Cheapest way to stay at Holiday Inns - save up to 50%

rosy

Obukit wrote: »

Hi,

Hope that helps!

Thank you, that's brilliant - off to book up now.

indiegirl_2

Thanks to Kit I managed to get 2 nights at the Oxford Circus HI on 2-for-1 over the past weekend. The hotel location is excellent for central London and I would stay there again... as long as they change the manager.

Kit / any other HI employees: do you know if there are common problems with the fire alarm systems in HI hotels? I have stayed in two and been woken early each morning by the fire alarms going off and causing us to evacuate.

Saturday morning's took the biscuit, though: the fire door at the bottom of the escape route was locked. When I went to complain to the manager he spent 10 minutes arguing with me about how I must've used the wrong exit (I used the signposted ones!) and then told me it wasn't an emergency - but that he had to go because he had an emergency to sort out! He then started arguing with another guest about the fire alarm.

So: hotel fine, location great... as for customer service: nonexistent. Guest Relations have been informed and I await contact...

Obukit

indiegirl wrote: »

Kit / any other HI employees: do you know if there are common problems with the fire alarm systems in HI hotels? I have stayed in two and been woken early each morning by the fire alarms going off and causing us to evacuate.

Hi,

Firstly, sorry you were woken up in the middle of the night - having had it happen to me as sleep-in manager, I can appreciate how incredibly annoying it is!

With regards to the fire alarm system, each hotel is independently operated and so will have it's own fire alarm system, there isn't a Holiday Inn standard as such, although it does have to meet certain safety requirements in order to be granted a HI franchise.

Night time fire alarms are, for us, thankfully a infrequent occurrence, we've had two in the last two years. Both times they've been down to guests smoking in non-smoking rooms (once setting fire to the melamine surface in the bathroom!), so I think part of minimising them is having, and enforcing, a strict policy on walk-in guests to keep out undesirable residents - we always figure it's best to turn away business if we can keep our booked guests happy, and it's unfortunately normally walk ins that cause trouble with noise etc.

Anyway, enough waffle! Although it doesn't sound like the manager handled the situation well, unfortunately I don't know the facts - suffice to say when we've had a fire alarm I've found apologising rather than arguing with guests normally works best! Guest Relations are pretty efficient, though, so hopefully they should be able to help you, as well as make sure the hotel meets it's obligations regarding guest safety - I think the hotel is quite literally playing with fire if they're locking the fire escapes!

Clarab_4

Okubit, I need to ask a question but feel really stupid!!!

We are wanting to go for the weekend for our 10 year wedding anniversary to London in Septmber, have looked at the 2 for 1, and it states £76.00 per night, but when look at calculation, it is coming in at double that....
Is the rate reducded when you have entered all of your details?? Would you say that is the best rate to go for?? Want to pay about £150ish max for the 2 nights.

Thanks for all of your help, looks like you are going to make it possible for us to stay 2 nights

Obukit

Clarab wrote: »

Okubit, I need to ask a question but feel really stupid!!!

We are wanting to go for the weekend for our 10 year wedding anniversary to London in Septmber, have looked at the 2 for 1, and it states £76.00 per night, but when look at calculation, it is coming in at double that....
Is the rate reducded when you have entered all of your details?? Would you say that is the best rate to go for?? Want to pay about £150ish max for the 2 nights.

Thanks for all of your help, looks like you are going to make it possible for us to stay 2 nights

Hi,

Not a stupid question at all, the IHG website isn't the clearest at showing 2 for 1 rates unfortunately.

Without knowing the dates and hotel you're looking at I can't confirm the price, but the best thing to do is click on "View room rates" on the search page, then click on "Reserve" next to the room you want. It should then take you to a form for your credit card details etc, scroll down to the "Room and Rate Information" box and click on "View Estimated Total Price †".

It should then popup a screen with the room rate, including tax, broken down with a total at the bottom. This screen is a lot clearer than the "Average room rate" displayed otherwise.

I hope that helps - congratulations on 10 years and have a great time in London!

hieveryone

Hi,

Is the friends and family rate still available? As when I search for London Stansted it states that the required rate is not available?

Thanks!

Obukit

hieveryone wrote: »

Hi,

Is the friends and family rate still available? As when I search for London Stansted it states that the required rate is not available?

Thanks!

Hi,

It definitely is still available. If there's no availability showing it's normally due to either: -

• You're trying to book less than seven days in advance.
• The hotel is already full.
• The allocation of Friends and Family rooms has been used up. Each hotel only allocates a certain number of rooms for promotional rates and unfortunately for busy hotels they can all go - sorry!

I don't know what date you're looking at but it's probably because one of the above I'm afraid. The website should show other hotels with availability as well, though.

NJW69

Obukit wrote: »

Hi,

Just a quick note about how to book Holiday Inn hotels (this includes Intercontinentals, Crowne Plazas, Hotel Indigos and Express by Holiday Inns). If you just get a quote from IHG's website, it will not be the cheapest because they are always running special deals. All these rates have limited availability and some hotels may not run them at all - if not, the website will suggest nearby hotels or other available rates.

Unless you are 100% certain you will make the booking do not book these rates, as they are non-refundable. However, if you do make a booking and can't make it, most hotels will let you move it to another date subject to paying the difference in price, but this is at the hotel's discretion. Apart from Friends and Family, which will work worldwide, the rest of these rates will only work in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. If you're travelling further afield and Friends and Family isn't coming up trumps, Flyertalk have a really good list of loads of IHG rate codes to browse through.











I hope that helps a few people booking hotel rooms - it would be good to hear from employees of similar hotels (Travelodge, Premier Inn, Ibis etc.) on how best to book their hotels .

Hi would anyone be able to help triyng to book the two for one offer for Alicante in August and it says not available.

stikiuk

Hey guys

How long do you normally wait for your confirmation email ??
I booked the docklands holiday inn express today using the friends & family link, it went through ok i got a confirmation number. But stupidly i didn't take a note of it as i thought i would get a confirmation email.
Starting to panic a little now

Obukit

stikiuk wrote: »

Hey guys

How long do you normally wait for your confirmation email ??
I booked the docklands holiday inn express today using the friends & family link, it went through ok i got a confirmation number. But stupidly i didn't take a note of it as i thought i would get a confirmation email.
Starting to panic a little now

Hi,

Have you checked your Spam folder?

If it's not there, you can call the hotel and ask them to look up your surname - they should then be able to give you your CRS confirmation number. You can use this, along with your surname, to view your itinerary and resend yourself a confirmation email if you'd like.

Hope that helps.

nicola.williams wrote: »

Hi would anyone be able to help triyng to book the two for one offer for Alicante in August and it says not available.

Not all hotels take part in all promotions, and there's only limited availability when they do, so if it says no availability it means you can't book 2for1 I'm afraid. You could try one of the other rates on the first post of the thread.