What's your favourite hotel points redemption in the UK?

I think a lot of people would probably agree that the best value redemption in the UK used to be the Holiday Inn Wembley for 10,000 IHG Points, but what about now?

To get the ball rolling, I think the Aloft Liverpool for 3,000 SPG Points (at the weekend, 4k during the week), the Hotel Indigo in Birmingham for 20,000 IHG, and maybe the Hotel Indigo Kensington for 30,000 IHG are all contenders.

Even at double the old rate, 20,000 IHG Points for Holiday Inn Wembley still isn't bad at all either.

What do you think?

 

Anything on IHG's Points Break list, as long as you're quick!

 

PointsBreaks are always great, but the UK options don't usually set the pulse racing exactly! - I did consider the CP down somewhere near Oxford that looked quite nice, though.

I'd forgotten about Hilton Category 2s - fantastic deal most of the time. Particularly city centre ones like Sheffield and Newcastle.

 

We stayed at the Indigo in Birmingham a couple of years back. Not overly impressed as it was full of very rowdy stag and hen parties and the bar in the top floor has live music into the early hours. Those may be positive points for younger guests, but not ideal for a nice relaxing couples break. That said, the view from the lounge on the top floor is quite spectacular (for Birmingham, anyway).

Holiday Inn Commercial Road in London was good value at 20,000. Stayed there for an event at the O2. Not a great area, and less than ideal for getting into West End etc.,but a nice hotel at that rate.

 

Just thought to check, and it's now 30,000. Slightly less appealing.

 

Agreed. I actually much prefer the Staybridge Suites in Birmingham if staying with IHG (25k points I think), and doubt I'd ever bother paying the cash rates for the Indigo which are quite high, but 20k is hard to beat.

 

Since people are asking about the Crowne Plaza Heythrop Park in Oxfordshire (near Blenheim Palace, a bus ride from Oxford), here's my review from a Points Break stay earlier this year:

On the day of arrival I had call from them around lunchtime, saying that as a spire member they wanted to see if they could make a dinner reservation for me for tonight, find out what time I was arriving, if I needed anything special etc. Also let me know about the weather forecast for the stay. Very friendly and helpful

As I don't have a car, and didn't want to more than double the cost of the stay through hiring one, opted for the bus instead. The S3 runs from Oxford (sometimes Oxford station, always Gloucester Green coach station just closer to the city centre) to Chipping Norton. Take care, as some go via Charlbury, you need the one that goes through Enstone! Roughly once an hour though, journey time around 45 minutes. A single ticket for an Adult costs £4, or if there's two of you and you're coming back together within 24 hours, it's £13.50 for a group megarider. Get off at the third bus stop in Enstone, the one after Enstone Green. You'll see a brown sign just ahead for the hotel, head along then turn right then basically straight on for 30 minutes walk. It's not lit once you leave the village, but in nice weather it is a lovely walk. The Crowne Plaza is only half the building, the newer half, the other half is a different (posher?) hotel. The CP signs are more obvious, so you should be fine!

Checkin was quick, and they were very friendly, confirmed we'd been upgraded, reconfirmed dinner, remembered we'd said we'd want a swim before dinner and had a map handy to show us the route. Pool/gym is a short walk from the other hotel's main entrance, takes about 5 minutes from the Crowne Plaza, half inside. Pool has a sauna and steam room, is a fair size, and was nice for a relaxing dip. Children are only allowed at certain times.

Dinner options you've got the main restaurant with a set menu, a smaller menu in the bar, or room service. We opted for the main restaurant, which was about £23 a head for a 2 course meal, £29 for 3 courses, lots of local ingredients, and very tasty. Come hungry! They were happy to let us use our welcome drink voucher in the restaurant. Breakfast can be had here for £10 a head, fair but not amazing buffet. You've little other options though, short of driving into Chippie!

Room was good, decent size, wifi OK but not amazing. The next morning we went for a wander round the grounds, with the map they'd given us, which was nice. The older part of the building which was the stately home before does look very grand, and there's quite a lot of nice parts of the grounds you can walk in without getting in the way of the golfers. Golfers abounded, and all looked to be enjoying it!

Finally, the manager offered at checkin to drive us to the bus stop, so we arranged that and were whisked back to Enstone to get the bus back to Oxford. There were several excellent members of staff, and the rest average to good, we didn't come across any bad staff.

For 5k points, then 70 quid for dinner and breakfast, and £13.50 for the bus, we considered it a brilliant value weekend. We might even head back another time even without pointbreaks
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Hope that helps anyone pondering it for the future!

 

Thanks for the review - sounds like I should have made the effort!

In light of the IHG changes which hit London pretty hard, the Holiday Inn Wembley staying at 20k is a great deal relatively. One of the few options in London with a pool too.

 

Anything on IHG's Points Break list, as long as you're quick!