Introduction
The FN from the old Chase IHG card with the $49 annual fee was about to expire this year, so my solution was simple and direct: just redeem it for a nearby hotel and go on a little outing.
In the end, I picked Hotel Indigo Los Angeles Downtown. After searching for quite a while, only the weekend of June 8 priced below 40,000 points. No more overthinking—if the system accepted it after switching to FN redemption mode, that was good enough for me.
Getting There
We headed out early in the morning, but it was obviously too early to check in, so we first drove over to the Malibu coast.
We also saw LA Metro bus 134. I have to say, this route is really long—it even extends all the way out to Malibu!
We walked around the wetland park by the beach.
There was a group of squirrels on the grass.
Far out in the wetlands was a group of creatures that look like they could swallow the world—pelicans. Pelicans are the kind of animals that will always try grabbing something with those huge bills, and if it fits, they can eat it.
PS: Looks like the little squirrels in the photos above were pretty lucky—the pelicans didn’t feel like going over to test that theory.
After that, we drove to Westwood for lunch.
Check-in
Once the timing felt about right, we drove to Downtown Los Angeles.
The lobby had this kind of style.
Is this the legendary hat trick?
And why is there a red hat too?
After check-in, we got our key cards and took the elevator upstairs.
Here’s what the room looked like.
We walked around Downtown LA for a bit, then went to Marugame Udon for some noodles.
After dinner, we headed back as the sun slowly went down.
Went to check out the gym.
There had been a pool party that afternoon, and it had just ended, so the whole area was kind of a mess...
Breakfast
Same old story: somehow I slept straight through the night until morning...
We took the breakfast vouchers down to the first floor for breakfast.
A whole row of alcohol, though I have zero interest in alcoholic drinks...
The menu.
After ordering, I killed time by taking photos of the light bulbs overhead while waiting for the food.
The egg-shaped salt-and-pepper containers were cute.
Barney ordered a pot of tea.
I ordered a cup of coffee.
The main dishes arrived—time to dig in!
After breakfast, we went back upstairs to rest for a bit and took a photo of the two complimentary bottles of water with the view outside the window.
You can see the weather had turned gloomy again.
Heading Home
On the way home, we stopped by Sun Nong Dan in Koreatown for hot pot. The portions are huge, and it tastes great too—highly recommended!
Conclusion
Ever since IHG switched to dynamic pricing, the Downtown Los Angeles InterContinental has been above 40,000 points pretty much year-round, which makes the old card’s fourth-night-free benefit much harder to use.
With that in mind, the only real option was to dial expectations down a bit and redeem at this Hotel Indigo instead. It may not look as upscale as the InterContinental, but at least there was still enough here to enjoy... At the same tier, things only seem to keep getting worse over time, so enjoy it while you still can!