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I don’t think we’ve ever mentioned Macdonald hotels before (which is a bit slack, as they have 40+ hotels in the UK!), but they’ve got a decent looking sale on so I thought it seemed a good time to take a closer look.

Macdonald Hotels?

First things first – Macdonald Hotels offers a range of (mostly) 4* hotels dotted all around the UK, in cities and more rural areas. I’ve never wittingly stayed at one, so can’t really say much more, beyond most of them look quite nice and have good locations.

Not to be confused with the burger ‘supremos’.

The sale

Macdonald Hotels is running a 40% sale and the prices for the hotels I looked at seemed reasonable, with rooms from £52.00. You need to book by 27th March 2017 for stays up to 30th March 2017. 

£10 credit for booking direct

You can snag a £10 hotel credit to spend in the hotel bar at the hotel by booking direct, which is a pretty decent incentive if you’re staying on a relatively cheap night.

Loyalty programme

They do have one, which is good. It doesn’t seem hugely impressive though to be honest, unless you’re a fairly regular guest, so don’t get too excited. ‘The Club’  website isn’t great either and makes finding anything useful about the programme unnecessarily challenging, but I’ve done my best!

There are two membership tiers:

Club Member

• Collect points as soon as you register
• Earn 30 introductory points on your first stay as a Club Member
• Welcome letter and Club membership card
• Exclusive offers at Macdonald Hotels & Resorts throughout the year
• Bonus points offers to boost points totals

Elite Member

• For members who stay 15 nights or spend £1,500 in 12 months
• Elite membership card and a £30 Macdonald Hotel voucher for dining, spa or golf upon qualification
• Complimentary bedroom upgrade (subject to availability)
• Welcome gift in the room on arrival
• Complimentary newspaper
• No room service tray charges
• Exclusive Elite member offers at Macdonald Hotels & Resorts  throughout the year
• Bonus points offers to boost points totals
• Special gift if you stay 30 nights or spend £3,000 within a 12 month period

Members earn 1 Point for every £2 spent at Macdonald hotels and the minimum amount required for a redemption is 120 Points for a £15 voucher. You therefore need to spend £240 to get back £15, so you’re looking at a rebate of 6.25%. 

Note that new members receive 30 bonus Points after their first stay, so you’d only need to spend £180 to get a £15 voucher to begin with, which is a slightly healthier 8.33% rebate.

Cashback

Both TopCashback and Quidco are currently offering ~ 5.5%.

Bottom line

Between cashback, the loyalty programme Points and the £10 hotel credit for booking direct, I’d say there’s reasonable value to be had by booking cheaper stays directly. For stays over about £100 though, the situation is more complex and you might want to consider alternatives like Hotels.com.