PurpleDog

I am a Spire Elite and want to stay 2 nights [a Monday and Tuesday near the end of September] in Manhattan at an IHG property. I hope to use my Chase Anniversary Free Night for one night and pay for night #2 . I would be staying with my brother, so we would get a room with 2 doubles; we cant afford 2 rooms, as this is a personal vacation and not work related.
My question is this: which property do you folks think would have the largest amount of space in a rom with 2 doubles ?
TIA ....

Petrus

Difficult to answer as there are many IHG hotels in NYC.
What area? Some brands give better recognition for elites...

view-with-a-room

The properties with large rooms are not the properties in or around Manhattan. The free night is a standard room and will limit the options for an upgrade. Contacting the hotel directly would not be a bad option to determine the end result of a free night and a paid night. Spire Elite status requires 75 nights per year but the question would not be typical of an individual traveling 75 nights per year. With Spire Elite status the accumulation of points should be substantial and the better option would be to book a free night and a point night. The Holiday Inn / Holiday Inn Express options are the better options for the budget traveler more often than not.

Mauibaby2008

For some reason Monday September 4th is extremely cheap, about half as much as Tuesday September 5th. If these were your dates, and you're interested in Times Square. Crowne Plaza Times Square costs $149+tax that Monday. Pay cash that night, use your free night Tuesday night. This property does well with Spire elites. You get coupons that make breakfast something like $5 or $10

but also the Intercontinental Barclay is $179 the same Monday. If you want fancy book there. You can get two double beds at both properties.

PurpleDog

Thanks for the replies ! I travel quite often, but have not stayed in Manhattan in over 25 years. I am more of a Boston guy ... lol.
My 2 nights will be Monday 9.25 and Tuesday 9.26. I suppose we would like to be close to Times Square, but we also plan on cabbing it everywhere, [we both have bad knees] so Times Square is not a must.
Would the Candlewood or Staybridge rooms be larger ?
Would I have a better chance at an upgrade by booking one night with points ? Using my Chase free night and paying full price for the other night ? Or doing points and cash for both nights ?

somedudefromFLa

Often the IC will allow on point or Chase freebee bookings to reserve an upgraded room. You'll have to look through the details online, sometimes it's only available for way in advance or last minute, but if I recall once they allowed me booking upto 2 ( might have been 3) levels above standard rooms so that gets a much nicer room. But if you're paying cash for the 2nd night you'll have to pay the rate for that upgraded room... of course the flip to that is if you book and upgraded room for 1st night you can pretty much assure they'll give you that for freebee night regardless of what booked.

BTW if you're open to off Manhattan hotels you might want to consider hotel indigo Brooklyn. They have a nice 2 bedroom suite on top floor which I usually get upgraded to as spire ambassador, but the only problem is that with IHG the upgrade is not guaranteed rather "subject to availability" : (

archstenton

I think is an important point. I tried using my Chase free night recently and some of the hotels wouldn't even show a dbl bed room. I would first try booking online with the free night selection and see which ones will offer you a dbl bed room. Just put in 3 people to get to that criteria.

I stayed at the Even Midtown East but with kids wanted a dbl bed(Note: 2 adults not in relationship would not recommend sharing a room. Very tiny with the equipment present). I even called when Online wouldn't give me a free double. They said they could only do what it spits out, no gaurantees.

Side note, isn't Candlewood usually only one real bed? Bad knees on a 2" thick sofa bed mattress?