Redemptions for Kimpton Hotels Now Live at IHG Rewards Club

I receive compensation for content and many links on this blog. Citibank is an advertising partner of this site, as is American Express, Chase, Barclays and Capital One. Any opinions expressed in this post are my own, and have not been reviewed, approved, or endorsed by my advertising partners. I do not write about all credit cards that are available -- instead focusing on miles, points, and cash back (and currencies that can be converted into the same). Terms apply to the offers and benefits listed on this page.


IHG folded Kimpton and its Karma Rewards program into IHG Rewards Club. In the process they sanitized the benefits offered to elites, although they’re maintaining Kimpton’s top ‘Inner Circle’ level as an invitation-only program similar to Intercontinental properties and Royal Ambassador, with no public criteria for how members will earn it.

The upside to all of this is supposed to be for IHG Rewards Club members generally, more nice and interesting properties to use there points at. And that is now live on the IHG website.

The Kimptons in Washington DC range from 50,000 (Topaz, Rouge) to 65,000 (Monaco) points per night. (Overall it appears that Kimptons range in price from 40,000 to 70,000 points per night.)

Let’s take a look at the first hotel that comes up, Hotel Monaco. Several room types come up when searching for an award all priced at 65,000 points: Standard, Queen Deluxe, Premier Queen, King Deluxe, and Premier King.

Click through and right next to 65,000 points they’re advertising a $236 rate (the prepaid rate is $230). Not a lot of value for points (half the usual 6/10ths of a cent I value IHG points at). That Premier King they’re advertising a $256 rate for, marginally better value for points but not much.

Of course there are more expensive nights as well, a random night in March prices at $455 and in late April $588 — at 9/10ths of a cent per point closer to what you’d expect out of an IHG Rewards Club redemption. So as always you want to compare paid and points rates before deciding when to deploy your points.

Since these properties are now bookable with points, IHG credit card free nights work as well. You’re getting good value for those, for instance, at Hotel Monaco in peak season and also at the Muse in New York (70,000 points per night) and Kimpton Seafire Resort on Grand Cayman (also 70,000 per night).

You can transfer points instantly from Chase Sapphire Preferred Card though since I value 1 Chase point at 1.9 cents and 1 IHG point at 0.6 cents I don’t like doing that. I’d far prefer buying IHG Rewards Club points when they’re on a sale with a 100% bonus or buying them through cash and points.

(HT: @IadisGr8)

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

More articles by Gary Leff »

Editorial note: any opinions, analyses, reviews or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Comments made in response to this post are not provided or commissioned nor have they been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any bank. It is not the responsibility of advertisers Citibank, Chase, American Express, Barclays, Capital One or any other advertiser to ensure that questions are answered, either. Terms and limitations apply to all offers.

Comments

Comments are closed.