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IHG is offering a 100% bonus on purchased points – this is the key.
I’ve written several articles in the past regarding the value of the Ambassador program so I won’t go into the details again. Both of my parents are long time IHG loyalists and we mainly cycled points/stays through their accounts for family trips. I hadn’t personally joined because it didn’t make sense to have 3 members. That just changed. Part of my MASSIVE 80k IHG Accelerate promotion was to join Ambassador, and they offered a 5k point incentive to do so. This was in addition fulfilling one of the required 6/7 targets. So how did I join? I didn’t pay the normal cash rate of $200.
I used 32k points instead of paying $200. Everyone can do this. 32k points can be purchased for just $184 until November 9th.
Using this point sale means I effectively paid $184 when you factor in the current 100% bonus on purchased points. Points are currently being sold for $0.00575 per point. The 100% bonus starts at 5000 points, but the best deal is with a bigger purchase.
I Get 10% of my redeemed points back because I carry the IHG credit card from Chase.
Yes, it works for joining Ambassador. That $184 just dropped to $166, or 32,000 drops to 28,800.
Let’s add in the value of the 5k point incentive. This nets out to just 23,800 points out of pocket, or just $136.85. We can drop that to $75…follow along.
32,000 * 0.9 = 28,800
28,800 – 5000 = 23,800
23,800 * $0.00575 = $136.85
I could write the membership down even further by saying that it represents 1/7 of the 75k ( 5k are from joining so need to be backed out) points that I will receive by fulfilling the Accelerate promotion…roughly 10,700 points. This means I’m getting Ambassador for roughly 13,100, or $75.
$136.85 is a cheap weekend night at an Intercontinental. $75 is insane.
A free weekend night is a perk of the Ambassador program.
I’ve already reserved my weekend night at the Intercontinental Shanghai. I’m getting a free night worth $300. Hopefully an upgrade to boot. B – YAH!
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
The Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card went through a major refresh in 2026 adding new bonus categories, travel protections, statement credits, and remains one of the best travel starter cards in the market. It earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based including Hyatt, Southwest, United, IHG, and Marriott. Note that Hyatt is now a 4:3 transfer partner
Welcome Offer
Earn 100,000 bonus points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Earn
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Travel℠
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on gas and EV charging
- NEW ACCELERATED EARN CATEGORY: 3x points on vacation homes at top brands
- Cardmembers will earn 3x points on vacation homes at these top brands: Airbnb, Vrbo, Plu Guide, HomeAway, Homestay.com and Vacasa.
- 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)
- 2x on all other travel
- 1x on everyday purchases
- 5x points on Lyft rides Earn 5x total points on eligible Lyft rides including ride share, bike and scooter rides and subscription and membership products through September 30, 2027.
- 5x total points on Peloton equipment Earn 5x total points on eligible Peloton equipment and accessory purchases over $150 through December 31, 2027.
Benefits and Credits
- $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠
- NEW: $120 Global Entry, TSA PreCheck or NEXUS fee credit Cardmembers will receive one statement credit of up to $120 every four years as reimbursement for the application fee charged to the card.
- NEW: Complimentary Apple TV subscription for one year
- Points are transferrable to 14 Ultimate Rewards partners
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Auto Rental Collision Damage Waiver is my favorite
- Complimentary DashPass which unlocks $0 delivery fees & lower service fees for a min. of one year when you activate by 12/31/27. Plus, a $10 promo each month on non-restaurant orders
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® Card is great 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: Chase Ink Business Cash® , Chase Ink Business Unlimited® you can combine the points into the Sapphire Preferred account and transfer into hotel and airline partners
Annual fee remains quite low at $95 a year and if you use the $100 Annual Chase Travel Hotel Credit via Chase Travel℠ you’ll wipe out that annual fee every year. It has great bonus categories and other useful statement credits to enhance your travel.
One thing that is a bummer is Chase lowered the transfer ratio to World of Hyatt from 1:1 to 4:3.
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