most of the day. The reason London has filled my travel thoughts today is a look at IHG PointBreaks for May-July 31, 2018.

There are two IHG PointBreaks hotels in metropolitan London still on the list for 15,000 points per night:

Thinking about the value of redeeming 15,000 points per night to stay in London this summer at Holiday Inn Express Greenwich, in a part of the city known as North Greenwich, near O2 arena in east London. This south bank peninsula was created by the major twists and turns of the River Thames.

a close-up of a card

HIX Greenwich gets good hotel reviews, even though it is kind of out of the way for a tourist in London. There are some places I would like to visit in that part of the city, like Greenwich Observatory, National Maritime Museum and some historic neighborhoods. Industrial history is interesting to me too. North Greenwich and the Greenwich docks were major industrial centers of the past two centuries before recent urban renewal of the 21st c.

a map of a city

Thames River Clippers and walking Greenwich Pedestrian Tunnel under the Thames sound like cool ways to explore London.

Maximizing IHG PointBreaks with IHG Accelerate Bonus Points

Hotels in London are similar to Amsterdam for traveler sticker shock. The two cities have opposite rate patterns. Amsterdam is a weekend city when rates double for many hotels on Friday and Saturday nights. London is a weekday working city. In London, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday are peak rates at most hotels and weekends are generally lower priced. Sunday night is the sweet spot for low rates in both cities.

Holiday Inn Express Greenwich for 15,000 points per night when room rates are $140 per night is definitely a decent deal. When I actually give serious thought to booking a week of hotels in London, I realize that it does not make sense to spend 15,000 points for a reward night on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. There are other IHG hotels in London for $100 per night on weekend nights.

Staying at two different IHG hotels in London on $100 per night paid rates for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday earns 15,000 bonus points per paid night. I only need two paid hotel stays by July 31 to earn 30,000 bonus points with my IHG Accelerate offer.

 

July 2018 room rates for 15 IHG London Hotels

Here are sample paid rates and reward rates at 15 IHG hotels on a Monday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday night in July 2018. These room rates illustrate London hotel rate disparity between Fri-Sun weekend nights and Mon-Thu weekday nights at many hotels and the broad range of room rates through the week.

There are many more London IHG hotels, mostly located  at higher rates and a few other low rate ones I left on the list, mostly farther out from central London.

Thursday July 19, Friday July 20, Sunday July 22, Monday July 23  

Holiday Inn Express Greenwich ($127-$145 rate range)

(15,000 PointBreaks option for stays through July 31)

  • Sunday $145.28
  • Monday $141.33
  • Thursday $141.32
  • Friday $126.76
  • 15,000 points PointBreaks.

Holiday Inn Express London Limehouse ($93-$129 rate range)

  • Sunday $92.80
  • Monday $116.33
  • Thursday $129.40
  • Friday $107.63
  • or 30,000 points.

Holiday Inn Express London City ($94 to $208 rate range)

  • Sunday $94.15 
  • Monday $156.00
  • Thursday $207.83
  • Friday $134.39
  • or 40,000 points.

Holiday Inn London Whitechapel ($98-$158 rate range)

Holiday Inn London West ($94-$123 rate range)

  • Sunday $103.48
  • Monday $ $122.88
  • Thursday $104.77
  • Friday $94.36
  • or 25,000 points.

Holiday Inn Express London Swiss Cottage ($109-$128 rate range)

  • Sunday $111.10
  • Monday $128.09
  • Thursday $111.10
  • Friday $108.79
  • or 35,000 points.

Holiday Inn Express London Stratford ($133-$142 rate range)

  • Sunday $133.32
  • Monday $142.47
  • Thursday $141.17
  • Friday $142.06
  • or 35,000 points
  • my hotel review.

Holiday Inn London Oxford Circus ($137-$254 rate range)

  • Sunday $137.35
  • Monday $167.73
  • Thursday $253.58
  • Friday $175.91
  • or 35,000 points.

Holiday Inn London Camden Lock (popular weekend area)

($137-$231 rate range)

  • Sunday $137.35
  • Monday $191.50
  • Thursday $217.92
  • Friday $231.12
  • or 40,000 points.
  • my hotel review.

Holiday Day Inn Express London Southwark ($141-$271 rate range)

  • Sunday $141.17
  • Monday $223.51
  • Thursday $270.57
  • Friday $184.30
  • or 35,000 points.

Holiday Inn London Bloomsbury ($145-$225 rate range)

  • Sunday $145.28
  • Monday $190.18
  • Thursday $224.52
  • Friday $181.09
  • or 40,000 points.
  • my hotel review.

