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I just saw a post on The Gate talking about targeted mailers going out to IHG One Rewards Diamond members offering them the opportunity to buy status for another year. I’ve utilized my diamond status throughout the year, most recently in Chicago at the Intercontinental, and sure enough, when I checked my clutter folder, I had an offer sitting in there as well. Buy Elite Qualifying Points, get a 20% discount since I’m an IHG cardholder, and settle up for $640.
- Be targeted…check your email
- Buy Points ( EQP apparnetly also mean your balance of redeemable points will increase )
- Get a 20% discount if you’re an IHG cardholder ( I used a different card and it still worked, but I do have 2 IHG cards )
Now, these are listed as Elite Qualifying Points, and I kind of hemmed and hawed at spending $640 for another year of top tier status, but I’ve gotten some great upgrades, breakfasts, and thought…oh why not give it a go, it’s a write off anyway.
So I did it.
What I didn’t expect to get was 120k IHG One Rewards that I can use for future stays. The best price you could ordinarily buy these for would be $600 at 1/2 a penny a point, so this wasn’t far off, and I walked away with Diamond status.
120k redeemable points + a year of diamond status for $640?! What a deal!
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
Welcome Offer
Earn 75,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- 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)
- $50 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 2x on all other travel
- 10% Anniversary Points Boost
- each account anniversary you’ll earn bonus points equal to 10% of your total purchases made the previous 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
- $95 Annual Fee
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:
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.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® is exceptional 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: Ink Business Cash® , Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee is quite low at $95 a year + you get a 10% anniversary bonus on points + $50 hotel credit in Chase travel.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.