We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Review: Intercontinental Boston, Premier City View King with Club Access
The first big surprise of my mom’s around the world trip started when we all met up in Boston. This was also a head fake of sorts as we all headed east to meet and little did she know we were headed back west to Hong Kong the following day. For some reason my Mom was dead set that we were going to Dubai….Originally we had booked two rooms at 60k a night; however, as the date drew near I ended up changing the reservation to just one room. The reason? I was arriving close to 11pm at night and a roll-a-way bed was fine for me, and I thought it a waste to use another 60k points for a room we wouldn’t really use that much. At check-in, because of Ambassador status my parents were given club access, and that’s where we spent most of our spare time anyways…the plan worked out really well! Let’s take a look at the Intercontinental Boston.
Check In –
I was actually flying from LA to Boston when my parents checked into the hotel. I had Wifi on my flight and was in contact with them as they went through the process. Crazy enough…my tooth fell out while I was on the plane and my Dad was able to inquire with the front desk about an Emergency Dentist that may be able to assist. Indeed they did. Boston Dental did an amazing job. They also apologized that no upgrade could be arranged, but instead would give us club access. Unless the upgrade was going to be to a suite, this was a better upgrade anyways.
The Deets –
- When: April 2017
- Where: Boston, MA
- Loyalty: IHG/Intercontinental Spire/Ambassador
- Rate: 60k
- Benefits: Late Check out, Club Access, Wifi
The Room:
The hotel was fully booked. In fact, there were a few movies shooting in Boston while we were there and a lot of cast and crew were staying at the hotel. As a result…no upgrade. The room was nice – fairly modern and they provided a free roll-a-way bed for me to sleep on. When I did finally arrive we were ALL very excited to start off our crazy surprise journey!
The standard Agraria bath products. Soaker tub looked quite nice!
The nicest elements of the hotel are it’s location, gym, and pool.
It’s located right on the waterfront adjacent to the financial district. There are tons of touristy places to walk, business centers, and of course…my dentist 😉 In addition to it’s excellent location the Intercontinental Boston also features a very nice gym and pool.
We spent quite a bit of time in the club lounge.
This was a great feature that the hotel just through in for us. Normally, Ambassadors aren’t given complimentary club access, but in this situation they did. The other very nice benefit they extended to us was late 4pm check out from the physical room, but then we stayed in the club til nearly 8pm.
Breakfast and evening canapes…
Mom…are you excited? heh, heh, heh,
The only reason we left at 8pm was to head downstairs and have a slightly bigger bite of food.
Rumba had great bar style food and ended up hanging out on one of those couches for an hour and a half to two hours. Good times.
Overall:
When it comes to IHG award redemptions, 60k is as pricy as it gets. The hotel is very nice and you can not beat the location on the waterfront. Last year I’d stayed by the convention center, at the Seaport Hotel, and walked all through this area doing some surprise trip reconnaissance. There is a Hyatt Regency at the airport that we could have used points to stay at, but I thought this would have a much better feel to it and we aren’t short at all on IHG points. I’m really glad we did, and it’s only 10-15 minutes from the airport…so why not?
You don’t have to stop here. Check out how we paid $5k and took a $125k Surprise trip Around The World to celebrate my Mom’s 75th
Flights:
- Boston to Beijing
- American Airlines First Class 737 Los Angeles to Boston
- Cathay Pacific First Class 777-300ER Boston to Hong Kong ($17k value)
- Cathay Pacific Business Class 777-300ER Boston to Hong Kong ($7k value)
- Cathay Pacific Business Class 777-200 Hong Kong to Beijing
- Beijing to Singapore
- Singapore Airlines Suites A380 Beijing to Singapore ($3k)
- Singapore to Bali Roundtrip
- KLM Business Class 777-200 Singapore to Bali ($400)
- KLM Business Class 777-200 Bali to Singapore
- Singapore to Dubai
- Singapore Airlines First Class 777-300ER Singapore to Dubai ($4k)
- Abu Dhabi to Cannes, France
- Etihad Airways First Class Apartment A380 Abu Dhabi to London ($8k)
- Etihad Airways Business Studio A380 Abu Dhabi to London ( $3500-5k)
- British Airways Club Europe A321 London to Nice
- Cannes, France to Dallas
- Lufthansa Business Class A321 Nice to Frankfurt ($10k)
- Lufthansa First Class A330 Frankfurt to Dallas
Hotels:
- Boston
- Intercontinental Boston ($450)
- Beijing
- JW Marriott Beijing, 1 Bedroom Suite ($450 for 5 nights)
- Club King ($250)
- Singapore
- Crowne Plaza Singapore Airport, 1 Bedroom Suite ($300)
- Bali
- Mandapa, Ritz Carlton Reserve 1 Bedroom Rice Paddy View Villa ($600/night)
- Conrad Bali 1 Bedroom Ocean View Suite ($400/night)
- Singapore
- Intercontinental Singapore ($400/night)
- Dubai
- JW Marriott Marquis Dubai, 1 Bedroom Executive Suite ($450)
- Abu Dhabi
- Ritz Carlton Abu Dhabi ($300)
- Cannes, France
- Intercontinental Carlton Cannes, France ($300)
- Dallas
- Grand Hyatt DFW ($150
- JW Marriott Beijing, 1 Bedroom Suite ($450 for 5 nights)
Lounges
- Boston
- British Airways Lounge Boston Logan
- Hong Kong
- Cathay Pacific Business Class Lounge
- Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge The Wing
- Cathay Pacific First Class Lounge The Pier
- Beijing
- Air China First Class Lounge
- Singapore
- DNata Lounge
- Bali
- Garuda Indoneisa Business Class Lounge
- Premier Lounge
- Singapore
- Singapore Airlines First Class Check-In
- Singapore Airlines Business Class Lounge SIN
- Singapore Airlines First Class Lounge SIN
- Singapore Airlines Private Room SIN
- Abu Dhabi
- Etihad First Class Lounge
- Etihad Business Class Lounge
- Etihad Shave Experience
- London
- British Airways First Class Lounge LHR Terminal 5
- Nice
- Living Room Azur
- Frankfurt
- Lufthansa First Class Lounge Frankfurt Terminal A
TIPS:
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
Welcome Offer
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $95 Annual Fee
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex® and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.