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This deal appears to have ended late September 2023
I bet you didn’t know that if you get Intercontinental Ambassador status for $200, IHG extends your status through the following calendar year!
This deal has been unofficially around for quite some time, and I had feared that it would go away after IHG completely redid their program last year. If you recall…a ton of people got IHG One Rewards Diamond status last year through a targeted challenge, and many of you are likely not going to keep it after this year. Lucky for us…it’s still available and I just took advantage of it to get my status extended through 2024. Let’s take a look.
Intercontinental Chicago is a great use of the BOGO night
What is Intercontinental Ambassador Status?
This is a status that yields of a ton of benefits while staying at IHG’s Intercontinental brand…and some benefits with Six Senses as well. You can read the FULL BREAKDOWN of Intercontinental Ambassador Status here
Intercontinental Ambassador benefits
- Joining costs either $200 or 40k points
- Renewals will usually be $200 + 15k IHG points deposited in your account, effectively $125
- Guaranteed upgrade upon arrival
- Usually the upgrade shows on the account prior to arrival
- Complimentary Weekend Night – Buy One Get One
- must be booked via their site
- often includes suites
- Enjoy a 4 pm guaranteed late check out
- Choice of refreshments on arrival, in-room welcome gift, and mineral water.
- usually comes with a nice note
- Complimentary IHG One Rewards Platinum Status
- easy way to just buy this status if you don’t have one of the IHG credit cards
- $20 bar or restaurant credit per room per stay
- this is nice if you don’t have diamond and want breakfast
- IE-Delivered Free Weekend Night
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- This is overdue and greatly appreciated.
- Extra benefits in China
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- One Breakfast for each night you stay
- 15% discount on bar and restaurant purchases
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Here was my renewal offer
Post Intercontinental Ambassador Status Renewal, my IHG status extended.
Here is a screen shot of my IHG Status immediately before renewing for another year.
And then here is my status after I renewed:
Such an easy way to extend IHG status
Will this last? Who knows. But, for now, this is a great way to extend your status another year, and if you have Diamond status, another year of free breakfast.
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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