We may receive a commission when you use our links. Monkey Miles is part of an affiliate sales network and receives compensation for sending traffic to partner sites, such as CreditCards.com and CardRatings. This relationship may impact how and where links appear on this site. This site does not include all financial companies or all available financial offers. Monkey Miles is also a Senior Advisor to Bilt Rewards. Terms apply to American Express benefits and offers. Enrollment may be required for select American Express benefits and offers. Visit americanexpress.com to learn more Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, endorsed or approved by any of these entities.
Roughly a week ago I wrote about IHG’s announcement regarding their acquired luxury brand, Regent hotels, and the exciting news that starting February 1 ( This Friday ) you’d be able to earn and burn IHG points at their properties. That announcement lacked one major piece of information: How many points would it take? IHG hotels go all the up to 70k a night ( a couple years back the max was 50k ) and I kind of assumed we were in for the worst case. Surprise… 50-60k
50k a night when booked with an account linked to an IHG premier is really just 37.5k a night.
One of the best benefits of the IHG Premier, and the main reason it’s a long term hold, is the 4th night free perk when using points for the full booking. If you’re like me and carry the old IHG Select ( 10% back ) you’d get an additional 15k off the 4 night booking. Just 135k for a 4 night stay at a Regent hotels. Pretty awesome deal, especially considering IHG points can often be purchased for roughly 1/2 a cent.
Where does Regent have hotels and what do they cost?
- BEIJING – 50k a night
- BERLIN – 55k a night
- CHONGQING – 50k a night
- PORTO MONTENEGRO – 60k a night
- SINGAPORE – 55k a night
- TAIPEI – 60k a night
- PHU QUOC
- JAKARTA
Do your due diligence
Check the prices on hotels before you pull the trigger to use points…often times you can find some pretty sweet deals that will price them under the value of the points you’re redeeming. This is often the case when utilizing a 4th night free benefit on the Citi Prestige, or the fact that you can earn 10x points when booking via Hotels.com and using a Capital One Venture.
Do the math, and make a decision that makes the most sense financially, but these award rates are positive news in my book, and I look forward to hopefully visiting the Regent Phu Quoc ( below ) sooner than later.
*featured image courtesy of Regent
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.
The responses below are not provided or commissioned by the bank advertiser. Responses have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser. It is not the bank advertiser's responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered.