New IHG Rewards Club redemption option in New York: voco The Franklin

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After its debut in 2018, IHG’s voco brand is slowly making its way around the world and has made landfall in the Americas with The Franklin, New York.

What is voco?

voco is an upscale conversion brand that allows existing hotels to join IHG without signing up to strict standards that come with other brands such as Crowne Plaza.

Currently there are 16 properties worldwide, although five are in the UK, including in Oxford (which has two!), Reading, and Solihull. In early 2019 I had a look the voco St Davids in Cardiff, one of first voco to open, and was impressed with what I saw.

You can see a full list of all voco hotels on this page of the IHG website. IHG hopes to open 200 vocos in the next decade.

voco The Franklin, New York

Back to New York, where the first voco in the Americas is about to open. Located on the Upper East Side, The Franklin is a 50-room hotel originally built in the 1930s.

It has just undergone a major refurbishment which, according to some online reviews, was much needed. The voco website says it has been “completely reimagined.”

It looks smart:

… although it seems like nothing has changed to the size (or number) of rooms which appear to be small:

Here is the bathroom:

The location is good, just a few blocks from the Museum Mile and Central Park. It is also just round the corner from the 86th St subway station, which gets you on the new Second Avenue Q and N trains.

How much is the new voco The Franklin New York?

If you find yourself in New York in the next few months you can find standard doubles for around $130. Further out, and into next year, prices rise to around $200 for the same.

Unfortunately, voco The Franklin does not appear to be loaded into IHG Rewards Club yet so we don’t know how many points it will cost for a free night.

Looking at other IHG properties in New York, I imagine it will be around the 30,000-40,000 points per night, which gives you a valuation of around 0.4p per point assuming the cash rates are $200+.

You can see more about voco The Franklin on the IHG website 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.