IHG Hotels Rewards Club points are one of the only type of points I will consider purchasing. In my experience, it’s very easy to find value with the points and I’ve even said that IHG is the most useful hotel program out there for our travels. I had almost forgotten that IHG has been running a special on purchasing points which is coming to an end this Wednesday, August 22, 2018. The offer targets members with bonuses on point purchases ranging from 50% to 100%. If you’re lucky enough to get the 100% bonus, here’s why you should consider taking advantage of it:
First, you’ll have to sign in to see which offer you’re targeted for. You can do so at this link HERE.
Hopefully, you’re offered the 100% bonus. Then the magic number is 26,000 points or more. At that level, you can purchase points for 1 cent each. Since you’ll get double the points, your cost will go down to 1/2 cent each. That’s even better than last year’s price when I purchased 120,000 points for $690 (0.575 cents a point).
My list of point options maxes out at 75,000 points + 75,000 bonus points for $750. IHG recently increased the yearly limit on purchased points to 100,000 so if you’d want to buy that many, I’d recommend two purchases of 50,000 points each.
Before you run out and buy points, let me show you how this could be a great deal or a terrible deal for you.
Ultra High End Hotels
I love to use this as an example of what you might be able to do with IHG points. I have no guarantees you’ll be able to do this, but you can dream about it. 😉
A double beach bungalow at The InterContinental Hotels : Le Moana Bora Bora is available to book for 70,000 IHG points a night. You could buy that for $350 during the current promotion if you’re offered the 100% bonus. That’s a bunch of money to pay for a room but take into consideration that these rooms are selling for 93704 XPF. If you’re not up on your conversion of French Pacific Franc to US Dollars, that’s about $900 for one night.
If I really wanted to go to Bora Bora, I’d rather pay $350 for a room than pay $900.
Expensive Hotels
Maybe Bora Bora isn’t your style. What about staying in Manhattan for Thanksgiving. One of our favorite hotels in the area is the Crowne Plaza.
Award nights here go for 60,000 points a night (after this year’s increases). That means a three night stay is 180,000 points (or $900 to buy the points). Looking at AAA rates for the same dates, the room would cost $1,176. That’s $276 more than if you purchased the points.
Inexpensive Hotels
What about our favorite Candlewood Suites in New Braunfels, TX. Can we save money there too? You bet we can!
Award nights here cost 20,000 points a night. During the summer, Friday and Saturday night rates at this hotel can go up to almost $200 a night. Since you can buy 20,000 points for $100, you’re saving 50% of the regular price. However, weekday prices can drop as low as $80 a night. Redeeming an award night you purchased for $100 to get an $80 room is a horrible deal. I booked our rooms for Wednesday and Thursday night with the AAA rate and used reward points for Friday and Saturday night, getting the best value for both nights.
PointBreak Hotels
You can get a combo of savings by combining a hotel on IHG’s PointBreak list with the bonus points purchase promo. The cheapest hotels go for only 5,000 points a night. If you’d need to stay at the Holiday Inn Express in Center, TX, a room would cost $99 a night. The same room would only cost 5,000 points (or $25), a 75% savings.
If you were wondering, Center, TX is not in the center of Texas. It’s on the far east of Texas, not far from the Louisiana border, seventy miles from Shreveport.
Final Thoughts
These are just a few examples showing how you can find value from buying IHG Rewards Club points during one of these sales. There are also examples where it’s a HORRIBLE idea to use points to book a room. Before buying points, remember you are essentially pre-paying for a hotel room. Don’t buy points and end up looking at your account in a year and wonder what are you going to use these points for. I’d strongly consider picking up some points but Sharon just received 80,000 points for getting the IHG Select card (before it disappeared) so our IHG balances are healthy right now.
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This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
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[…] IHG Hotels Rewards Club points are one of the only type of points I will consider purchasing. In my experience, it’s very easy to find value with the points and I’ve even said that IHG is the most useful hotel program out there for our travels. I had almost forgotten that IHG has been running a special on purchasing points which is coming to an end this Wednesday, August 22, 2018. The offer targets members with bonuses on point purchases ranging from 50% to 100%. If you’re lucky enough to get the 100% bonus, here’s why you should consider taking advantage of it: LEARN MORE! […]