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In the past few years I’ve participated in my fair share of IHG promotions. Without a whole lot of effort I was able to strategize a few stays and participate in stayless promotions ( Remember when you could fill out notecards to earn 50k+ points?) to accumulate a couple hundred thousand IHG points in addition to those I pick up here and there from organic stays. I’ve been able to stretch those quite a ways because both my IHG Select credit card and Ambassador status reimburse a total of 20% back into my account every time I redeem points. As a result, if I can use points to effectively extract value in excess of 7/10 per point ( the price you can typically purchase IHG points for ) I use points.
When our South America trip started to shape up, and it became apparent that we would be needing two separate two night stays in Buenos Aires, I thought it’d make a lot of sense to check out the Intercontinental for our return stay. My buddy, Dave, also has a healthy balance of IHG points, as well as free night certificates from keeping an IHG Select credit card, so we each picked off a night and redeemed points.
Stay Details:
- When: November 2018
- Where: Buenos Aires, Argentina ( Monserrat area )
- Room: Standard
- Rate: 30k a night
- Status: Platinum Ambassador
Location
Intercontinental Buenos Aires is located in the Monserrat district of Buenos Aires near the Avenida 9 de Julio which is a large multi-lane artery running through Buenos Aires central business district. The hotel is 19 floors and in contrast to our first hotel, the Park Hyatt Buenos Aires, completely uninspiring. You’ll reach the Opera house within 15mins +/- and the Recoleta cemetery is closer to 30-45 min walk. Heading off in the opposite direction, you’ll get to La Boca within 60-75 minutes on foot. Taxis are uber cheap and you’ll need one to get to my favorite area of town, Palermo.
First Impression:
As I mentioned…the hotel isn’t anything to write home about aesthetically. In fact, it feels quite dated upon entry, but well maintained. But, here’s the thing, it’s a good price ( just 24k after my rebates ) and often prices in the mid $100s to low $200s a night. If you want more of an experience, try out the Park Hyatt. If you want a place that is safe, nice enough, centrally located, and has tons of availability…this is a solid option. It was pretty much what I thought we’d be encountering based of the tripadvisor reviews and hotel website.
Turn left and you’ll arrive at the front desk. Check-in was swift and we were given 2 free welcome drinks in recognition of Platinum Ambassador status.
The Room:
You can tell if you’ve been upgraded by the flooring. If its carpet…you’re still in a standard room. If you end up with wood flooring, congrats you got yourself an upgrade. We weren’t planning on spending much time at all in the hotel, but it was nice to have a bit of an upgrade, and the city view provided more light.
The bathrooms feature a separate shower and bath. I’ve stayed in my fair share of hotels around the world. I couldn’t believe the volcano of pressure that this shower provided. We’re talking amongst the best I’ve ever had anywhere, in my house, the fire hydrant on a hot summer day, that one time I volunteered as a firefighter ( this didn’t happen, but made this sentence more exciting ), I’m just saying…that thing had some hardcore pressure.
Dining:
The hotel was not heavily occupied. We grabbed our welcome drinks ( soda, beer, house wine ) in the bar, but there is a Mediterrean restaurant, lobby lounge, and terrace restaurant. Personally, there are far better places to dine outside the hotel. Namely…Don Julio’s, Proper, and Gran Dabbang. Don Julio’s is known as the single best restaurant in all of Argentina, and Gran Dabbang is a deconstructed Indian Tapas restaurant that is truly unique. Food at some of the best restaurants will set you back $25-30 and this includes massive hunks of steak with a bottle of wine. I’d venture out.
Business Center/Fitness Facility
The business center is staffed everyday from 8am to 9pm. There are meeting rooms, where I was able to shoot an audition without fee, and a handful of computers. Printing did cost a small fee and is facilitated by the attendant. There is a nice indoor pool and fairly comprehensive fitness facility.
Overall:
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend the hotel to anyone looking to offset the cost of their trip with points. Could you find more boutique properties or AirBnbs to suit the budget in the same ballpark…probably. But with IHG selling points often around 1/2 a cent, the ability to redeem for a net 24k points is a fantastic deal. It’d also be a good place to redeem a free weekend night certificate, or make use of the 4th night free benefit the IHG Premier card offers.
The Chase Sapphire Preferred is a great starter card that earns Premium Ultimate Rewards that can be transferred into over a dozen partners many of which are US based.
Welcome Offer
60k Points after $4k spend in 3 months
80k offer in branch currently – I think this should be online soon
Annual Fee
$95
Points Earned
Transferrable Chase Ultimate Rewards
Super solid welcome offer.
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.
- 3x on dining
- including eligible delivery services for takeout
- 3x on select streaming services
- 3x on online grocery purchases
- (excluding Target, Walmart and wholesale clubs)
- 5x on all travel purchased through Chase Ultimate Rewards – Chase Travel Portal
- $50 Annual Credit on hotel stays purchased via Ultimate Rewards/Chase Travel
- The begins immediately for new cardmembers and after your account anniversary for existing cardmembers
- 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 Portal and the slew of other benefits remain in tact including primary rental car insurance, purchase protections, etc.
- Points are transferrable to 13 Ultimate Rewards partners
- Redeem in the Chase Travel center for 1.25 cents per point
- No foreign transaction fees
- Suite of Travel and Purchase Coverage
- Primary rental car coverage is my favorite
There is currently an 80k offer after $4k spend in 3 months available in branch, and up to 90k after $6k spend in 6 months. I suspect some version of this will be online soon if you don’t want the hassle of going into a branch.
We keep an up to date spreadsheet that lists the best ever offers: You can find that spreadsheet here.
Historically 60k is a very, very good offer. 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.