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IHG has launched an interesting promotion in conjunction with its “alliance resorts” in Las Vegas that’s worth taking a look…but probably only if you were planning on visiting Vegas anyway.
The “Book 3, Stay Free” promotion offers members the chance to earn a free night at any IHG property worldwide in exchange for staying 3 consecutive nights at either the Venetian or Palazzo in Las Vegas.
Book 3, Stay Free Details
- Register for the promotion here.
- Book either the “Best Flex” or “Smart Plan” rate through IHG
- Stay before August 31, 2016
- Include a Thursday or Sunday in your stay
Per the promotion page:
A Free Night certificate will be awarded on every qualifying 3 night minimum stay at The Venetian® and The Palazzo®, an InterContinental® Alliance Resort, booked between April 15, 2016 and August 10, 2016 and consumed between April 15, 2016 and August 31, 2016.
The free night must be redeemed and the stay must be completed by March 31, 2017
Its interesting to note that a free night is awarded on every qualifying 3-night stay so, if you’re a big fan of Vegas, you could rack up a few free nights.
Full Terms & Conditions are on the promotion page.
What Does The Math Look Like?
Sunday – Thursday are the traditionally cheaper nights in Vegas so, as long as you avoid a Friday or Saturday night, you should be able to avoid paying the higher room rates.
Also, generally speaking, the hotter months is when you find the better deals in Vegas so, if you’re looking to do this promotion as cheaply as possible (“cheap” is definitely a relative term in this instance), I suggest searching for rooms in July and August….just make sure you take a hat and lots of sunblock!
Taking a randomly selected 3 night period in August (making sure it covers a Sunday or Thursday night) brings up this set of rates for the Venetian (the Palazzo rates were identical):
The cheapest rate isn’t eligible for the promotion so you have to book the “best flexible rate” to qualify.
$179/night doesn’t look too bad for a 650 sq ft room but, unfortunately, that’s just the cost before taxes and the utterly ridiculous but unavoidable service charge/resort fee. When you add all those into the equation this is what you get:
And that comes out to $232.48/night. That’s not terrible but it’s also not a great deal for Vegas…especially when its 110 degrees outside.
Accounting for the free night:
I value an IHG free night certificate at around $300 because, once you include taxes and fees, that’s probably the maximum I would pay to stay in one of the better InterContinentals around the world. I don’t spend much time in hotel rooms when I’m visiting a city so I’m not inclined to pay a high rate for a room I’m not going to see that much.
Anyway, back to the math.
With my valuation of the free night, if I booked these nights, I would effectively be getting the three nights in Vegas for $397.44 or $132.48/night inclusive of all taxes and fees.
Is It Worth It?
Clearly this is very subjective but, to my mind, I’d say that it depends on three factors:
- What value you place on the free night certificate
- Would you be visiting Vegas anyway?
- Do you even like the Venetian/Palazzo?
If you weren’t planning on visiting Vegas in the first place I would suggest that this isn’t a good enough promotion to change your plans. Once you factor in the cost of travel to Vegas and all the other costs involved in staying in Vegas then the math doesn’t really work. At least not at my valuation of the certificate.
If you were planning on going to Vegas but don’t particularly like either of the hotels in the promotion then, again, I would say that you probably shouldn’t change your plans. You can book a host of other very good Vegas hotels for not much more than the net cost of this offer so why stay somewhere you don’t like?
Don’t Kid Yourself
When promotions like this come around it’s very tempting to persuade yourself that they’re right for you when they probably aren’t. Yes, this promotion will almost certainly be good for a number of people but, for the majority, it probably isn’t a good idea.
What to be careful of:
- You may hear arguments that the free night certificate is worth $400, $500 or even more based on prices of rooms at the high-end InterContinentals. For most people that’s nonsense – if you wouldn’t pay those rates in the first place then your free night certificate isn’t worth that much either. Be realistic and honest with yourself when you value the “free” night…because it isn’t really free at all.
- To actually benefit from this promotion you need to take another trip to use up the certificate. If you weren’t already thinking about booking a stay at a IHG property then all your certificate may be doing is giving you the added cost of a trip (travel, eating out etc…) that you weren’t going to take otherwise.
- Where are you going to book a single night with your certificate? Do you have a property in mind where a single night is all you need or will you have to add on another night (or more) to make the trip worthwhile? The promotion suddenly starts getting expensive if you end up having to pay for a second or third night at an IHG property just to use up the certificate.
Bottom Line
I started out this blog post thinking that this could be a very nice way to generate some free IHG nights for a weekend away at a top InterContinental but, the more I looked into the costs, the more I realised that this really isn’t a promotion for most people.
There will be people with circumstances that mean the the promotion works for them – and that’s great – but, if you’re thinking of making the most of this offer just be sure that you’ve done your calculations honestly and correctly. Sometimes that’s easier said than done.
