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Buy IHG points with 100% bonus is more than just the normal promo
Getting a 100% bonus when buying IHG points is a great deal – it effectively equates to just 1/2 a cent a point – and that creates a great way to shore up your account, but it also generates discounted access via purchased points compared to just paying for the room outright. In the past, they’ve always limited purchases to 60k. IHG just sweetened the deal
They increased the pre-bonus max to 100k
Why does this matter? Let’s walk through some examples, including how to get top tier properties for $250 a night or less. Like the feature pic of the Intercontinental Hong Kong and it’s insane breakfast spread.
It means you can excise the value of buying points for stays vs paying outright more times per year.
I’ll use the Intercontinental Buenos Aires as an example. Here’s a look at what it would cost you to stay there on a random weekend in November vs using points. $277 ( all in ) vs 30k points per night. It also, just so happens that the minimum purchase is 30k = exactly what this hotel costs.
With this 100% offer you could actually just buy points to stay for $150 a night ( a $127 nightly value), but it gets better.
You can buy points and stack with credit card perks/Ambassador and lower your nightly rate even further
- The old, now grandfathered, IHG Rewards Select – offers 10% back on award stays
- 3k a night here
- The new IHG Rewards Club Premier offers buy 3 get the 4th free.
- worth 30k points here
- Ambassador renewal offers of 10% back ( up to 100k points ) on Intercontinental stays.
- 3k a night here
This would mean you’d effectively be paying 24k a night for 3 nights, or 72k points ( $360 with this offer ) to stay 4 nights vs over $1000 paying outright. Huge value.
Increasing the purchase cap from 60k to 100k = 2 more nights at 40k hotels = increased value in credit card annual night certificates.
80k additional points ( 40k + 100% bonus ), or 200k in total, means you can buy 5 nights per year at hotels that require 40k points for an award night. This number just so happens to exactly correlate to the maximum value of either annual night certificates issued by both IHG Rewards Club Premier and the now grandfathered IHG Rewards Select ( post any hotel certs expiration ).
Why does this increase the value of credit card annual night certificates?
Most people aren’t looking to go and spend just one night at a property, but rather a weekend, or even a longer trip. The ability to buy another night at that property for a maximum price of $200 means you’re more likely to use the annual night certificate at a property you’d like to visit rather than burn it to just “get some value out of it.”
Effectively buy 4 nights at top tier properties for $1000.
- Need 10k+ points in account
- Need the IHG Rewards Club Premier card
- Hotel has 4 nights award availability
Since IHG prices their most exclusive properties at 70k a night, and the IHG Rewards Club Premier gives you a 4th night free on award stays —> this means you can stay 4 nights for just 210k points. If you don’t have the 10k, you transfer them in from Chase…
Here’s an example of the Intercontinental Park Lane – with this deal you’d spend $1000 vs $2300+
The Intercontinental Park Lane is in an incredible location overlooking Hyde Park, and cash rates are always pricey.
Or how about the Intercontinental Moana Bora Bora – late October – $1k vs $3k+
Who doesn’t want to go to paradise. At $250 a night…this is downright doable. Honeymoon anyone?
This would put you in a standard beach bungalow – you could use all that saved cash to upgrade yourself to an overwater villa at check-in 🙂
Things get better from here: if you have any of the aforementioned credit cards/Ambassador 10% rebates – you’d be receiving 42k points back after your stay.
Yes, that means you’d spend a net 168k points or $840 out of pocket, $210 a night.
I’d never suggest speculatively buying points, but this is a great deal. It should also be noted that the 100% bonus kicks in on purchases over 30k
Promo ends October 31. You can buy here. Appreciate the support!
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
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 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 Bonus
- Every year you keep the card, your total spend will yield a 10% points bonus. If you spend $10k in a year, you’ll get 1k bonus points
- Chase Sapphire Preferred continues to redeem at 1.25c in the Chase Travel℠ and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver ( primary ), purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in Chase Travel℠ for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Get complimentary access to DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees and lower service fees for a minimum of one year when you activate by December 31, 2027.
- $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.
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