There have been persistent rumors lately that Chase may revamp the IHG credit card: a higher annual fee, and even the annual free night could become restricted to “eligible” properties. Before any of that actually happens, let’s take a look at a real-world use case for one of the best perks on the old version of the card.
For spring break, LD and I were planning to take a cruise out of Miami, so we decided to fly in a day early and spend some time exploring the city. As for lodging, I had annual free nights from both the IHG credit card and the Hyatt credit card. After comparing major hotels in Miami—especially the nightly rates, since I wanted to maximize the value of the annual free night—I decided on the Kimpton EPIC, part of the IHG portfolio.
Contents [Hide]
About Kimpton Hotels
“Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants is a highly successful boutique hotel brand in the U.S. market, and its hotel restaurants are also extremely successful. This distinctive and unconventional brand is a perfect complement to InterContinental Hotels Group’s existing brand portfolio, and it also makes IHG the world’s largest operator of lifestyle boutique hotels. We will use IHG’s global scale, owner relationships, and powerful network platform to further drive the growth of Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants in the U.S. and around the world.” — Richard Solomons, CEO of InterContinental Hotels Group
Founded in San Francisco in 1981, Kimpton was the first boutique hotel brand in the United States.
Founder Bill Kimpton’s concept for the company was the “boutique hotel.” Every property has a restaurant or bar attached, which is notable because many hotels in North America do not offer that. The brand is also pet-friendly and LGBT-friendly. On the hardware side, Kimpton helped popularize the trend of transforming historic buildings or older homes into stylish new landmarks with character, which made the brand especially popular.
Today, Kimpton has become the world’s largest independent boutique hotel group. It currently has 65 open hotels across the U.S. plus multiple properties in development, along with sub-brands that include 6 Hotel Palomar properties and 9 Hotel Monaco properties. In addition, Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants operates 71 hotel-based restaurants and bars in the United States. The group’s loyalty program, Karma Rewards, had 1.6 million members. It has since been acquired by IHG, and now uses the unified IHG Reward Program.
On December 17, 2014, InterContinental Hotels Group announced that it had acquired Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants for $430 million. This move signaled IHG’s determination to further strengthen its leadership position in the boutique hotel market. But only recently did it become easy to book Kimpton properties online directly with points or a free night. I remember that even last year, when I saw Kimpton hotels on the IHG website or app, I still had to go to Kimpton’s own website to make a reservation.
Kimpton Elite Status
Kimpton Inner Circle, branded as “THE MYTH. THE LEGEND.” First, here’s a screenshot so you can see what exclusive benefits it comes with.
As you can see, staying at a Kimpton hotel comes with quite a few special perks. As a foodie, the only one that really caught my eye was “Complimentary Chef’s Taste”; the others didn’t seem especially compelling to me. If any of them interest you, you can click this link to learn more about Kimpton’s elite status benefits.
Stay Details
- Stay dates: 3/11/2018 - 3/12/2018
- Room type: EPIC 29 Waterview King Premier (special offer priced at $408 [$461.04 with tax]; standard rate for this room type was $483+)
- Redemption: annual free night from the Chase IHG credit card
When I was booking, I checked both the room rates and the hotel details, and the EPIC immediately grabbed my attention with rates starting at $380+ per night. That’s right—the more expensive, the better. I’m just that practical :grin:
By comparison, the InterContinental was only $306, and the Hyatt free night had category restrictions, so I went ahead and booked the pricier EPIC. In effect, I used a $49 credit card annual fee to stay in a $408 room. That’s a fantastic deal.
Here’s a quick overview of the room types at the EPIC. Searching for one room for two people for one night gives the following categories: one bed, two beds, suite, and standard. Interestingly, the City View Suite was cheaper than the Waterview one-bed rooms, so if you’re paying cash and really prefer a suite, you could give up the water view and book a suite for more space instead. Personally, though, I don’t think it’s especially necessary, since the size difference isn’t all that large.
Breaking things down a bit further from lowest to highest price, the One bed category includes Epic 29 King Premier, Waterview King Premier, and Epic 29 Waterview King Premier (judging from the wording alone, there doesn’t seem to be much difference between having “EPIC 29” in the name or not, other than occupancy—apparently EPIC 29 can accommodate 9 people... same room size, but several times the occupancy. Impressive...)
The Two beds category includes Double Double Premier, Epic 29 Waterview Double Double, Epic 29 Double Double Premier Room, and Waterview Double Double Premier
The Suite category includes Cityview Junior Suite, Epic 29 Junior Suite, Epic 29 Watrview 1 Bedroom Suite, and Waterview 1 Bedroom Suite
Finally, there is also a Standard Room category
EPIC 29 Waterview King Premier Room Overview
Let’s start with the official description for the EPIC 29 Waterview King Premier: “Epic 29 Waterview King Premier. One King Bed. High Floor 475 sq. ft. 66 sq. ft. Private balcony. Views of Bay and Ocean. Frette linens and pillow top mattresses. Bathrobes. Luxury bath amenities. Spacious baths with glass rain forest showers and deep soak tub. Honor Bar. Workstation with multiple outlets.” The key point is that every room has its own private balcony, which is awesome.
From the moment I booked this room, I couldn’t wait to see it in person. Looking out at the snow-covered fields back home only made me even more excited.
With spring break finally here, it was time to check it out at last!
Honestly, from the moment our Uber turned into the hotel entrance, I was already stunned by the lineup of supercars, Rolls-Royces, and Bentley sports models out front. After getting out of the Uber, I deliberately took a look around the entrance. Aside from taxis and a few Ubers, the “worst” car parked outside seemed to be at least a BMW 4 Series. :shock: EPIC really lived up to its reputation as the best hotel in Miami in 2016 and the second best in 2017.
