Why We Stayed In An IHG In Northern Vietnam For 40 Nights | Huge Rewards Are Paying Off

[@dessalinestucker6471]

That Buffet!!! Wow!! it is like something you would find on a cruise ship.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It is pretty great every morning!

[@elizaC3024]

What a fabulous hotel. You two are wonderful to share all of this. Keep the knowledge coming for travel tips, and showing us this wonderful hotel. 😊

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thank you! Will do!

[@passportalwaysready]

You are changing my travel life with this video!! Thank you

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Awesome!

[@DividendGrowthInvesting]

This was so great seeing the hotel and your take on it! Random thought.. I would love to subscribe to a newsletter or a video series on your channel where you do tours of hotels that you recommend and the most effective way to book them (e.g. points etc.) and what time of the year to get the best value for long-term stays (e.g. 30 days). As well the best way to travel to those locations. I'm fairly new to your channel so you may already have that. Excited to watch more!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thanks! We are planning to do more of that soon!

[@theinternationalist1357]

Funny how I'm also subscribed to your channel, small world.

[@DividendGrowthInvesting]

@@theinternationalist1357 haha nice! Great minds think alike!

[@theinternationalist1357]

@@DividendGrowthInvesting See you in Japan 🗾 great country to relax. Need to increase the dividend investing 🤝

[@MarleneGreen]

OMG! Awesome Video! Thanks for making the case for why this is the best way to live! Cheers!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@MarleneGreen]

Been binge-watching your videos all weekend! Thanks a million for posting! Cheers!❤🎉🎉🎉​@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel

[@ManhattanRats]

As always, a helpful glimpse into our retirement. Lots of good ideas and tips. Thanks.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thank you

[@gemmeg2]

Love seeing you do this! I love the hotel lounge access. Currently enjoying Oz with diamond status at Hyatt and Hilton. If you want to go for Hyatt Globalist I would recommend Hyatt Regency in Yogyakarta. Enjoy!

[@MzBettyK]

Everything there is beautiful and appealing. Your suite is better than anything I’ve seen. I’d be tempted to go back often to eat such appetizing dishes. There’s nothing I wouldn’t like about that IHG. Thank, Allie and Rob, for your candor. You share the hows and whys so honestly. I appreciate your channels.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thank you! We've really enjoyed this hotel so far, one of our best experiences!

[@danikadahl2824]

I always wondered why people went to Vietnam! Wowwwww!!! That is incredible! I'm sure you thoroughly enjoyed your stay there!

[@carriemccullough7675]

So nice!! I love that mural above the bed! So pretty! 🤩

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It looks just like the mountains outside!

[@PrimeTimeTravelers]

Wow great free meals with the lounge access! No need to go out for much food. Hopefully the variety changes often since you are there for 40 days. What a great hotel this is. Adding it to our list for future travels. Planning 2 more cruises for 2025 summer. Will be my first time on an airplane. Then a Euro cruise and a transatlantic back to the states. Can't wait!! Plus we have back to back for the holiday season 2024 already booked. IHG seems like it's a lot better overseas and some of the prices are incredibly cheap!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Wow, have a great time on your cruises!

[@abbyabroad]

A bathtub in Asia?! That’s the dream 😂. Loved the Crowne Plaza in the US… taking notes 📝 for my trips around this region. 🎉

[@joygatewood8028]

I like this video because it highlights the benefits of slow travel from your personal experience. I also enjoy soaking up the local ambiance over at least one month. Did you say which hotel is featured here? I'm also a holiday inn elite member and would like to stay in this one. Wow!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thanks so much! It's the Crowne Plaza Vinh Yen City Centre.

[@retirementbudgettravel699]

Wow! Great video! Find the hotel points videos very interesting!! Thank you so much!! 😁👍🏼

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Glad you like them! Thanks!

[@Mikesadventures-m2q]

That is very nice and you'll have that hotel status.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Yes, we are looking forward to it!

