Can everyone now get 20% off select IHG Rewards awards? (for a limited time)

Some links to products and travel providers on this website will earn Traveling For Miles a commission that helps contribute to the running of the site. Traveling For Miles has partnered with CardRatings for our coverage of credit card products. Traveling For Miles and CardRatings may receive a commission from card issuers. Opinions, reviews, analyses & recommendations are the author’s alone and have not been reviewed, endorsed, or approved by any of these entities. For more details please see the disclosures found at the bottom of every page.

Last week, IHG Rewards brought back an excellent sale which sees the cost of awards reduced by 20% for stays of up to 3 nights commencing no later than 25 May. At the launch, the sale was only open to holders of select IHG Rewards co-branded credit cards but we were promised that it would be opened up to all IHG Rewards members within a few days.

Well, it’s been almost a week since the sale launched and we’re now getting the first reports that the latest IHG Rewards award sale is open to members without qualifying credit cards…but something doesn’t seem right.

Key sale details

• Save 20% on award bookings of up to 3 nights
• At the outset, this offer is open to holders of the following credit cards:
  • IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card (review)
  • IHG Rewards Traveler Credit Card (review)
  • IHG Rewards Club Select Credit Card (not open to new applicants)
• The sale will be opened up to everyone at an unspecified date
• Bookings must be made by 5 April 2022
• The 20% discount is valid on stays through 25 May 2022
• Points & cash bookings are included in this promotion but only the points element will be discounted
• This deal cannot be combined with the 4th-night free benefit that comes with the IHG Rewards Club Premier Credit Card.

Note: no registration is required.

Is this sale now open to more people?

YouHaveBeenUpgraded has reported that they’re seeing the sale pricing available through an account that hasn’t, up until now, been able to access the sale but when I price up a qualifying award booking using Joanna’s account, I don’t see any discounted pricing at all.

This is what I see when I search for award availability in LA on 20 April (I have the IHG Rewards Premier Credit Card):

And this is what Joanna sees (Joanna doesn’t have an IHG Rewards co-branded credit card):

This leaves me a little confused.

I have no reason to doubt the report from YHBU, but why can’t Joanna access the sale pricing if it has been opened up to more people?

It’s possible that…

• The sale is gradually being opened up to all members and the rollout hasn’t reached Joanna yet
• The sale is only being opened up to targeted non-cardholders
• The sale is only being opened up to those who hold elite status with IHG (I don’t know if YHBU’s account has status or not)

I have no idea what’s going on but it would be useful to get a few data points to see if that helps clear things up.

If you’re not a holder of an IHG Rewards credit card that allowed you to access this sale on day 1, please would you let us know (in the comments) what your situation is now?

If you tell us what you can (or cannot) see when you perform an award search and indicate whether or not you hold IHG elite status and what country your IHG Rewards account is registered in, perhaps we can work out what’s going on.

Note: Be aware that if you perform an award search via the IHG app rather than through the desktop site and you’ve been given access to the sale, you won’t see the original cost with a strikethrough and the discounted cost beneath it – you’ll only see the discounted cost – so don’t assume that just because you don’t see a strikethrough that you haven’t been given access to the sale.