Maximise your Avios, air miles and hotel points

Don’t forget IHG Rewards Club ‘Friends & Family’ rates for cheap hotels

Links on Head for Points may pay us an affiliate commission. A list of partners is here.

Back in 2009, when the hotel business was in real trouble, IHG Rewards Club launched a special deal for stays at Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express, Crowne Plaza, Indigo, InterContinental, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites hotels.

It was called ‘Friends & Family’ and was nominally aimed at people who were friends or relatives of hotel employees.

However, the company made no secret of the fact that they were happy for anyone to use it, and even posted links on forums that could be used. After some pushback, people claiming to be friends of Steve Sickel, the head of the programme, found that hotels would occasionally not let them use the rate. Other links, such as this ‘Friends and Family’ link that I use, continue to work just fine.

IHG Friends Family rate

The Friends & Family deals are usually priced below the ‘Advance Saver’ rate for the same dates. They carry the same conditions, ie no changes and no refunds.

The only difference is that these rates do NOT earn IHG Rewards Club points. Hotels do a VERY good job of enforcing this rule. You won’t earn stay credit either. Bear this in mind when booking, especially if you are taking part in the ‘Accelerate’ promotion.

Availability under this programme is worse than it used to be but you can still find the odd deal.

In London on Saturday 12th March, the Friends & Family link gives:

  • InterContinental Park Lane at £231 vs £265
  • Staybridge Suites Vauxhall at £96 vs £114
  • Holiday Inn Bloomsbury at £132 vs £156

Various other properties were available as well. This rate is valid worldwide, not just in the UK.

You have absolutely nothing to worry about by booking this rate using the link above. You will not be asked for any special ID or proof of your friendship with Jennifer.  Just be very clear that you will NOT receive any points or stay credit.

IHG Rewards update – December 2021:

Get bonus points: You can earn up to triple IHG Rewards base points with IHG’s new Autumn promotion. It runs from 1st October to 31st December. You can register here and our full article on the offer is here.

New to IHG Rewards?  Read our overview of IHG Rewards here and our article on points expiry rules here. Our article on ‘What are IHG Rewards points worth?’ is here.

Buy points: If you need additional IHG Rewards points, you can buy them here.

You will get a 100% bonus when you buy IHG Rewards points by 4th January 2022. Click here to buy or learn more.

Want to earn more hotel points?  Click here to see our complete list of promotions from IHG and the other major hotel chains or use the ‘Hotel Offers’ link in the menu bar at the top of the page.

Category

IHG Rewards

Comments (335)

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

  • Nathan says:
    17 Feb17 February 05:56

    Slightly off topic but the Public Sector rate for Hilton (PR11PN) which does earn points and stay credit and includes breakfast seems to just show up as “promo rate” or something similar when you check in and as such, they don’t ask for proof! I work in the Public sector so am happy to always use it with no worries but I regularly book friends hotels under my name using that code and they have never asked them to 1. prove they are me and 2. prove they work in the public sector. The rates recently have been higher than the sale rates but not by much and does include breakfast but normal prices vs public sector price usually seems to have a good discount!

    • Adrian says:
      17 Feb17 February 12:58

      Thanks for this Nathan, I work in the public sector and this has just saved me 18e. I had a cancellable rate of 149e and the PR11PN code was only 131e so I’m very pleased. No issues with it being non-cancellable as it’s for a DUB positioning flight.

  • Mycity says:
    17 Feb17 February 06:04

    Rob, OT I know but is there still something big happening today that you are going to tell us about?

    • Boi says:
      17 Feb17 February 06:15

      Interested in the answer too…..super card must be panicking/interested too as they have just sent an email “help us shape the future of super card”.

      Please tell us, I am too busy tomorrow and won’t react to the news, today is a better day

      • John says:
        17 Feb17 February 06:48

        Haven’t received that email…

        • Boi says:
          17 Feb17 February 06:59

          Email says I am one of top users….lol… I have only used it twice….admittedly spent 5K on those 2 occasions.

          The last sentence says “watch this space as super card will soon get more super!

          • John says:
            17 Feb17 February 07:11

            I’ve made at least £15000 cash withdrawals with my card, and the maximum is a rolling £250 per day, so that tells you how many times I’ve used it.

          • Liz says:
            17 Feb17 February 07:32

            Are you withdrawing in the UK or abroad?

      • @mkcol says:
        17 Feb17 February 10:14

        Think I had that email & associated survey 3 weeks ago.

    • the_real_a says:
      17 Feb17 February 06:27

      Me too. I logged in early to read the news!

    • Kipto says:
      17 Feb17 February 07:20

      Rob is on holiday this week and said that it would be announced on Thursday. My bet is that there will be a reduction/abandonment of Amex charges on foreign transactions.

    • Phill Ramsay says:
      17 Feb17 February 12:28

      My guess is the curve card, its been in the telegraph today, if it does what it says it could be good!

