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Targeted: Join Ambassador get 10k bonus IHG points
I’ve written about Intercontinental’s Ambassador program quite a bit in the past. It’s completely separate from IHG and the benefits are only good at Intercontinental hotels. What’s even more distinct…you pay to join! Yes, $200 is the typical price to join the first year, and then every subsequent year, it’s $150 to keep the membership. However, it’s been my experience that members are frequently offered some sort of bonus or offer in addition to the discounted $150 membership price in order to keep it. I, personally, am not an Ambassador, although I take a family trip at least once a year and both my parents are Ambassadors. Yes, it has been lucrative enough for them to both keep the membership ( although you are given an option to use points to pay the fee ). I recently received an email targeting me with an offer that I’m considering doing: Join Ambassador, get 10k bonus IHG points.
Here is the targeted email I received, you can click it to see if you’ve been targeted too.
The terms say that the email cannot be forwarded, etc.
And then here are the two options I was given for joining
The 32k point option is particularly interesting.
- 32k – 10k bonus = 22k
- Majored in Miles suggests that you’d receive 10% of this back if you maintain the Chase IHG credit card as well.
- You can buy IHG points with a dummy booking for $0.006 per point
- This means you’re effectively paying $132, or $119 after taking the 10% IHG credit card refund into account.
Check your Accelerate promos to see if you are targeted to get more bonus points by joining Ambassador. Majored in Miles was targeted for 5k bonus points.
Here are a few of the perks that are associated with Ambassador. You can read more about why my family values these benefits quite a bit. A Big one is a free weekend night.
- Guaranteed room upgrade – this has turned into Club access and Suites in the past for me and my family
- There is always fresh fruit and water in the room ( whatever that’s worth to you )
- There hasn’t been a time where we weren’t given 4pm late check-out
- Free pay-per-view movie ( used it a few times)
- COMPLIMENTARY WEEKEND NIGHT
- This is a big one. You must pay for the 1st night, but the 2nd night is free. You can even book this online.
As an example of perks we’ve received…We were upgraded to a suite in Cleveland, given club access in Boston, and the free weekend night certificate has saved a couple hundred bucks per use.
My mom giving the thumbs up to the club level in Boston…where we started her $125k Surprise Trip Around the World.
If you’re looking to stay with Intercontinental more than a few nights this coming year, I’d recommend Ambassador. If not…you may not get the value out of the added status.
Interested? You can Join here 🙂
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
$300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + 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
- $300 Chase Travel℠ Credit + Earn 60,000 bonus points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- That’s worth $750 when redeemed through Chase Travel℠. Plus, get up to $300 in statement credits on Chase Travel℠ purchases within your first year
- 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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