[sman9]

@Gordon I’m with Eon Next on their Drive tariff. 7 hours a night (midnight – 7am) at 6.7p/kWh fixed for a year (with no early exit fees if a better tariff comes along before then). Applicable to all household usage in that time period.

Let me know if you would like a referral code (we both get £50).

[sman9]

Mr & Mrs Smith Chiltern Firehouse. They tried to charge a £60 service charge for a one night stay using my IHG free night voucher. Got it promptly removed, as the promised welcome drink didn’t arrive to the room.

[sman9]

Another positive reference point:
Subscribed on 10 Feb, £60 statement credit posted on 11 Feb, Avios credited to BAEC on 27 Feb

[sman9]

Michael C wrote:

OP doesn’t mention the month/time of year…?
The HI nr Nice that @NorthernLass mentions has its own beach – not particularly
lovely, but definitely 3-yr old level! We’ve been going to Nice almost yearly
with a then-toddler. Lovely coast, v v easy to move around by train, which many
kids enjoy.
The new Indigo in Cagnes looks v nice – obviously smaller town, but v cute and also
with a train station right in the centre.

As our little one is in nursery, we are pretty flexible on time of year, although was shooting for April/May. South of France looks appealing.

[sman9]

NorthernLass wrote:

What sort of points budget are you looking at? IHG doesn’t really have a huge presence in southern/beachy Europe, and where it has it tends to be IC or Holiday Inn/Express and not much in between. HI/E don’t often have pools.

There is a decent-looking HI with a pool at St Laurent de Var (?) not far from Nice if you fancied the south of France. There’s also possibly a new Indigo in that area as well.

There’s an IC in Barcelona and a Kimpton (recently opened) in Mallorca. I imagine points prices will be quite high on these. There’s also an IC in Estoril which looks fairly reasonable and would tick a lot of boxes.

The current Amex offer might be useful if you don’t want to book it all on points – lots of French and Spanish properties included (though oddly, no Portuguese).

Currently sitting on about 250k points, so thinking about an option to utilise these rather than book a package holiday. Thanks for the suggestions, these could work. I’ve got the IHG Amex offer on my BAPP, so will need to do the maths I think to see if it’s even worth redeeming points.

[sman9]

NorthernLass wrote:

Remember as well with reward pricing, you might have to do a bit of negotiating/upgrading with the hotel to get a room which will sleep more than 2.

Just remembered – there is a HI in Nice centre which has suites which can accommodate families, though again you’d need to negotiate one of those on a points booking. No pool, but the sea front is a short walk away.

Yes I’ve noticed quite a few hotels drop out of point redemptions as soon as you add a child. How do you go about negotiating/upgrading. Is it a case of booking the standard room with points and then calling/emailing afterwards to see if you can either be given a room which sleeps 3 (FoC) or pay to upgrade?

[sman9]

Last June I redeemed at Chiltern Firehouse (Mr & Mrs Smith) staying in the Firehouse Loft room, which had a separate lounge (with working fireplace). At check-out I saw what they billed IHG and it was £1,500! Great redemption!