  • rams1981 says:
    17 Feb17 February 06:34

    Ha lol me too

    • Tom H says:
      17 Feb17 February 07:06

      +1

    • Ed says:
      17 Feb17 February 07:43

      Google “curve card telegraph”

      • Ed says:
        17 Feb17 February 07:50

        Curve card Looks interesting £35 one off fee, allows you to use Amex anywhere including non-Amex retailers and abroad with no surcharge. Works on a MasterCard linked to a phone app, which I assume then bills transaction to Amex or any other linked card. Apologies if I got this wrong not a financial guru.

        • Rob says:
          17 Feb17 February 07:51

          Correct. I have been using it and it works fine. Cash withdrawals charged to your Amex as a purchase …..

          • Liz says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:02

            It’s not allowing you to apply at the moment – when do applications open

          • Andy says:
            17 Feb17 February 17:15

            just applied and paid for my Blue card

          • Ed says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:10

            That’s a fairly useful feature 😉

          • Ed says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:14

            thinking about this more, can’t imagine it will last? Amex withdrawals as purchases is like 3v on steroids.

          • Rob says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:24

            Course it won’t!

            But they swear to me that their business model can fund it ….

            I withdrew some Euros in Frankfurt on Friday, no commission, no FX fee, no cash advance fee, already showing on my BA Amex as a purchase.

          • Ed says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:31

            I assume their is nothing to stop you going to your high street bank making maximum daily withdrawal, paying cash directly back into your bank account and repeating process next day. Paying off Amex card as you go, but racking up some serious amount of MR points along the way.

          • h2d says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:56

            Raffles as far as I can tell the FX charge is spot plus 1%, so I see the value in Amex cash withdrawals and the multi card functionality, but not as a replacement for true free FX cards. Supercard to Curve to Amex may solve this

          • The_Real_A says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:56

            Just to be clear there is a 1% loading on the mastercard rate. Its not fee free BTW

          • Rob says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:07

            That’s why I didn’t run the article today – I didn’t have access to all the small print.

          • Pol says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:10

            Also says there’s a £2 charge for cash withdrawals abroad.

          • Alan says:
            17 Feb17 February 15:01

            But iOS only :(((((

          • Mark says:
            17 Feb17 February 17:52

            Yes iOS only was major obstacle for me. Not sure how they restrict applications to ‘freelancers’ and ‘entrepreneurs’ other than by how you answer the question…

            Sounds like a pyramid or bait and switch scheme anyway. As others have commented there is surely no way the business model is sustainable so every possibility people will find themselves £35 out of pocket having gained little or nothing.

      • Rob says:
        17 Feb17 February 07:50

        Bingo. I will be covering this tomorrow, along with some details not in the public domain.

        • Nick M says:
          17 Feb17 February 07:59

          It looks great! Will you have any referral links – is it best waiting until tomorrow to apply?

          • Mycity says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:01

            This looks like a great product, go away in two weeks so would love to have it before then.

          • James says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:10

            I have just applied and paid up, Google curve card and been accepted, my card is on the way.

          • Liz says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:13

            I can’t get it to apply

          • Callum says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:21

            It looks like an awful travel product. £35 upfront, 1% fee on purchases and 1% plus £2 on cash withdrawals and only a handful of currencies supported. I’m somewhat disappointed after being told you’ll be “far better off” with this over a Lloyd’s card – unless I’m missing something?

            It looks like an amazing manufactured spend product if used in the UK

          • Rob says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:14

            No, which is unfortunate 🙂

          • Ian W says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:57

            I have just signed up and been given a code which supposedly gives me £10 if I refer someone (as well as £10 to them).

            Raffles – I don’t want to post it here if you also received such a promo code but it seems that you are saying that you haven’t?

          • Rob says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:06

            I was on the private beta so I don’t have a code.

            I will ask them for one for tomorrow. Feel free to post yours today.

          • Colin MacKinnon says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:56

            There is a referral link, but it only gives (a tenner) to the person referring – not the one being referred.

            Perhaps we should form a conga? ie Someone use my code, then the next uses their’s etc.

            (if so, my link is V2oAu )

          • sd83 says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:28

            Hi Colin – where do I use this refferal code? is it part of the URL?

          • Lawro says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:30

            Just signed up…they provided referral link which offers £10 to both person referred and person doing the referring apparently.

            Rob-posting with your permission-delete as you see fit….

            Code tghk0

          • RIccati says:
            17 Feb17 February 13:47

            With Rob’s permission today,

            Referral code vRjuI

          • Jon says:
            17 Feb17 February 22:59

            And another… 😉

            aMNv0

            (Not sure whether there’s a finite number of times they can be used, so do use the ones above first – they posted first after all – but if they don’t work… 🙂

        • Boi says:
          17 Feb17 February 08:08

          How do we apply for it? Article in telegraph doesn’t say….

          • James says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:26

            https://www.imaginecurve.com

          • Boi says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:31

            Thanks. Standard or black….feel like I don’t even know if worth extra. Raffles ps give clue….even 1 liner to say black or not

          • Rob says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:09

            I haven’t seen the info yet, I have a beta card which only comes in one colour and has the word Beta on the front!

          • Ian W says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:30

            Raffles – not wanting to pre-empt tomorrow’s article, but if one were to apply for a card today, would you recommend the blue or the black version?

