NEWS & OFFERS: IHG Ambassador price rise and 15k bonus, Save 20% on Virgin Hotels, Bangkok update, and 24,000 Marriott bonus

IHG Ambassador price rise and bonus points

IHG Ambassador is IHG’s paid loyalty program for Intercontinental hotels. With its free weekend night offer, it can make financial sense to join before booking a weekend stay with Intercontinental as usually the saving covers the cost of the stay and give all the benefits for free for a year.

The benefits include:

• Platinum Elite status in IHG® One Rewards, and the corresponding IHG One Rewards benefits
• Guaranteed one-category room upgrade
• Restaurants & bars credit of up to USD20 for every stay
• Guaranteed extended 4:00 PM check-out
• Complimentary weekend night

If you have not joined before or have a renewal coming up, it’s worth knowing that the price will increase on 2 October, so now is the time to buy an Ambassador membership; it currently costs $200.

I received an offer for 15,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points for paying cash. The offer is available if you received the email and renew at $200 cash before your year expires. Alternatively, you can renew your Ambassador membership for 40,000 IHG One Rewards points.

You can find the Ambassador page here.

Save 20% on Virgin Hotels

Virgin Hotels is running a sale to get 20% off your stay when you stay two nights or more. The latest Virgin Hotel opened on 1 August in London and took over the site of the Mondrian Shoreditch.

You can earn Virgin points on your Virgin hotel stays, but they also have their own loyalty scheme called The Know. If you are planning to book it is worth joining the scheme as it has:

• The best room rates
• Free room upgrades
• Personalized touches and treats
• Virgin Points

You earn 5 points per $1 USD, or 7 points per 1 GBP.

You can find the offer page here.

Marriott’s Homes and Villas 24,000 Point bonus

Marriott are offering a huge 24,000 point bonus through their Homes & Villas collection. Marriott don’t own the properties, it is similar to a VRBO or Air BnB type arrangement but it does get you a huge points boost.

To get the bonus, you must book by 31 August 2024. You will then earn 24 K bonus points on every qualifying stay. You need to stay before 20 December, stay for two consecutive nights and spend $2000 or more to qualify.

You also get 10% off participating rentals globally plus the standard Marriott points of 5 per $1 spent.

You can find the offer page here.

Bangkok airport update

Last week, Bangkok Airport withdrew its Fast Track lanes for business and first class with no notice. In my experience, they weren’t exactly fast, but they were better than joining the general queue. Since writing that piece, it would appear that Bangkok Airport has received so many complaints that they decided to reinstate the Fast Track service.

Thanks to the readers who pointed out the update.