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IHG Rewards Club has been running a targeted points sale since October and today is the last chance to participate.
The current offer allows IHG Rewards members (free to join here) can purchase points from as little as 0.575 cents each. All IHG rewards members can buy points in this sale but some members will have been targeted for a better bonus than others and so will be able to buy points at a cheaper rate.
View your IHG Rewards targeted offer via this link
IHG Rewards Points Sale
The headline terms & conditions are as follows:
- Offer available for purchases made before 11:59 PM EST on 16 November 2016 (TODAY)
- IHG Rewards members may purchase up to 60,000 points per calendar year (excluding bonuses).
Purchases of IHG Rewards Points are processed by Points.com so they’re not eligible for a credit card category bonus. This means that, in the absence of any bonus, you should make sure you use a credit card that earns the points you consider to be the most valuable.
The Offer
If you have been targeted for the 100% bonus offer this is what the offer looks like:
- 1,000 – 4,000 IHG Rewards Points with zero Bonus at 1.35 cents/1.11 pence each
- Buy 5,000 – 20,000 IHG Rewards Points with a 50% Bonus at 0.833 cents/0.683 pence each
- Buy 21,000 – 60,000 IHG Rewards Points with a 100% Bonus at 0.575 cents/0.471 pence each
Should You Buy IHG Rewards Points In This Offer
If you didn’t get the 100% bonus no, you probably shouldn’t be buying points in this offer – there have been a few 100% bonus promotions from IHG Rewards this year (some targeted others not) so you should probably wait until the next one comes along.
If you have been offered the 100% bonus then this could be a good opportunity to buy some points.
If you max out this promotion you would be buying 60,000 points and getting a further 60,000 point bonus for $690:
Those points would get you 2 nights at the best IHG properties in the world at a cost of $345/night and, if you shop around carefully and book some of the great InterContinental properties that still only cost 50,000 – 55,000 points/night, you would be paying between $287.50 and $316.25 for a night.
Those figures include all taxes.
That’s a pretty good deal considering how expensive some of the InterContinentals can get.
I’m not sure I’d pay $345 for a night at a hotel but I would almost certainly pay $288 for a night at the InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam where rates before tax are often a lot higher….
…but where you can book a room for 50,000 IHG Rewards points.
Buying points in this promotion and applying them to a reservation like the one in the image above would net you two nights at a very good InterContinental hotel for $575 and would save you over $400 once you account for taxes.
To make the deal even better IHG Rewards reservations are refundable while the best cash price quoted is an advance rate that’s not at all flexible.
You’re saving money and getting a better type of reservation.
IHG Point Breaks
Don’t forget that the IHG Point Breaks list is now out and, although a lot of the more desirable properties my be running low on PointBreaks inventory right now, you may still find something that works for you.
Offering rooms at just 5,000 points per night, Point Breaks are one of the more interesting hotel promotions that you’ll find with IHG and, as these rooms can cost upwards of 40,000 points per night,
These are rooms that could go for as much as 40,000 – 50,000 points per night outside of the PointBreaks period so, if a property you’d like to visit is on the current list, you could get a true bargain.
5,000 points in this promotion would cost as little as $28.75 and I’m not sure you’ll find a better hotel deal than that!
Bottom Line
Have a plan and do the math and you won’t go wrong when deciding whether to buy points in this promotion or not.
Check how much the properties you want to visit cost at the time of your you plan to travel and then see how much an award night would cost if you were to buy points. That will tell you how good of a deal you may be getting.
Don’t buy points speculatively as you never know when IHG will decide to move hotels up a category or even charge more points/night – only buy points that you know you’ll be using in the near future.
Check what offer IHG has targeted you for via this link.