[@stevemueller7358]

Definitely a wow hotel. I hope you visited HaLong Bay in Vietnam. It is one of most spectacular places I’ve ever been in the world.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

We are going to go after we leave here, looking forward to it!

[@juliematthews9182]

I see why they put a scale in the bathroom…. After seeing that buffet! 😅

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Haha very true!

[@prettyflytraveler]

Beautifully designed property. What a treat! ❤

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

We agree!

[@turtletrade]

$41 per night with lounge access is much less than you would spend living in the USA without the headache or expense of maintaining a home!

[@kristiG5259]

I share your excitement over conditioner in the hotel! 😊

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Haha thanks!

[@theinternationalist1357]

Wow $67 per night for two, with breakfast, lounge access is incredible. Hopefully you can price something similar in Japan.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

We've got quite a few booked, so hopefully they will be good!

[@Truth_Yeah]

Are the annual single days sales (November 11 in Asia) offered on the IHG website, or how are these specials booked? Thanks, and we love your videos.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Yes, we booked it in the app. It starts a few days before, I think we booked it on Nov. 9th.

[@abbyabroad]

@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravelAre the deals centered around Asia, or do they apply to other parts of the world? Planning a trip back to the US in January 2025 & wondering…

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

@@abbyabroad just Asia, not in the US

[@elizaC3024]

We are not full time travelers, but I am laughing at the meltdown 😆 🤣 😄. We skipped between Rome, Vienna, Stuttgart and Paris in under 2 weeks. My husband melted down in Stuttgart after having gotten too little down time in Vienna (due to not being able to sleep on an overnight train ride into Vienna). And of course this was during the 2 days we were visiting family 😮. Huge lesson learned. He does not travel fast very well, not too mention no more overnight train trips, we will fly instead. We travel for 6 weeks at a time, and our plan is to increase that, soon. Winter months away.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Haha, funny enough, we had one of our biggest ones on the sleeper train Nightjet to Vienna also!

[@2ndSprings]

Great content once again. Thank you!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TrimansWife]

$67 a night? For all of that? That is a STEAL! The room alone is better than some $500 a night hotels!! WOW! You go!!❤

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thanks! The crazy part is, if you already had club lounge access with IHG, you could get this hotel for 8,200 points a night, which is only $41 a night if you buy the points during the sale.

[@IsaacNYC212]

Vietnam 🇻🇳 in general is a VERY affordable country when compared to the USA and Europe.

[@Dahon5]

Can you do a video showing us how you use IHG to purchase hotel rooms or buy points? I see a lot of expensive hotels on IHG website. How fast is the wifi at this hotel? Is there a ethernet plug on the wall to connect to the internet? What about laundry? Is laundry expensive? What is there to do in this location?

[@DaveM-FFB]

That's nuts! It's an amazing suite for $67/night!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

We thought it would be good based on the reviews and that it just opened recently, but it's been even better than we expected!

[@DaveM-FFB]

@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel Thinking back, I've paid $60/night for a FREE suite (Marriott) in America because of the self parking fees and the resort fees. Well done. btw, I'm not doing that anymore.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

@@DaveM-FFB wow, those parking rates are wild! We are going to use our Marriott free nights in Tokyo in a few months. I imagine they'd be crazy there too! We will stick to the train in Japan!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

@@DaveM-FFB ok I got curious and went and looked up the Tokyo parking at the Marriott MESM. It is $28 per stay, not even per night!

[@upstatenewyork]

Had no idea Vietnam was this classy.

[@TereseAlexander-v1f]

When traveling to Vinh Yen, which airport did you fly in to and what ground transportation did you use from the airport to Vinh Yen? Thank you!

[@paullarocca729]

It looks like a great place to chill out for a month. Do they change up the evening snacks in the club lounge, or is it mostly the same choices each night?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It's been a different meal every night, all very good.

[@jwebb3337]

wow! thanks for the tour!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

You are welcome!

[@n.n.5724]

Learning so much from you! What was that sale that happen on 11/11?

[@YIWOTY]

Good grief! I’m wanting to go just for the breakfast buffet!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Just got back from it!

