Bonus Purchasing IHG Rewards Club Points Through March 22
IHG Rewards Club – the loyalty program for Intercontinental, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn and related brands — is offering a 100% bonus on purchased points through March 22. This applies to purchases of 5000 or more points.
At a 100% bonus you can buy points at just $0.00575 apiece which is the lowest price I see them sell points for. And I believe the points are worth slightly more than this.
They do make you validate your IHG Rewards Club account information. I’ve checked a few accounts and they were offered a 100% bonus.
Here’s what pricing looks like maxing out the offer:
One Mile at a Time writes that he’s offered 120,000 points for $680 which is exactly what I’d expect, doubling of the maximum 60,000 point purchase and at the price of 60,000 points. This comes out to $0.00575 apiece (half of $11.50 per 1000).
However I am offered a maximum of 116,000 points at just $580 or $0.005 each which seems like a mistake but of course an even better deal.
Club Lounge at the Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur
The points are processed by Points.com so this doesn’t count as hotel spend for credit card bonuses.
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 and sometimes less. 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 tied for the lowest price I’ve seen though they’ve offered it several times before.
Terms and conditions:
Offer available for purchases made between 12:00 AM ET March 19, 2018, and 11:59 PM ET March 22, 2018, inclusive. This is an exclusive, non-transferable offer for the intended recipient only and may not be forwarded. 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.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 72 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 March 22
119,00 for $590, or 5¢ a point for me, also.
I’m hanging onto my Cash. There’s NOT an old saying, “Points is king.”
Always a crackup to see the most innocuous words used as the link to other blogs as to not provide SEO fodder 😀 Not just here, but seems to be this way in most blogs when organically hat tipping. Must be industry standard.
Gary: One place where redeeming IHG points does not make sense is Intercontinental Kuala Lumpur – your post is showing an image from Club Lounge at that hotel.
Right now that hotel for a weekend night (end of May) is bookable for $93+tax/ night (regular room) or 15,000 points +89USD or 30,000 points. Even at $0.005/point the cost of 30,000 points is $150. Also, award reservation will not get you into Club Intercontinental which is available for $145+tax.
Perhaps, there are other hotels where buying and using points would make more sense…
After factoring in possible devaluation s, expirations, and competition from 3rd party website promos such as booking.com and Expedia, you might have to penalize the points value if you cannot use them in the near future.
But it is nice to avoid the onerous taxes tied to hotel stays paid with cash.
We’re planning a trip and I thought this deal would help, but it’s actually more expensive to use points than cash. Is that just a factor of where we’re going and when?
Downtown Seattle Crown Plaza is 45,000 points per night. I could pay $600 to get 120,000 points, and I would still need to dip into my existing points for another 15,000 points (for a 3 night stay). Or I could just pay the $179 per night for a total cost of $537 and keep my existing points.
What am I missing?