InterContinental New York Barclay now accepting IHG Rewards Club redemption bookings

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There are two InterContinental hotels in New York. The InterContinental Times Square property tends to get all of the coverage on HFP because it is new and, more importantly, the other hotel has been closed for 18 months! Even before it closed, InterContinental The Barclay was not the most enticing place to stay.

This may be about to change.

After selling 80% of the hotel to a Qatari-led investment group, IHG and the new owners launched a $175m renovation programme. This is now drawing to a close and the InterContinental New York Barclay is due to re-open on 1st May.

The Barclay is tucked away just behind the Waldorf-Astoria, a few paces from Grand Central Station. It is an archetypal 1920’s property, occupying a full city block. Whilst it had been in need of a full refurbishment for many years, it always had one saving grace – it had too many suites. Your upgrade potential was always pretty good.

(This may no longer be the case. The hotel has gained 17 rooms during the refurbishment which I assume came from reducing the number of suites.)

I only stayed there once, but I remember it having a lot of public space – a throwback to the age in which it was built. This is one advantage it has over the InterContinental Times Square.

What I didn’t realise, until I looked online, is that the standard rooms are small. They are described as ‘from 250 square feet’. The photo above is meant to be of a standard room but looks bigger than 250 square feet to me.

The rooms at InterContinental Times Square start at 350 square feet – and they also have full length glass windows to let in the light. The photo below is a mock-up of a corner room Barclay suite which looks a lot brighter.

As of 48 hours ago, rooms at the Barclay can now be booked for IHG Rewards Club points.

You will need 60,000 points per night. Unfortunately there is no opening discount as you often see with new IHG properties.

At present, you can book on points:

Superior Rooms (250 square feet)

Deluxe Rooms (275 square feet)

Executive Rooms (300 square feet)

The room descriptions on the website are identical apart from the square footage number. For points, they are all 60,000 points per night so you might as well take an Executive if it is available.

I have switched an existing booking at Times Square to the Barclay so I will get a chance to check it out in a couple of months. The Barclay is an ‘old school’ luxury hotel with lots of public space for people watching, and I am quietly hopeful that all the money that has been spent has done a good job. We will see ….

You can book and find out more via the InterContinental New York Barclay page on ihg.com here.

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.

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IHG Rewards

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

rams1981 says:

13 Apr13 April 10:24

I’m staying there using a points booking made in October. King Bed deluxe for 50k points for one night and my free night voucher for the other. I’m Spire Elite thanks to the IHG credit card – any chance of an upgrade you think? I’m staying Monday 30 – Tuesday 31 May.
- Paul says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 10:46
  
  Intercon has its own programme and so not clear that Spire will help. You need to join the Ambassador programme and in my experience the guaranteed upgrade is never guaranteed on redemption bookings. This costs $200 I think ( perhaps more) or 32,000 points I tend to use the points route as it generates a bonus and a free night so quite useful.
- Fenny says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 22:56
  
  Memorial Day weekend and Fleet Week, so there will be loads of people in town.
Paul says:

13 Apr13 April 10:53

The Barclay is a really nice hotel and the upgrade should make it one of the best addresses in Manhattan. There is an underground station with in yards as is Raffles Bistro…..now we know why its being promoted on HFP!! LOL.
Before the revamp there was little in the way F&B in the hotel though there was a good bar in the lobby.
I have 4 nights booked at the IC Times Square in August and had wanted the use the Barclay, but I think I will stick to Times Square as I am staying there as a family and the bigger rooms will be better for us. Nor am I keen to spend a further 40,000 as the TS rooms were booked pre the price hike. That said the Barclay for a couple would be my first choice.
Simmo says:

13 Apr13 April 13:12

Really wasn’t impressed with the IC Times Square, only things going for it in my book were the location to Times Square and the Underground next door.

If I ever go again, I’ll stay Hilton I think.
- Irons1980 says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 13:27
  
  +1 Simmo – I thought the IC Times Square wasn’t great at all, so I am very excited about this new IC option in NY!
- Danksy says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 16:05
  
  I can recommend the westin tines square..We got a great upgrade to a huge corner suite as spg gold!
- Dave R says:
  
  13 Apr13 April 16:34
  
  +1 Not impressed with the IC Times Square, I think my expectations may have been too high though after stays at the IC London PL and the IC Amstel. IC Times Square felt more like a Crowne Plaza to me.
  - Rob says:
    
    13 Apr13 April 16:53
    
    When IC decided to sell off its main freeholds, they opened secondary properties in the same cities as ‘insurance’. If, for example, Taj had offered a knock-out price for Le Grand on the condition IHG surrendered the management contract as well, they could have done it because they had the smaller hotel near the Arc de Triomphe. Similarly, they opened the Victoria hotel in London (now the Conrad) and Times Square in New York.
    
    They don’t “need” these hotels any longer and, like St James / Victoria, will not necessarily fight hard if the owners want to remove them.
    - Leo says:
      
      13 Apr13 April 19:27
      
      If you cancel an IHG free night cert – is it definitely refunded to your account? I have 3 reward nights plus a cert used for 4 nights booking at the IC TS – I did originally want the The Barclay – I might conceivably spend the extra 30k points. But I don’t want to lose the free cert night obviously.
      - Kinkell says:
        
        14 Apr14 April 13:32
        
        Likewise. Anyone out there to answer? Booked in to IC TS early Sept, but given comments would like to change reward nights and Amb. Cert night..
Scottnothing says:

14 Apr14 April 13:14

Thanks for the heads-up. I’ve just booked a cancellable room for a stay in August. Will re-evaluate after your review!