[@incantations446]

I love that you said commode

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Haha, thanks!

[@DebyColes]

Do all the IHG hotels have this sort of lounge with the food and drinks included as an option? I'm not sure how to search on their site to find them. Thanks. Doing the 40 nights and then getting the annual lounge pass would be a great upgrade to future stays. I'd like to explore that option myself.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

They don't, it is usually the Crowne Plaza, and intercontinental hotels that do. Then a few regular holiday inns do but not many. If you look at the cash rates for the hotel it'll list rooms with the words Club Lounge or Lounge Access in the name of the room if the hotel has a lounge. If you are searching with points the lounge rooms don't show up so you won't be able to tell. So, if we see a good points redemption, we check the cash rates for a lounge, then book with points.

[@ronnyb9416]

QUESTION: On the 11/11 discount day, did you book on the IHG site direct, or is there another route you must take to get the bargain rate?? Does the IHG show the 11/11 prices on their site a few days before 11/11?? In your discussion, you stated you were able to buy the lounge access feature??

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Yes, on their site or in the app. We purchased in the app.

[@awalker916]

Do you have to "reearn" status each year? Also, if the deal is every 4th night free, do you actually have to stay longer than 40 days? Lastly, you don't book any other nights (at other IHG properties) until you earn lounge access, right?? Great video as always. 😊

[@greggordillo2502]

From what I can find online, complimentary lounge access requires Royal Ambassador status, and Royal Ambassador status is available by invitation only. Does the 40 nights get you invitation to Royal Ambassador status? Or is the 40 nights stay getting you complimentary lounge access for some other reason?

[@nysy97]

Hi :) Is the 11:11 deal available in the beginning of the month in November or is it something that you have to look for earlier in the year to book? I imagine this appears as a flash deal sort of thing on the IHG website/app.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It starts around Nov. 7th or so

[@aceddie]

Very nice work! Can you please tell me which IHG hotel and in what city? I would like to pull this off in Thailand. Any advice? Thanks.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

This was in Vinh yen

[@Skye14979]

So glad I found your channel! I’m still learning and trying to understand how this works. The IHG website shows 40 nights gets you to Platinum Elite status, which I thought you already have with the credit card. Does the 40 night stay stack on top of your current status to cross over the 70 night requirement for Diamond Elite status? Do you need Diamond or Platinum status for lounge access?

[@genisefulton8968]

Hi love your channels & info. Your link doesn't seem to be working. when you click it you get the IHG page but when you click again to actually apply it gives a an error.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thanks, you are right. It should be fixed now!

[@bstamp1354]

Great video. I love all your videos. I didnt see the exact name of this hotel, im sure i orobably missed it. Can you please let me know?

[@bstamp1354]

Actually, when I switched my brain on I realized you probably don't want everyone to know where you are. But hopefully you can let us know in the future

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It's fine, I think we've posted it on social media, we are in Vinh Yen.

[@permaculturemom9848]

@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel What airport do you use to get there?

[@michelleulishney9524]

How do you go about getting your laundry completed?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

They gave us some free due to the status we have with the IHG card, but the rest we will just pay to have them do. It's quite inexpensive.

[@patriciawest7434]

Newer to your channel, recommendations and tips! Love it. Question do you get the lounge access for staying the 40 nights earning the tier status or having the tier status from last year?

[@patriciawest7434]

Meaning if I am not IHG lounge tier status.. if I stay at the hotel 40 nights... would I get lounge status for that 40 night visit... or after it. Thanks!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

You would get it after it. But in our case we booked a room for the first 40 nights that included it, at a higher rate, so we would have it the whole time

[@igoneagain3310]

When you fly out of the US do you buy one way tickets or RT? I'm finding RT offers some savings and if one way have you come across problems proving onward travel at immigration?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Always one way, and you need to have the next ticket booked also, onward from the country you are entering. We usually try to cruise home the other way.

