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Targeted: Join Ambassador get 10k bonus IHG points
I’ve written about Intercontinental’s Ambassador program quite a bit in the past. It’s completely separate from IHG and the benefits are only good at Intercontinental hotels. What’s even more distinct…you pay to join! Yes, $200 is the typical price to join the first year, and then every subsequent year, it’s $150 to keep the membership. However, it’s been my experience that members are frequently offered some sort of bonus or offer in addition to the discounted $150 membership price in order to keep it. I, personally, am not an Ambassador, although I take a family trip at least once a year and both my parents are Ambassadors. Yes, it has been lucrative enough for them to both keep the membership ( although you are given an option to use points to pay the fee ). I recently received an email targeting me with an offer that I’m considering doing: Join Ambassador, get 10k bonus IHG points.
Here is the targeted email I received, you can click it to see if you’ve been targeted too.
The terms say that the email cannot be forwarded, etc.
And then here are the two options I was given for joining
The 32k point option is particularly interesting.
- 32k – 10k bonus = 22k
- Majored in Miles suggests that you’d receive 10% of this back if you maintain the Chase IHG credit card as well.
- You can buy IHG points with a dummy booking for $0.006 per point
- This means you’re effectively paying $132, or $119 after taking the 10% IHG credit card refund into account.
Check your Accelerate promos to see if you are targeted to get more bonus points by joining Ambassador. Majored in Miles was targeted for 5k bonus points.
Here are a few of the perks that are associated with Ambassador. You can read more about why my family values these benefits quite a bit. A Big one is a free weekend night.
- Guaranteed room upgrade – this has turned into Club access and Suites in the past for me and my family
- There is always fresh fruit and water in the room ( whatever that’s worth to you )
- There hasn’t been a time where we weren’t given 4pm late check-out
- Free pay-per-view movie ( used it a few times)
- COMPLIMENTARY WEEKEND NIGHT
- This is a big one. You must pay for the 1st night, but the 2nd night is free. You can even book this online.
As an example of perks we’ve received…We were upgraded to a suite in Cleveland, given club access in Boston, and the free weekend night certificate has saved a couple hundred bucks per use.
My mom giving the thumbs up to the club level in Boston…where we started her $125k Surprise Trip Around the World.
If you’re looking to stay with Intercontinental more than a few nights this coming year, I’d recommend Ambassador. If not…you may not get the value out of the added status.
Interested? You can Join here 🙂
Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account openingÂ
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travelâ„
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 3x on dining, including eligible delivery services for takeout & dining out
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travelâ„
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 80k is a very, very good offer and hit in both 2022 and 2023. In 2021, we saw the offer hit an all time high of 100k. Who knows if that will ever come back.
Main Cast:Â
Cards that earn flexible points and should be used on the bulk of your purchases.
Supporting Cast:
Cards that earn fixed points in the currency of the airline/hotel and can not be transferred at attractive rates. These cards yield benefits that make it worth keeping, but not necessarily worth putting a lot of your everyday spend on.Â
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card is great starter card and offers transferrable Ultimate Rewards, and pairs well with other Chase cards.
If you carry this card alongside Chase’s cashback cards like the Chase Freedom Flex®  and Chase Freedom Unlimited® or the business versions: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travelâ„ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.Â
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