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Ahhhh – The Big Apple.
I love New York City. There are endless options when it comes to stylish neighborhoods, incredible hotels, and endless luxury. But, nothing is quite like staying in Times Square. Within minutes of walking through your hotel lobby you could be watching some of the best theatre in the world. And that’s exactly why we chose to spend a night there. We’d scored amazing seats to Waitress ( which was incred) and we wanted to stay near the theatre. The Intercontinental New York Times Square had competitive rates would give me a needed stay requirement for my killer Accelerate offer – so we locked down it down.
The Deets:
- When: October 2017
- Where: New York Times Square
- Status: IHG Platinum
- Benefits: Check in Bonus
- Upgrade to Deluxe King
Check-In
Tucked off of 8th Avenue, on 44th, you’ll find a bevy of bellhops who will open the door and lead you straight to the check-in desk. Unfortunately, at 1:30pm, our room wasn’t ready and we were told our room should be available within the hour. So we moseyed around Hell’s kitchen for 45 minutes and returned. Bingo. Our room was ready and we headed on up.
The Room: Deluxe King
Overlooking 8th Ave, it was light filled and large for New York standards. Having just come from the Dream Downtown ( which was a postage stamp room) it seemed like a mansion. The hotel rises high above Times Square and depending on which side of the hotel your room faces you’ll have a variety of vies. As we were planning on being out and about in the area, seeing shows, etc – it was a nice upgrade from our entry level room, but we weren’t willing to pay the premium for a better view.
The Bathroom was fresh, felt newly remodeled, and had a great rain shower with plenty of space. The room featured luxury products from Agraria which is standard fare for the Intercontinental brand.
The Gym
The hotel has quite a bit of conference space so you know that the hotel is hosting large groups of people which typically means the gym should be up to snuff. And it was. Not only did it have sufficient cardio, but it had plenty of free weight, cables, and other weight lifting apparatus.
Overall:
Staying in Times Square isn’t for everyone. It’s crowded, busy, and full of tourists. But, if you’ve never been to New York before…I’d highly recommend staying there. You want to feel the buzz of the city that never sleeps. I’ve stayed at tons of hotels in New York, all across the City, including the Marriott Marquis at Times Square. Personally I’d choose the Intercontinental over the Marriott Marquis purely because of the confusing elevator system at the Marriott Marquis.
I enjoyed staying at the hotel, and if you can snag this for around $200 – it’s quite a deal.
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
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 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, 2024
- $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.
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