[@W0ngwaytravels]

Awesome rate! Question How do you address laundry and room service?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

They are doing our laundry, we get some free from status and pay for the rest

[@W0ngwaytravels]

@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel nice dealz

[@permaculturemom9848]

@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel How much is the laundry service?

[@JJoeisCooking]

I bought 100,000 points today. IHG is having another double points offer.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thanks!

[@prpman99]

Sweet.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Thanks!

[@fanatix9999]

How did you find this IHG hotel that offered Club Lounge Access as a special offering, or was this just random luck that you came across this?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It was during a sale last year

[@wymek]

Hi guys. I'm in Australia and we can't seem to get the deals you get. The cheapest price for a club lounge room was much higher from here for the hotel you're staying in. I looked during the sale. We also can't get the same great deals with credit cards. Any suggestions?

[@stevefoxg]

I am in Australia as well. They did make the bookings in November 9 for a November 11 Asian sale. You might need a VPN to access the deals that our American friends are getting? Also they are staying in the off season - I think I would rather be here in January enjoying a summer day near the beach in South Australia! I stayed at a similar hotel for a conference once in Hanoi - it was a long way from the centre of the city. And a lot dearer. We don't have those sorts of credit cards in Australia partly because the regulations allow retailers to pass through the fees to users - so it is not worth it for the card issuer.

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Steve is correct, you would need to look at prices around November 9th to see the same prices we got. Not look at those dates, but wait to look until that date. That is usually the best sale of the year. They won't announce that sale until the beginning of November again likely. We booked it while we were in Malaysia so it should work for you, but the credit card will only work if you are from the US.

[@wymek]

Have been to Vietnam many times (always IHG). But will make sure I look in early November for better deals. Thanks for the info😀

[@JessicaLawrence-Cole]

Wow nice. Are you only allowed to eat in the buffet area or take it to your room

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

We haven't tried, you can also get breakfast in the club lounge though.

[@gcjhuo4079]

wush i had your ADVIIE and TIPS 25 years ago now an Octogenarian ! any adivce for us OLDIES ? ; - )

[@robbrown4621]

No sneeze guards on that buffet display.... Ewww! Just think about how many germs could be spread with one person sneezing on that food.

[@jeffersonfoster4274]

You said that you don't get lounge access until you stay 40 nights but your video shows you eating in the lounge. How did you get lounge access prior to staying 40 nights?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

We bought the first 40 nights with a rate that included it

[@CJ-Photo]

Do you transfer your IHG points for flights or do you use a different card for flights?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

For flights we mostly use Air Canada points oddly enough. We get thos by transferring Amex points to Air Canada.

[@Shello58]

$67 a nite?! AND Food! 😮👍

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It's been great!

[@StillPooh62]

Does it have to be 40 consecutive nights? Or just 40 nights in a certain time period?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

40 nights in a calendar year to get lounge access for the rest of that year and the entire next year.

[@permaculturemom9848]

@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel Wow!

[@wizardofoz4284]

What is the name of this hotel and also the city name? Thank you so much in advance! ciao!

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It's Vinh Yen, Vietnam Crowne Plaza

[@wizardofoz4284]

Thank you so much!

[@bw5911]

Is the bed soft or on the harder side?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It's in the middle I'd say

[@phungn02]

What’s the name of this hotel?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

Crowne Plaza Vinh Yen

[@jwillard911]

Does the 40 nights give you both club access?

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

It's good for 2 people

[@anonymousperson2345]

💛💛💛

[@CouchFamilyUSA]

Thank you for the video! I signed up for the IHG Premier card (has not arrived). When it comes to buying points, their website says I’m limited to buying a max of 150,000 points/year. Even at 100% bonus, that’s 300,000 points. How do I buy over 800,000 points like you guys did? Even if my spouse buys them, it’s still not that much and IHG charges $5 per 1000 points to transfer them. Please explain so us normal people can understand.😁😆

[@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel]

At the end of the year they raise the limit to 250,000 usually. We did that in December and the 150k in January.

[@CouchFamilyUSA]

@@GroundedLifeRetirementTravel thank you!