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Intercontinental Ambassador
IHG overhauled their IHG One Rewards program In 2023, but did you know that there is actually a completely separate loyalty program specifically for the Intercontinental brand. In fact, some of the benefits affect Six Senses as well, and it comes with a bevy of valuable benefits.
Unlike most loyalty programs, the Intercontinental Ambassador program is a pay to join program costing $225 a year. Over the history of the program, I’ve been a member since 2016, I’ve gotten a ton of value, especially because renewal options often offer a point rebate which knocks the cast down, and it comes with a Buy One Get One weekend night certificate.
Personally, I’ve gotten a lot of value out of Intercontinental Ambassador and think it’s worth a look not only if you have any Intercontinental trips upcoming, but also if you currently have IHG status because anecdotally members get an automatic extra year of status when they join or renew which I just did for another year.
IHG Ambassador Program benefits:
The program is absolutely stuffed with benefits if you stay at Intercontinental, Kimpton, Regent, or Six Senses Hotels very often. The program is specifically designed for Intercontinental, but as IHG added more luxury brands, the program offered benefits for those as well.
For stays at Intercontinental Hotels
- Joining costs either $225 or 45k points
- Guaranteed upgrade upon arrival
- Usually the upgrade shows on the account prior to arrival
- Complimentary Weekend Night – Buy One Get One
- must be booked via their site
- Enjoy a 4 pm guaranteed late check out
- Choice of refreshments on arrival, in-room welcome gift, and mineral water.
- Complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Status
- $20 bar or restaurant credit per room per stay
- E-Delivered Free Weekend Night
- This is overdue and greatly appreciated.
- Extra benefits in China
- One Breakfast for each night you stay
- 15% discount on bar and restaurant purchases
The free breakfast was a fantastic perk at the Six Senses Maldives Laamu
Speaking of Six Senses benefits
- Complimentary Breakfast for two in the main restaurant per day.
- Benefit not applicable at Six Senses Residences.
- Signature Amenity of either a complimentary 50 minute Six Senses Spa massage for two or local experience once per stay.
- The Signature Amenity varies by resort, is subject to availability and confirmed on arrival. Not applicable with corporate or negotiated rates.
- Complimentary one category room upgrade
- (subject to availability, excluding residences and 2 bedroom or greater suites/villas)
- Extended check-out of 4pm subject to availability.
- Guaranteed for Royal Ambassador and Kimpton Inner Circle members. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences.
- Early check-in subject to availability.
- Guaranteed for Royal Ambassador and Kimpton Inner Circle members and in circumstances where the room is not available at 10 am, the member may be checked into another available room until the original booked room becomes available. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences.
- Complimentary Internet access.
- Internet accessibility, speed, and connectivity in common areas and guest rooms vary by resort
- Wellness Platter welcome amenity on day of arrival.
- Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences.
I had the pleasure of staying at the Six Senses Maldives for my honeymoon and the benefits listed above, on a 5 night stay, were easily worth $1000
Current IHG Ambassador Sign Up and Renewal Options
Currently, you can either use 40k IHG One Rewards or pay $200 via this link.
- Use 45k IHG Rewards
- Pay $225
Prior renewal options that will undoubtedly go up with the price increase, but I’d guess we will see similar deals
- Pay $200 and then get 15k IHG points deposited in your account
- If you value IHG points at 1/2 a penny, you’re getting about $75 back in the form of points
- Or use 40k points
IHG Ambassador BOGO Weekend Night terms
One of the cool parts of this benefit is that it’s not limited to entry level rooms, and you can redeem it at Intercontinental hotels. It used to be more generous and allowed Kimpton and Regent hotels, but that is no longer the case. Even with that change, it’s been super easy to recoup the cost of membership in this weekend night.
The big caveat is it needs to be booked via their internal Weekend Night Certificate portal and over the weekend. This is the link to it
You can see in this example that even super expensive premium suites can end up being Buy One Get One – this is the Intercontinental Chicago
Stack with IHG cards from Chase
If you carry a Chase IHG credit card which offers a 4th night free, when you use points. This is particularly attractive at hotels under 40k points where you can throw the IHG Premier free night at and lock down a 5 night stay and get it all for the price of 3. Even when using points I’ve gotten my Ambassador benefits including room upgrades. Pretty awesome.
Read more about the IHG Premier card here:
Status Extension – Trick Ended
It used to be that IHG would extend your status simply by purchasing Ambassador status…this has ended as of late September 2023. So if you’re thinking of using Ambassador to get another year of Diamond status…it won’t work this go around.
Overall
If you don’t stay at Intercontinental hotels…this may not be worth it to you. But… If you do, or if you’re even thinking about staying at a Six Senses property in the near future, want to extend your status, or just want to enjoy the breakfast benefit, there are many ways you could recoup the fee on a few nights stay.
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 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
- 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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