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You might have caught my post on grabbing a great ticket to Istanbul in Turkish Business Class. Well, the reason I pulled the trigger on that flight was IHG point breaks…namely the Intercontinental Cairo which, along with all point breaks, is priced at an outrageously cheap 5000 points per night ( roughly $35/night).
IHG releases a list of “Point Breaks” hotels throughout the year.
The deal is always 5000 points per night and a maximum of two nights per reward account – I actually was able to book 4 straight nights with no problem…so tinker around with it. I utilized this for the Intercontinental Cairo.
I’ve always wanted to go to and see the Pyramids in Egypt. Realizing that a flight over ( in business on Turkish) could be had for $150 and points, and then accommodations could be had for just 5000 points per night, is ridiculous and an opportunity worth seizing!!!!
For the most part, the list consists of Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn express, Candlewood Suites, and then some limited Crown Plaza opportunities. These are great options for road trips domestically, airport stopovers, and foreign cities where you’d like something with a known western feel while abroad also For the Full list of properties click here.
How to get IHG points
- public offer is 60k but there are 80k targeted links. Log in to your account and see if you’re targeted.
- I signed up for this for 70k back in June
- This card has an annual fee of $49 and comes with an annual night certificate good a ANY property worldwide. HUGE HUGE HUGE reason to have the card
– -> Chase Ultimate Rewards –
- transfer 1:1
- I wouldn’t do this…UR are worth far more than IHG points
–>Buy Them
- When you go to book the hotel and have a shortage of points, they will allow you to buy them at $0.007
- Book a cash rate…
- opt for discounting the rate by using points
- If you don’t have the points, it allows you to buy them
- cancel the reservation afterward and the points remain in your account
- This equates to roughly $35/5000 points
- Book a cash rate…
If you don’t have the points and have looked at the point break list and see that there is a redemption you’d like to take, I would highly suggest the option of buying the points at $0.007 per point. Incredible deal to stay in very nice properties all over the world for $35/night.
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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