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- IHG has said that the devaluation was a technical glitch
Wow…what a middle finger to IHG cardholders. If you’re unfamiliar with what I’m referring to…if you hold an IHG Premier or an old IHG Rewards Select you receive an annual night certificate worth up to 40k per night. Hotels are now pricing at the magic level of 41k. Gimme a break.
When IHG introduced dynamic pricing, many hotels would dip below the threshold when demand wasn’t high, and it took a bit of the sting out of their move from a fixed award chart to demand based. That sting just became a welt.
It was one thing to read about the 30%+ overnight, without warning, devaluation to the IHG program. That, in and of itself, is terrible communication and lacks respect of those who have been loyal to the brand over the years. We’re sensible people, but give us warning and ability to navigate. Programs devalue all the time, but to do it in the dead of night, amidst a pandemic, is pretty terrible. But…introducing a new level of pricing that just barely moves a property out of qualifying for an IHG free night is pretty awful. The rate for the IHG was a little over $260.
As an FYI…here are the cash prices for Sept 3rd to 4th.
- IHG is $.0064 per point
- Kimpton is $0.0034
Here you can see the terms and conditions for the free night certificate – 40k or less
I searched with Free Night stipulated to see if it would indeed work ( maybe they folded in properties that were within 1k points – giving IHG the benefit of the doubt ). Nope. Didn’t work.
However…when I changed the dates into December, the 19th and 20th to be exact when rates are around $220.
the property prices at 35k and it works. Roughly $0.0062 per point.
You can also see the Kimpton plummet in points. No surprise here – Chicago in December is brutal. But a 40k point swing at Kimpton Hotel Monaco.
Overall
Was it purposeful? They certainly could have programmed their code to bump anything around 40k down to 40k. Dynamic pricing means rates will fluctuate and could land on 41k, but as you can see from examples the algo doesn’t assign a fixed value to the points in any predictive manner. Is it offer season? Amount of rooms booked? Who knows. But negating award certificates by pricing a mere 1000 points ( which could be bought for roughly $6 using Cash and Points ) seems pretty petty.
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
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
- 60k points after $4k spend in 3 months
- Worth $750 in Chase Travel℠ and way more if you maximize transfer partners
- 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, 2024
- $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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