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Good Dubai business class deal
If you are looking for a good deal to Dubai, the latest prices from ITA are worth a look. The lowest price fars are very limited but there are fares of £1210 available most days from now onwards. Crucially, there is still plenty of availability for peak season during autumn and winter.
You have to fly via Rome, but you can build in a stopover both ways, which could make a great two-centre holiday. ITA has a modern business class using an A321 on some Dubai flights, which gives a private jet feel on the smaller aircraft, and you can read our review here.
The minimum stopover time in Dubai is 3 days or a Saturday night, and you can fly from Gatwick or London City on this fare.
Marriott introduces auto-upgrades
Hilton has used auto upgrades for a few years now, which allows upgrades to be allocated prior to arrival automatically. Now, Marriott has decided to automate their complimentary upgrades for status as well as Nightly Upgrade Awards (formerly Suite nights). These are free upgrades awarded when you stay 50 nights or reach Platinum status. It will be interesting to see how this affects the success of NUA. I have found them very variable recently and sometimes struggle for months to use one, and then other times have no problems. I have found Europe (except the UK) and Asia to be the easiest places to use them.
Although the hotel will still be involved as they have to upload the available rooms into the system, it will stop individual hotels from doing things that are not within the spirit of the program. I had selected only one type of room (a one bed suite) for an NUA recently at a US hotel and had requested it a long time in advance. I had it confirmed in the usual time frame, but then when I looked at the room to check in, I saw that they had downgraded me to a studio suite that I had not requested (just a large room really) and still taken the voucher. It turns out that someone with higher status had made a last-minute booking with a NUA, and they had given my upgrade to them. I don’t think once it is confirmed, they should be able to do that. Hopefully, this will not happen with the new system.
The system will start looking for availability 5 days before for NUA except for Ritz Carlton, St Regis and EDITION. If a match is found, then your booking is upgraded and the room is removed from sale. This is completed by 2pm the day before. Then, at 3pm the day before, the system starts looking at assigning Automated Complimentary Upgrades. This will give automatic upgrades based on status and availability.
I really like the Hilton feature where you get an upgrade notification before your stay and I’m pleased to see Marriott doing the same. While a lot of hotels do give upgrades in advance, it is very variable, and some hotels seem more reluctant to give upgrades than others. The new system should make things fairer and more consistent. Although I always recommend contacting the hotel in advance if you want an upgrade for a particular reason, such as a special occasion, to increase your chances.
New IHG sale with up to 25% off
The last IHG summer sale only just ended but they have already launched a new one. It is a better deal than the previous sale (which was up to 15%) as it offers up to 25%. The Campaign offers a discount of 10% to 25% off the hotel’s Best Flexible Rate. IHG One Rewards Members get an additional 10% discount on bookings which are made directly through the IHG One Rewards app.
You can book until 15 August 2025 for stays at participating IHG-branded hotels and resorts until 15 October 2025 (both dates inclusive) using the “Book Now Pay Later” and “Book Now Pay Later – IHG One Rewards Member Rate”.
There is more good news as you do not need to pay a deposit and reservations may be modified, changed, rebooked or cancelled free of charge up to three prior to your scheduled check-in date at the hotel.
The bad news is that Europe is not currently included. However, it does include the Middle East, Africa, India, and South Asia.
Here are the full list of countries and brands included: Algeria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Mauritius, Nepal, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Tanzania, United Arab Emirates, Zambia, and Zimbabwe at participating InterContinental, Vignette Collection, Kimpton, Hotel Indigo, voco, Crowne Plaza, Staybridge Suites, Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express branded hotels.
