IHG Rewards Club – the loyalty program for Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and related brands — is offering a 100% bonus on purchased points through December 11.
This means you can buy points at just $0.00575 apiece which is a lower price than what they’re worth.
This is the normal pricing:
You may purchase points in 1,000 increments:
1,000 – 10,000 points for $13.50 per 1,000 points
11,000 – 25,000 points for $12.50 per 1,000 points
26,000 – 60,000 points for $11.50 per 1,000 points
As a result, you can buy points for as little as $0.00575 apiece (half of $11.50 per 1000) or $690 for 120,000 points which is the maximum allowable purchase.
The points are processed by Points.com so this doesn’t count as hotel spend for credit card bonuses.
- Using points at the Intercontinental Thalasso on Bora Bora may be the best aspirational points redemption in the world. Availability there seems best each day that the hotel’s schedule is extended, and pops up occasionally and especially within a couple of weeks of travel.
- And for sure if you’re spending your points on discounted 5000 point per night PointBreaks hotels you’re getting real leverage.
In general I value an IHG Rewards Club point at about 6/10ths of a cent — just over the price they’re selling points through this promotion. If the price were lower I would be a buyer. Personally I’d rather hold cash than points at this price and only buy points with a specific use in mind, especially since it’s long been possible to buy points at 7/10ths of a cent apiece whenever one wishes. The gain by acting right away is marginal (just over one-tenth of a cent per point).
But you likely won’t get hurt at this price. And it’s the lowest price I’ve seen, though something they’ve offered before (for instance back in June and in fall 2014, and as recently as last month).
Terms and conditions:
Offer available for purchases made between 12:00 AM ET December 4 and 11:59 PM ET December 11, 2015 inclusive. Bonus points will be awarded upon completion of the transaction. Bonus points will be awarded to the recipient of the points purchase. Offer is subject to change. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer. Only purchases made online are eligible for the bonus.Price includes all applicable fees. Purchased Points are not refundable and are applicable toward all IHG® Rewards Club awards. Members may purchase a maximum of 60,000 points per calendar year and receive as a gift a maximum of 60,000 points per calendar year. Please allow 24-48 hours for points to post and appear in the recipient’s account. All other IHG® Rewards Club Terms and Conditions apply.
100% Bonus Purchasing IHG Rewards Club Points Through June 30
I think your valuation is pretty close, but maybe a bit high? This may be because my redemptions are less “aspirational” than yours. IHG assigns the same point requirements to differently priced properties. So two hotels in a city might be redeemable for 30k points, but one is regularly priced at $120 night (4/10ths) or $180 / night (6/10ths).
Generally, I want a hotel in a specific place: at the airport, near a relative’s home, in the city center, etc. And that may be poor redemption value or a decent one.
The difficulty in “valuing” hotel points is that, yes, at .00575, it might be cheaper to pay for the hotel with points than “with cash. But there might be another IHG property nearby where it might be better to pay cash. Or there might be an independent hotel or a hotel in another chain that’s going to be a much better deal than the IHG hotel at .00575.
That’s why you don’t want to buy points that only represent a “good” deal. You want a great deal. I’d be a buyer at ,003.
Given constant and frequent devaluations in most programs, it does not make sense to buy points unless you have an immediate need that will provide a positive ROI. However there are many benefits to booking with points – specifically tax avoidance which can often add 10-20% to the cost of a room. Also free cancellation without penalty, which you often cannot do on the cheapest prepaid rates.
Many of the top ICs go for 50k per night (I’m not going to pay for 35k points to use at a crappy HIX) so my over/under rate is about $300/nt. If the hotel runs $400+ it makes sense to buy and use points. <$300, not so much, as you also give up the points you would earn on your spend. Not to mention IC Ambassador benefits which are not guaranteed on award nights.
Do purchased points apply to status with IHG? I could use a bump to hit Spire this year.