Hotel Indigo London Tower Hill ($155-$250 rate range)

  • Sunday $154.52
  • Monday $249.61
  • Thursday $236.41
  • Friday $209.99
  • or 50,000 points.

Holiday Inn London Kensington High Street ($152-$189 rate range)

  • Sunday $158.48
  • Monday $151.88
  • Thursday $188.86
  • Friday $175.91
  • or 40,000 points.
  • my hotel review.

InterContinental London O2 (closest IHG hotel to HIX Greenwich)

($152-$210 rate range)

  • Sun $182.99
  • Mon $210.44
  • Thursday $173.84
  • Friday $152.30
  • or 45,000 points.

Holiday Inn London Mayfair ($232-$395 rate range)

  • Sun $232.44
  • Mon $266.78
  • Thursday $394.89
  • Friday $372.52
  • or 50,000 points.

The main idea here is Holiday Inn Express Greenwich is a good deal for some inexpensive nights in London May-July 2018 at 15,000 points per night. Rate discrepancies between weekday (Mon-Thu) and weekend (Fri-Sun) nights in many London hotels make it advantageous to book paid nights on weekend nights to be closer to city center, while redeeming 15,000 points for PointBreaks reward nights for Monday-Thursday nights at HIX Greenwich.

IHG Rewards Club promotions are the primary reason I find myself visiting different areas of London.

Since I have never been to North Greenwich or Brent Cross areas of London, what opinions do people have of these locations?

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7 Comments

  • bluecat May 2, 2018

    Ric, have you ever used your gov id rate? I think as a former teacher, you are eligible. Or maybe via your wife.

    As for these 2 London locations, I only know Brent Cross for its proximity to Hampstead, which is certainly worth a few hours of strolling. You can decide for yourself if it’s more Bel Air or Beverly Hills. 🙂

    I would also encourage you to rent a bike from one of those bike stands. It’s 2 GBP for 24 hours, plus charges after 30 minutes. You could easily ride to the Heath and then all aroud Regent’s park and the canals there, on dedicated bike paths.

  • Raffles May 3, 2018

    Avoid Brent Cross. Not because it is a bad hotel but it is a terrible location. It is a long way out of the centre, where the main north / south UK motorway hits the London ring road. Massive mall opposite but an 8 lane road separates you. Underground is walkable but a bizarre route and possibly dangerous in the dark due to having to navigate traffic roundabouts.

    (I did this once for an Accelerate mattress run night!)

    Greenwich is substantially better especially if you have never experienced the area fully.

    And we really should have lunch one day when you are in town.

  • Vito Valentinetti May 3, 2018

    I was looking at Brent Cross as I have an early morning flight out of Luton and it looks like there are two buses an hour all night long leaving from just down the street.

  • Soren May 3, 2018

    Brent Cross has nothing to recommend it. Gritty 50’s / 60’s urban sprawl, adjacent to the North Circular Road, the major London ring road prior to the M25.
    It has a huge mall that was called ‘Shopping City’ in the 80’s. I believe the first IKEA was there if I recall correctly. I went there once.

    N. Greenwich has much going for it.
    Cutty Sark, National Maritime museum, Royal Observatory and historical dockland nearby.

    I am in London next week, also looking at PointBreak. Not really anything for me this time. Going to split my stays between Carlson (Radisson rewards) and central IHG locations.

  • Me May 4, 2018

    You can use the mastercard rate for even better deal.

    IHG.com/mastercard

    For the weekend you will find some very good deals.
    Just remember to book 21 days in advance.

  • Ric Garrido May 4, 2018

    @Raffles – I’ll see if I can make lunch happen.

    @Vito – looked like a reasonable location for Luton Airport. Unfortunately, my likely airport is Stansted.

    Stratford Station London has easy Stansted Airport STN bus access. Holiday Inn Express Greenwich nearest station is North Greenwich, about 15 min walk Stratford Station is on same Underground Jubilee line for easy hotel to Stratford Station to Stansted bus airport transfer.
    http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/Landing/route.aspx?from=London%20(Stratford)&to=Stansted

    @Soren – Wikipedia article makes London Brent Cross sound kind of depressing. Has me playing Arcade Fire – The Suburbs.
    HIX Greenwich seems like a good choice.

    @Me. Thank you.
    I will write up the MasterCard Europe advance purchase discount offer for Loyalty Traveler readers.
    I plan to change one of my hotel nights in Europe from Hilton reward night to IHG after finding a hotel that had been $162 as lowest rate drop to $113 with this Mastercard promotion rate.
    I’ll risk nonrefundable for that deal to earn 32,000 points with IHG Accelerate.

  • London for $100/night with IHG this summer - Loyalty Traveler May 5, 2018

    […] London Hotels-points or cash? Depends-weekend or weekday! […]

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