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IHG recently redid their approach to Point Breaks. Traditionally this had been a program whereby selected hotels worldwide were reduced to just 5k points a night. An absolute steal. However, time and time the vast majority of the hotels listed were amongst the lowest tiers of IHG properties, so the deals weren’t really that enticing. The redo, which I’m a fan of, consists of 3 different tiers of Point Breaks: 5k, 10k, and 15k. Critics say this is a devaluation of the program, and I see their argument, but I’d rather have access to properties that I’d actually stay at which cost me 10 or 15k than a ton of properties at 5k that wouldn’t be on my radar. I believe this is a record – 11 Intercontinental properties have made the list.
My faves: Intercontinental Mendoza, Bucharest, Sao Paulo, Panama, and Hanoi. I absolutely LOVED Hanoi and would highly recommend it, and now there’s a hotel at 15k a night. That’s unreal. Especially when you can buy points for as little as half a cent.
Links to all the Intercontinental hotels.
ARGENTINA
InterContinental Mendoza
EL SALVADOR
InterContinental San Salvador-Metrocentro Mall
ROMANIA
InterContinental Bucharest
BRAZIL
InterContinental Sao Paulo
COLOMBIA
InterContinental Cartagena de Indias
PANAMA
InterContinental Miramar Panama
SLOVENIA
InterContinental Ljubljana
UKRAINE
InterContinental Kiev
LEBANON
InterContinental Le Vendome Beirut
VIETNAM
InterContinental Hanoi Landmark72
SAUDI ARABIA
InterContinental Al Khobar
*Feature image of the Intercontinental Miramar Panama courtesy of IHG.com
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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