Hotels

Rakuten is back with another good cash back offer with which you can earn 10% cash back or 10 Amex Membership Rewards Points per dollar on most IHG (InterContinental, Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza, etc...) bookings. It's not clear how long this offer will last for so don't wait too long if you have an IHG stay that you need to book.

The final months of 2022 brought bad news for members of the InterContinental Ambassador program. In November, IHG confirmed that Ambassador benefits will no longer be offered at Regent Hotels & Resorts and that the programs free weekend night certificate will no longer be useable at Kimpton properties. And in December, we were told that the InterContinental Carlton Cannes would be reflagged as the Carlton Cannes, a Regent Hotel, following refurbishment works.

When you make an award booking with Hilton or Hyatt you don't have to worry about resort/destination/amenity fees because those chains waive their junk fees on award bookings. You don't even have to hold elite status with Hilton or Hyatt to avoid these fees because everyone gets junk fees waived when booking awards with these guys. Sadly, the same is not true of award bookings with IHG or Marriott.

Unlike quite a few posters over on Flyertalk, I don't have much of an issue with the Andaz West Hollywood as a property (we put friends up there on 'guest of honor' bookings reasonably frequently), but I've often railed against the ridiculous and indefensible destination fee that the property charges.

Hilton is running a special offer for stays at participating properties in Anaheim which gives guests a series of benefits that may help make a family vacation a little bit more affordable. Free parking, gift cards and discounts on Disneyland passes are all included in the offer which runs for stays taken by 1 March next year.

Hyatt has issued a new update on its plans for luxury hotel openings in Europe, the Middle East and Africa and although a number of the properties included in the update have been mentioned (at one point or another) in the past, the fact that the pandemic caused so much havoc with some of these plans means that it's good to see where things now stand.

The past few weeks haven't brought good news for members of the InterContinental Ambassador program. Back in November, IHG confirmed that Ambassador benefits soon won't be offered at Regent Hotels & Resorts and that the programs free weekend night certificate will no longer be useable at Kimpton properties, and now we're told that a major InterContinental property in Europe is being reflagged.

It has been a while since we heard Marriott talk about its plans for its all-inclusive collection, but the silence has now been broken with news that we can expect Marriott to open three new high-end all-inclusive properties in Mexico in the next three years.

Hyatt has today announced plans to purchase Dream Hotels Group, which is expected to add twelve properties to the World of Hyatt program in the short-term and a further 24 properties in the medium term.

Mandarin Oriental is currently running a promotion in which its offering a 10% discount, off gift card purchases made by the end of today.