Moniqua

Hello!

I am a *very* newbie traveler and have a very silly question for you.

My boyfriend and I are planning our FIRST EVER international trip to Europe and we were able to pay for most of our trip with reward points from the SPG Amex and Chase Sapphire. Earlier last month I opened an IHG rewards credit card to get the signup bonus and now that I've finally received those points, I was ready to book and discovered that the hotels we were eyeing in Dublin, Ireland have no reward nights available for the time we're staying in May!

We've booked pretty much everything in our trip. Dublin is our second to last stop on the trip. From there we fly to Paris and then fly back home and that flight from Dublin to Paris is already booked.


Does anyone have any advice on how we can use our 70k IHG points in Dublin if the online reservation system says there are no reward nights available? Can we call them and maybe talk our way into it?

Thanks in advanced!!

TravelLawyer

No. Book a different hotel or a backup that is refundable. Sometimes they release more space, but usually not unless someone else cancels.

jbeckett

With IHG, once the available rooms for reward nights are taken, it is not likely that they will become available again. Have you searched for one night at a time? You may be able to find individual nights that way.

If all five of the IHG hotels in Dublin have no reward nights, I'd guess you are out of luck and should follow AtomicLush's advice.

Saral

As well as one room at a time do not specify any room or bed configurations when you are searching...good luck!

markis10

I would disagree, it's entirely possible usually closer to the intended stay date. Most revpar managers know that once they hit high occupancy, reward nights can get them good revenue, so often you will see reward nights go well in advance, but open up again close to the dates as the hotel fills. In this case, I suggest booking a Flexi booking, and keep, an eye on it, be prepared to pay but you might have the luck of the Irish.

miadukes

Hi jacking but I'm hoping this is the trend as I have the same situation as the OP and im hoping something opens in the next 2 days for this Saturday night

scubaccr

1. Before searching check your preferencs are not restricting the resuts, eg if preference is King Bed, you often do not see twin bedded rooms. Can apply to both award and paid nights
(ie untick all peference boxes)

2. Check each night of your stay separately. If just 1x night of searched multinight stay lacks availabilty, you get no award showing. Book the available nights as awards and buy paid rooms for missing nights

3. Check a week before stay again, hotls get a pittance for award nights unless occupancy exceeds 95%. If hotel is almost full > 95%, some release extra rooms to award pool then as ihg corporate pay almost same as a paid night. So in pt 2. above it can be worth booking missing nightsvon flex instead of advance rate to allow for possible rebbok night as award and cancel paid night

Exiled in Express

Two options that haven't been mentioned.

SPG has a single hotel in Dublin. You can use your points there and book with IHG in your other destinations. Check availability at Westin Dublin and IHG wherever before making any changes!

OR

IHG has an option to redeem points at other hotels. Click on "Rewards" and under the "Travel Anywhere" header there is a link to a hotel search. I have never seen these to not have 100% cancellation penalties and they are also very poor value. As it sounds like The Arrows and Circles Blog inspired this trip, you likely don't care about ongoing value.

craigthemif

Check out "Hotel Hustle". It will automate the search for award availability and send an email if it opens up.

In the interim, book something on a flexible basis.

miadukes

keep checking, as has been mentioned, I was in the same boat and just checked now (i cheked earlier today and nothing) and hotel availability just showed up for me locally I check in tomorrow and already have a reservation I cant cancel eslwhere but just keep checking.

PP I am going ot check that hotel hustle thing and see how it works. thx

Moniqua

Thanks everyone for your advice! I ended up finding hotels looking one night at a time and found reward nights in different hotels. Really appreciate the help! I'm so excited to travel internationally for the first time!

Troopers

It may be too late but I suggest you keep the hotel check-in/check-outs to a minimum since it's your first international trip...I wouldn't want to "waste" time doing that. It's such pain to pack and check out, drag luggage to next hotel, leave bags with hotel if room not ready, then unpack, etc. In this case, I think time lost is more valuable than hotel costs.

Enjoy your trip!

mikeef

Totally OT, but the first trip I took with the unfortunate woman who became my wife was to Seattle, where I made her stay in three different hotels over a four night period so I could get extra stay credits toward elite status.

Folks, if you're looking to find an understanding partner, take him/her on a tour of Seattle Starwood properties. If they haven't dumped you by the end of the trip, they're the one.

Somebody who knows IHG better than I do can tell you if reward nights count.

Sounds like she might not have a choice.

Mike

imapilotaz

100% agree with this. Do not do that. Unless they are right next door, you will literally ruin your trip doing this. Because you'll need to schlep back to the hotel multiple times to move around during the days. It's just not worth it.

Look at IHG's "any hotel" deals. I used mine for Venice and it worked out great, exactly where I wanted to be and the points rate was adequate.

Likewise what other have said, Im staying in Cairns, Australia this year for 4 nights. Oddly I could not book the 4 nights at once, but I could book them in a 2 night, 1 night and 1 night increments. They've marked them to keep us from checking out, but its a pain in the ....