I’m usually an airline points collector; I don’t much find hotel reward schemes exciting and it’s quite hard to earn enough points for a bucket list experience, like flying business or first class. If you travel like I do – at your own expense and during a few weeks annual leave – being able to earn points from credit card spend is essential and the UK hotel-branded credit card market is pretty dull. 

Having said that, I LOVE staying at great hotels, and do collect IHG rewards and, on occasion, will pay to upgrade my membership to Ambassador. My status level had just dropped from gold to silver and I had about 118000 points sitting in my account – only enough for 1 night at a really spectacular hotel like the Intercontinental Hotel Le Grand in Paris, but did have a trip coming up where I could get value from Ambassador so started looking at the maths. 

Because Ambassador benefits only really apply at Intercontinental Hotels, you will need at least 1 booking at one of the 5* hotels in the chain, but can look forward to;

• Guaranteed one category room upgrade
• Guaranteed extended 4:00 PM check-out
• Complimentary weekend night
• Platinum Elite status in IHG® One Rewards, and the corresponding benefits
• Restaurants & bars credit of up to USD20 for every stay
• Complimentary mineral water
• Complimentary internet
• Dedicated check-in area
• Single room rate for double occupancy
• Mainland China Only: Complimentary breakfast for one each night you stay

For me, the value of Ambassador is in the guaranteed upgrade and the free weekend night certificate. The 4pm check out also has value, especially if you have a late flight or train. For my stay at the Intercontinental Hua Hin in a few weeks, the King Cosy room is £187 per night including breakfast, but the guaranteed upgrade should at least get me a King Classic which is £206 per night. Over our 4 night stay, that’s £76 of value. 

I haven’t decided what I’ll do with the free night certificate yet, but I should be able to easily get good value from it. The free night applies for a Saturday or Sunday night stay when paying for the night before. As Saturday nights tend to be one of the most expensive nights in a hotel, paying for a cheap Friday night and getting the expensive Saturday night for free, is a no-brainer. This is what I did the last time I used an Ambassador free night certificate at the Intercontinental Hotel Le Grand in Paris – and saved over £200 after accounting for the Ambassador membership fee. And we got a double upgrade to a Junior Suite!

Ambassador membership is $200 annually, around £160. Or, 40,000 IHG One Rewards points. In this case, I used the points to buy Ambassador so it was effectively free, but because I booked a Luxury & Lifestyle rate at the IC Hua Hin, which comes with $100 credit, that covers half of the cost anyway. 

It is worth noting that Ambassador benefits stack with IHG Luxury & Lifestyle rates. On cash stays (but not necessarily reward stays), you can expect to get the above Ambassador benefits as well as;

• Breakfast included daily for two at hotel restaurant
• $100 USD value-added amenity (hotel credit)
• Upgrade to next room category (subject to availability on arrival)
• Handwritten and personalized welcome card
• Turn down service
• VIP level added into guest profile

For my Intercontinental Hua Hin booking, the free breakfast only saves £5 per person per night (so £40 for our 4 night stay), but breakfast in 5* western hotels can easily be £25 per person. Add the free breakfast to the free room upgrade, and that’s £116 in value. We actually ended up with a double upgrade like we did in Paris, which gave us an extra £100 in value – completely covering the cost of membership!

Luxury & Lifestyle rates are only available through specially selected travel agents, but are usually around the same price as the flexible rate so the benefits are “free”. I’ve also booked a Luxury & Lifestyle rate for an upcoming stay in Manchester during Pride weekend in August. 

The Kimpton Clocktower is one of my favourite hotels. Having stayed there during mum’s 60th birthday celebrations, I’ve been keen to stay again. Kimpton hotels outside of the USA fall under the “lifestyle” arm so the benefits are slightly different;

• Late check-out 2:00pm, based on availability
• $50 USD value-added amenity (hotel credit)
• Upgrade to next room category (subject to availability on arrival)
• Complimentary Wi-Fi (unlimited devices)
• Handwritten and personalized welcome card
• Bottled water and fresh fruit/snacks in room upon arrival
• Turn down service
• VIP level added into guest profile

I’m not sure if we’ll get an upgrade with it being a peak weekend, but if we do, that’ll be around £180 in value. Either way, I’m looking forward to staying at the hotel regardless.