Weekend staycation break? Two interesting IHG hotel deals in York and Oxford

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Two totally unconnected – but good value – deals at IHG Rewards Club properties have come up, so I thought I’d put them together in this article.

First up ….

Half price redemptions at voco Oxford Thames

The newly upgraded and rebranded voco Oxford Thames is, as you can see in the picture below, not your usual IHG property:

To quote:

“Close to the heart of Oxford, on the banks of the River Thames, lies voco Oxford Thames hotel. With a history dating back to the Middle Ages, the hotel’s surroundings have an intriguing story to tell. Originally headquarters of the Knights Templar, the house and its lands have been owned by notable religious figures, lords, and even kings throughout the centuries.

voco Oxford Thames combines its medieval character with 21st-century style to create a unique setting for memorable meetings, conferences, and weddings alike.”

voco Oxford Thames is usually 40,000 IHG Rewards Club points per night.

However, for stays until 7th November, it has halved the redemption rate to just 20,000 points per night.

I tend to value an IHG Rewards Club point at 0.4p which means 20,000 points would normally get you a room worth around £80. voco Oxford Thames sells for noticeably more than this – £130 seems to be the minimum and it can go over £200 – so this is a good deal.

The hotel website is here if you want to learn more or book.

Meanwhile, over in York …..

Exceptional rates at Principal York

Principal York is the hotel next to the railway station. A LOT of money was spent on it by the former owners, and I had a pleasant lunch there last year.

IHG is taking its time deciding which brand it slots into, and it is remaining a Principal for now.

This may be an error, but the hotel is offering some exceptionally cheap ‘Special Dinner Packages’ at the moment.

Take a look at Sunday 1st September for example.

A standard room costs £144, room only.

The ‘special dinner package’ gets you:

dinner for two people (a three course set menu or £25 per person towards the a la carte menu)
breakfast for two people
a King Superior room

and is selling for just £100! See the screenshot below (click to enlarge):

It is available on other Sunday nights at £100, and on certain other nights this package is the same price as a standard room.

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

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

Cal says:

13 Aug13 August 11:22

Just booked this for September, thanks Rob!

There was an option for pay with fewer points and cash:
20,000 points
15,000 points and £25
10,000 points and £50.

I stuck with 20,000 points with my quick maths. Was that correct?

Additionally I saw a day or so ago, someone saying that Creation are declining anyone who held the IHG credit card before? I applied a few months ago for the Premium card and was declined. I had held the free card but cancelled it about a month before I applied for the Premium card.

Rob have you heard what the current situation is around the card?
- Rob says:
  
  13 Aug13 August 12:11
  
  No, nothing. I have an odd relationship with Creation,who are happy to buy me lunch at every opportunity but refuse to actually discuss their products or partner with us.
  - Andrew says:
    
    13 Aug13 August 13:09
    
    So what do you talk about? It’s not as if their products or service quality sell themselves.
    - Rob says:
      
      13 Aug13 August 15:03
      
      The market, who is doing what, usual stuff! I have better insight than most because we deal with most issuers.
      - Alex Sm says:
        
        13 Aug13 August 19:42
        
        They are doing their job very well while you could have done yours better in this case Rob 🙂 there is no such thing as free lunch
      - Rob says:
        
        13 Aug13 August 19:51
        
        Totally untrue 🙂 For a start, at Christmas we can legally blow £150 per head on lunch and charge it to the business!
      - Shoestring says:
        
        13 Aug13 August 20:01
        
        I get your point Alex Sm – but also see the other side. I used to take the country manager of my main competitor out to lunch when I was running [a European country] as MD myself. TBH I never really got any particularly useful information out of him nor he out of me. I eventually got given the heave ho after a few years & thought it might help I had a contact there, but no.
        
        At the end of the day, they were very good lunches paid for by a FTSE100 co. And that’s about it.
  - Brasov says:
    
    13 Aug13 August 22:32
    
    It’s a pretty good card so we might have you to thank for influencing them
Clive says:

13 Aug13 August 13:08

OT – New Hilton promo for 7500 points. Seems open to all

https://www.hiltonhonors.com/en_US/7500-points-media/landing/
@mkcol says:

13 Aug13 August 15:15

Hope The Principal appreciate me pointing out their typo 😉
BJ says:

13 Aug13 August 16:46

OT: New amex offers I have spotted on my cards today are £10 for £30 supermarket spend, £5 for £20 Deliveroo, and £10 for £40 spend at Bella Italia.
- Harry T says:
  
  13 Aug13 August 21:30
  
  I have the Bella Italia and Deliveroo offers. Sadly don’t have the supermarket one, which would be more useful.
  - BJ says:
    
    13 Aug13 August 22:09
    
    It was on gold card, does not even specify the supermarket.
Caro says:

13 Aug13 August 20:30

Do bonus points earned from the accelerate promo post after each stay or at the end of the promotion? Thanks
- Rob says:
  
  13 Aug13 August 21:07
  
  When you complete each particular target, within a few days.
  - Caro says:
    
    13 Aug13 August 21:16
    
    Thanks Rob
Andy says:

13 Aug13 August 22:13

Be aware that not many of the Principal York Rooms have air conditioning. They can get very, very warm even in winter. Some bathrooms are very small, as are some of the rooms.

The public areas of the hotel have been done beautifully, but when my mum stayed there for 2 nights she had an awful mattress the first night which reception staff said would be replaced…but it never was. Eventually she was moved rooms on the 2nd day. After much wrangling the manager agreed to provide a free future stay, which was generous, although this was only offered after a 10%..later upped to 20% refund was refused by my mum.

It isn’t a hotel I would rush back to, but at £100 for half board it’s good value provided you get a good mattress and a cool room.
Daz says:

14 Aug14 August 22:00

I go to York every month and normally stay in the Hilton across from the tower. As if by magic the Principal came up on my Capita website! As I business stay in room 216 it was crap, no aircon, no IHG points, according to them I had a 30% discount at £269.00???

So decided to take it as a bad stay and not worry about it to much. However I booked a private weekend stay a few weeks later as a romantic getaway……….oh……. my god!!!!! How shite that started! I was pur in the dog house with the missus, I headed for a quick win at the Indigo in the centre. Turned out great! Central, cheaper and better service.

As a person who loves older buildings and history, I’d have loved the Principal to be there. But it wasn’t, it was lacking in service, unfortunately it wasn’t befitting of the building. I do hope it does get better for the sake of this historical hotel.
- John says:
  
  18 Aug18 August 07:43
  
  I find “historical” hotels to be nice to look at but usually not worth staying in.