The luxury cars were fun to look at, but now let’s get to today’s main topic: the Kimpton EPIC hotel. To be honest, the first time I had to look for the hotel entrance, I could hardly believe it. For such a luxurious hotel, the entrance really was on the small side.
But once you go through the “main entrance,” you realize there’s much more inside than you’d expect. The decor and furnishings subtly hint at the hotel’s distinctive character.
Because we arrived early and the previous guests had not checked out yet, we left our luggage with the front desk and went out for lunch first.
The hotel is located in downtown Miami, with many other hotels nearby. On the left is Hyatt Regency, directly across is JW Marriott, and on the right is an InterContinental, plus several other hotels whose names I didn’t catch.
Standing on this side of the bridge, you can also see the Port of Miami in the distance, which is where we would board our cruise the next day.
By the time we came back the second time, around 12:30, the room was ready for us. The only slight downside was that for a luxury hotel, we still had to bring our luggage up ourselves instead of having someone deliver it to the room. On the plus side, that saved us a tip...
As a side note, the hotel has three restaurants, two of which are on the first floor. LILT Lounge is to the left as you enter through the hotel’s “main entrance,” and ZUMA is behind the left side of the lobby.
It’s just behind these sofas.
Anyway, back to our room. We booked an EPIC 29 water view room, located on the 29th floor. The top floor of the hotel is the 30th.
Here’s the elevator layout. There are four elevators total.
Hallway on the hotel’s 29th floor.
At one end of the hallway, there’s a mirror and a bit of decor.
It was easy to find our room, 2903.
Walking into the room was a pleasant surprise. It wasn’t just that everything was clean and tidy, or that the bathroom felt spacious and bright. There was also a private balcony, and with sunlight pouring in through the full glass sliding door, the whole room felt wonderfully bright.
I do have to mention what I thought was the one real flaw in this room: this door. It connects to the neighboring room, and it may have had the worst soundproofing of any connecting door I’ve encountered so far. Since we checked in early, the guests next door from the previous night had not left yet, and we could hear their conversation crystal clearly. Super awkward. Thankfully, after they left, no one else checked into the room next door, which was a small bit of good luck.
There’s a closet by the door, stocked with bathrobes, an umbrella, a toiletry bag, and so on.
The next two photos show the in-room breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and drink menus.
Next, let’s take a look at the bathroom.
Toiletries from EXHALE spa provided by Hotel EPIC.
Next, let’s take a look at the outdoor balcony. Since this was a waterview room, we could see the water outside.
[caption id="attachment_25637" align="aligncenter" width="600"]
A small table and two chairs were set up on the balcony. It was genuinely relaxing to sit here and enjoy the view
Looking down, you could also see construction going on next to the hotel, which was a bit of a mood killer...
Lastly, here’s a night view shot. The brightly lit area on the left is PortMiami.
Hotel Tour
According to the hotel’s introduction, EPIC has 2 rooftop pools, 2 restaurants, and 1 lounge. So let’s go through them one by one based on what interested us.
Rooftop Pools and Fitness Facilities
After check-in and dropping off our luggage in the room, LD and I headed straight to the pool level.
This floor has exhale spa and the Area 31 restaurant. If you walk through the main entrance by these chairs, you’ll get to the pool.
One pool was cold (the larger one on the left), and the other was heated (the smaller one on the right). Don’t ask how I know—I nearly froze to death swimming in Miami late at night....
Area 31
Since this is a regionally inspired restaurant on the 16th floor that claims to offer a spectacular dining experience, LD and I booked dinner here through OpenTable. Don’t forget there was a promotion at the time: if you book a restaurant for the first time through the OpenTable option in the IHG app or on its website, you can earn 500 IHG points. On top of that, future restaurant reservations made this way (including the first one) also earn rewards: IHG hotel-affiliated restaurants earn 300 IHG points, while other restaurants earn 150 IHG points.
After booking, you’ll receive an email very quickly. You can also view the menu, restaurant information, and more.
That evening, we came back to the hotel as planned. Since we already knew this restaurant was pricey, and its cocktails are even more famous than its food, LD and I decided to just come in the evening for a couple of drinks and to enjoy the night view.
We also ordered a chilled cooked shrimp appetizer. Including tips, the total came to just under $70.
Finally, here’s a screenshot of the bonus points awarded.
ZUMA
A friend in Miami told me this is a somewhat famous trendy Japanese restaurant. But after seeing the 4 dollar signs on Tripadvisor, plus getting talked out of it by another friend who’s a hardcore Japanese food fan, I just took a photo outside to mark the visit...
If you’re interested in Japanese food, you can check out the official website. The storefront really does look great.
LILT LOUNGE
LILT Lounge is known for its cocktails and is a good fit for people who want to party it up.
Below is a photo from the official website showing what it looks like inside.
The performance area and outdoor terrace at LILT Lounge.
Summary
Overall, this hotel stay was a satisfying experience. The room was bright and clean, and the balcony had views of the ocean plus the Port of Miami. There were several restaurants on the property to choose from, the room service staff were very friendly, and the pool was clear with plenty of lounge facilities nearby.
That said, there were some downsides. Because there is a small marina below the building, there was an unusually high amount of yacht traffic coming and going. On top of that, Miami locals seem to naturally know how to have a good time, so even at 11 PM some yachts were still blasting party music through loudspeakers. That said, the sliding door in the room did a great job, and once it was closed, you could barely hear the noise outside. The biggest issue, though, as mentioned earlier, was that the connecting door between the two rooms provided almost zero sound insulation.
So overall, I’d give this stay an 8.5/10.