In a separate article today, I took a look at 5 top London hotels that you can book using points this Valentine’s day. But if you were thinking of heading slightly further afield, this excellent discount is a great way to save on any hotel bookings you may be making.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts have a promotion in conjunction with Mastercard at many hotels in Europe, Africa and the Middle East that offers tremendous value.

 

The promotion itself is quite simple: stay at a participating hotel and pay with any Mastercard to be eligible for a free third or fourth night or even a ‘buy four nights get two free’. At many hotels, this is scalable and can be repeated during longer stays.

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Is the offer any good in practice?

As always with promotions that sound good in theory, I tend to reserve judgement until I see:

a) How many hotels are actually participating and
b) How easy it is to find available dates where this promotion can be used

So I ran a few searches and I have to say I was impressed.

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1.) Pine Cliffs Ocean Suites, a Luxury Collection Resort & Spa, Algarve

I searched for a six-night stay in May:

And here’s the difference in estimated room total between this promotion and a standard booking:

(Click to enlarge)

As you can see, by using this offer you’d save yourself just under £300!

*based on today’s exchange rate

2.) Le Méridien Beach Plaza, Monaco

Next, I ran a search for a 3-night long weekend in June:

And here’s the difference in estimated room total between this and a standard booking:

Here, the savings are even more impressive. You would be saving £523 for just a 3-night stay!

3.) The Westin Palace, Madrid

Here, I searched for a four-night stay in June:

 

And here’s the difference in estimated room total between this and a standard booking:

In this example, you’d save £188 on your four-night stay.

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Discounts available on higher rooms and suites too

I was also pleased to see that these deep discounts are also available on room categories beyond entry-level rooms.

Here’s an example of a Premium Deluxe Room – which is the second room category – at the (pricey) The St. Regis Florence for a 3-night stay in September:

And here’s a comparison of the final estimated price:

In this instance, using the Mastercard discount knocks a full £571 off the usual price – a terrific saving!

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How to book

You can search for availability and book these rates by visiting this special promotion page.

There are several key details to note with this offer:

• The room rate must be paid with a Mastercard
• Valid for bookings and stays until 31st December 2018 – although there’s a good chance of this being extended as it has been on a rolling extension since 2014.
• Reservations using this promo are fully pre-paid and non-refundable.

For full T&C’s, see this page here.

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Verdict

This promotion slipped off my radar for a while but while researching this piece I was reminded of the truly superb value it offers. If you don’t mind making non-refundable hotel bookings in advance, it’s clear from the examples I’ve listed above that you can save £100’s if not £1,000’s on just a couple of stays.

I have a number of upcoming hotel bookings to make and I’ll definitely be looking to use this deal if it’s available.

Given that it’s valid through until the end of 2018, this one’s worth bookmarking.

The official page for this offer can be found here

How much can you save using this Mastercard discount?