I first wrote about this deal back in January, with it due to expire at the end of March. It ended up being pulled early and I feared we had seen the last of this excellent promotion.  I am pleased to report though, that this offer is now up and running again – for stays up until the end of December 2018.

I have said it before and I will say it again:

This is a deal that gets surprisingly little publicity given how much of a real saving it offers.

In conjunction with MasterCard, IHG offers a special partner rate for weekend stays. This rate offers 30% off the Best Flexible Rate and while still allowing you to earn elite night credits and points.

In fact, there are actually 2 different promotional discounts here:

– The first is 30% off at all IHG brands except for InterContinental.

– The second is 20% off at InterContinental Hotels. The key point here is that this rate will include breakfast. This could mean a substantial saving indeed, as I will illustrate.

  • Stays must be booked 21 days in advance
  • Valid in Europe at almost 500 participating properties
  • Although technically only valid on Friday/Saturday/Sunday some hotels may make this discount available during the week as well.
  • The discount is 20/30% off the Best Flexible Rate but should still present a good saving over the standard Advance Purchase prices.
  • Like Advanced Purchase prices, these promotional rates are prepaid and non-refundable
  • You presumably should have a MasterCard to use these rates but you are not required to pay with it.

How does it look in practice

I took a look at rates at the Crowne Plaza, London Kensington for a Saturday night stay on the 10th February 2018.

Here is the ordinary non-discounted rate:

IHG 30% off relaunched 2
Regular rate at CP London Kensington

And here is the rate using the MasterCard promo link:

Crowne Plaza London Kensington pricing using MasterCard promo

As you can see, you would save more than £35 over the standard Advance Purchase price by using the promotional rate.

I then took a look at a night at the InterContinental Davos over the Christmas period.

I compared a standard non-refundable rate that includes breakfast with the 20% off MasterCard rate that comes with breakfast.

Now the savings become seriously impressive. Here is the ordinary non-discounted rate:

InterContinental Davos standard pricing options

And here is the rate using the MasterCard promo link:

InterContinental Davos pricing options using MasterCard promo

In this example, you would save more than £84 per night by using this MasterCard offer discount.

How to book

 

You must book via this dedicated booking page

  • Book by 31st March 2018
  • Valid for stays up until 31st December 2018
  • You will need to open another browser to check the regular hotel rates as the search function that displays the promotional rates determinedly refuses to show other non-promotional rates alongside it for easy comparison!
  • The instructions on the IHG website state that you should fill out and print this voucher to present at check-in. It is, however, improbable, that you will actually be asked to produce this.

Note: The T&C’s don’t yet appear to be updated as they still reflect the ‘Book by 31st March 2017’ dates but the rate is definitely working for dates into 2018…

Verdict

The link to this deal is a mainstay in my bookmarks folder as it represents one of the highest discounts consistently available when booking hotels in Europe. Just from my example at the IC Davos, you would save more than £250 over a 3-night stay – that’s huge!

Another great way to utilise this deal would be to combine it with the IHG Accelerate promotion. The Accelerate promotion offers large amounts of bonus IHG points for completing a series of personalised stay targets. Getting 20/30% off the rates you book using this MasterCard promo is the perfect sweetener to make your Accelerate target even more achievable.

The link to book is here