I’m a fan of IHG hotels and often find oversized value in the IHG Rewards Club program. IHG has a large number of hotels at various price points so everyone can be involved in the Rewards Club program and feel like they are getting something out of it. That may be a free night at a Holiday Inn Express just off the interstate or a stay at the InterContinental in Tokyo.
One of IHG’s ongoing promotions is the PointBreak program. Every three months, IHG releases a list of hotels where you can redeem award nights at a significantly reduced rate. This used to be set at 5,000 points for all hotels on the list but in January they changed the program so rooms can now cost from 5,000 to 15,000 points a night. When they made these changes, my hope was that some of the nicer hotels that were missing from recent lists would start showing up again. Finding a hidden gem for a big discount was always part of the appeal of PointBreaks. When I look at this list, that doesn’t seem to be happening. The list is somewhat underwhelming and isn’t doing much to generate excitement from me about the future of PointBreak. .
While many other miles and point collectors love this promotion. A popular refrain heard is because of PointBreaks, you can stay at an IHG hotel for $25 a night (5000 points x purchasing points at 1/2 a cent each). This is technically true, however you need to find a hotel available for 5,000 points a night with availability that is somewhere you want to travel. That’s why I consider finding a suitable PointBreak hotel like winning the lottery. It’s totally random and it feels really good when you win.
If you want to see how you did in the lottery, the list of the 170 hotels available was just published and you can see it on IHG’s website.
These hotels can be booked now for stays through July 31, 2018. If you find one you’re interested in, book it right away. Once the PointBreak rooms at a hotel are gone, they’re gone. Since there’s no penalty to cancelling if the trip doesn’t work out, you might as well lock it in now. Just don’t book a bunch of room nights just because. That was something people used to do, but I’m not a person who would do that. Anyway, has now IHG put in a rule that you can only book two reservations at a single hotel during the promotion period but those stays can be for any length of stay.
While there aren’t many major tourist destinations on the list, you can find hotels around many large cities, Unfortunately, the hotels on the list tend to be on the outer edges of the city, not centrally located. There are also several airport hotels on the list so if you need to stay overnight before an early morning flight or need a quick overnight stay, using a PointBreak room will be much cheaper than paying for a room yourself. Of course, if you were planning a stay in East Syracuse, Clermont, FL or Biloxi, MS anyway, then this might just be your lucky day.
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