          • James says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:36

            I personally went with the black. For an extra £40, it wasn’t worth the pontification. If it turn out its a wasted £40, so what. If this card delivers £40 will be a drop in the ocean as far as I’m concerned.

          • Liz says:
            17 Feb17 February 08:48

            I finally got it to work on my iPad – couldn’t get my PC to work – I went for the £75 version too as it was a one off fee – hopefully the rewards will be worth it ! We do love to jump the gun on here don’t we!

        • James says:
          17 Feb17 February 08:53

          The holy grail of manufactured spend. As you say that won’t last, however I’m hopeful that it will at least stand up to the test of time in terms of purchases, to be able to use Amex anywhere you could previously use MasterCard would be a fantastic. HMRC tax payers, you will know what I mean.

          • RTS says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:08

            Don’t have an iPhone… shame…

          • Rob says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:09

            I tried to pay a credit card bill with Curve yesterday and it would not allow it, so there are restrictions.

          • RTS says:
            17 Feb17 February 09:35

            But by the sounds of it… just to use it to stack points seems to be worth it through daily cash withdrawals …

            I’ve just ordered the Limited Offer Black Curve Card with the Tumi Wallet for £75. At worse I would have just paid £75 for a Tumi card holder… i’m ok with that!

          • RIccati says:
            18 Feb18 February 01:16

            This is simples, card issuers need a debit card to do so and Curve is an equivalent of pre-paid Mastercard.

            For the same reason it works with HMRC payments — Worldpay accepted pre-paid cards before (3V saga).

          • RIccati says:
            18 Feb18 February 01:18

            If Amex would accept pre-paid cards to pay off the balance, then one can purchase them and pay into the CC account just generating (nearly) unlimited rewards.

          • George says:
            17 Feb17 February 10:08

            Supercard works well for paying tax as its treated as a debit card. Max daily limit of 5000 so it takes a few goes.

          • watfordh says:
            17 Feb17 February 11:05

            I thought the supercard wasn’t supposed to work in the UK?

          • Rob says:
            17 Feb17 February 11:26

            You are not meant to use it in the UK. If you do, you get a 50p ‘fine’.

          • George says:
            17 Feb17 February 11:52

            They’ve stopped charging me the 50p for some reason.

  • Peaceful Waters says:
    17 Feb17 February 07:16

    OT but how long do IHG take to process a missing points claim?

    I put one in a week ago and have had no acknowledgement.

    • Daniel says:
      17 Feb17 February 07:34

      Always call… And make it the salt lake centre… Look for the 1800 number and call us a daytime…. 4get the Philippines one.

    • avidsaver says:
      17 Feb17 February 08:16

      I got an immediate auto acknowledgement and then a response within 48 hrs.

    • Fenny says:
      17 Feb17 February 16:52

      I emailed about an Accelerate missing target and they replied the following day, points within 3-5 days.

  • Simmo says:
    17 Feb17 February 08:31

    What version have people gone for?

    £35 or £75?

    £75 mentions double rewards but not launched yet?

  • Ralphy says:
    17 Feb17 February 09:00

    “WE’RE SORRY – BUT YOU’RE AHEAD OF THE CURVE
    Thanks so much for signing up to join Curve. This first release of cards is tailored to self-employed folk in the UK and European Economic Area who use iOS, so we’re really sorry that we can’t send you a card right away.”

    Apple users win again, frustrating for us Google and Android folks.

    • Simmo says:
      17 Feb17 February 09:15

      Also says they are not looking for Employed folk, only self employed and business owners.

    • ahop says:
      17 Feb17 February 09:18

      Ralphy, why not use an emulator on Android, the points could be worth the hassle?

    • Pol says:
      17 Feb17 February 09:19

      I got the same message but not because I’m on apple but because I put I was employed not self employed.

  • sd83 says:
    17 Feb17 February 09:11

    I just called Curve to clarify some details on the differences between the £35 and £75 card and was advised the double points scheme is points earned on spend processed through the card, whereby the points have a monetary value that can be redeemed against future transactions.

    That’s all they could disclose at the moment however was advised further details would follow on their website shortly.

    Risking the £75 on this premise!

  • Anup says:
    17 Feb17 February 09:24

    gone for the £75 one too – worth the risk in my opinion! Anyone know why its limited to self-employed people only?

    My referral link is below in case anyone would like to use it 😉

    http://www.imaginecurve.com/r=kW7WV

This article is closed to new posts. Discussion continues in the HfP Forums.

New to Head for Points?

Welcome!  We’re the UK’s most-read source of business travel, Avios, frequent flyer and hotel loyalty news. Let us improve how you travel. Learn more on our About page.

VAA

Latest comments

Latest Forum Posts

Get 30,000 points bonus with American Express Platinum

Amex Gold

Check reward flight availability instantly for free!

See a whole year of reward seat availability on one page at SeatSpy.com

Booking a luxury hotel?

Our luxury hotel booking service offers you GUARANTEED extra benefits over booking direct. Works with Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz Carlton, St Regis and more. We've booked £1.3 million of rooms to date. Click for details.

Get 20,000 bonus points and your first year free with American Express Gold

Amex Gold