Some links to products and partners on this website will earn an affiliate commission.
When it comes to Points and Miles, sweet spots are the redemptions where you get outsized value compared to the other options available. US blog LoyaltyTraveler recently posted about a new IHG sweet spot redemption in Amsterdam, where you can stay at a brand new hotel in a fantastic city centre location for just 20,000 IHG Rewards Club Points per night: the Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam – City Hall.
Yes, it’s Holiday Inn Express so it won’t be fancy, but I actually find the new Holiday Inn Express brand standard very comfortable. The real reason this is a steal though is the location.
As you can see, it’s right in the heart of Amsterdam and within easy walking distance of most of the major sights. For Saturday nights in the summer, I saw cash rates at the hotel in excess of £235 per night, so 20,000 IHG Points is a very good deal!
As a comparison, the other IHG options in Amsterdam for a similar amount of Points (20,000-25,000) are mostly miles out of the city centre, with the Holiday Inn Express at Sloterdijk Station probably the best alternative at 25,000 Points.
Note that the Holiday Inn Express Amsterdam – City Hall isn’t scheduled to open until July this year, but that you can already make bookings.
If you think you might be travelling to Amsterdam later this year and fancy a bargain, I would recommend making a few speculative bookings now (you can always cancel) as I doubt the 20,000 Points price will last very long.
Amsterdam is a great city, but hotels in the centre are often very expensive, whether using cash or Points, so it’s really good to see this new option – even if it doesn’t last very long.
Bottom line
It’s rare to see an IHG sweet spot these days, most of them have been eroded away over the last few years in the regular category changes. Enjoy this one while you can!
Is it possible that this is just an introductory rate? That location feels like it should be in the 30-35k range to me.
Could be – it certain;y won’t stay at 20k long if they are managing to sell rooms for £200+
I wouldn’t necessarily say that it is a great location. It’s on the far side of the Red Light District when coming from Centraal, in an area that doesn’t really have much public transport or restaurants, etc.
It would also take a good 20-30 minutes to walk to Dam Square, etc. which would be a central reference point for the touristy parts of the city – although you’re still a decent hike from the Leidesplein and the museums from there.
Of course there’s no denying that 20K IHG points is better value for this than 25K for Sloterdijk. But then you don’t have the perfect train connections for the airport and the centre.
Everywhere is easily walkable – and walking/cycling in Amsterdam is hardly a chore (weather dependent admittedly!). Dam Square is about a mile, so 15-20 mins? The only points hotels I can think of that are closer are the Andaz, W, a few Club Carlson, Renaissance, and the Kimpton – all of which are *substantially* more than 20k!
Sloterdijk isn’t bad at all actually in some ways as you say – I stayed at the Mercure there recently and it was cheap and convenient for both centre (literally a few minutes) and airport.
We need more gems like this to come up to warrant making an effort to ‘earn’ IHG points now.
Agreed!
Though, my Accelerate target this time should average out at about 10,000 bonus points per night which isn’t bad. Not mattress run worthy, but definitely enough of an incentive to get me to give the IHG options a close look when I’m booking something.