IHG promotion: Get 15% off all award bookings (initially just for co-branded cardholders)

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IHG is currently running a very nice promotion in which it’s offering a 15% discount on select award stays completed by 26 October 2023.

For the time being, this promotion is only open to anyone who holds one or more IHG One Rewards credit cards, but as with similar promotions in the past, this offer should open up to all IHG One Rewards members in the next few days.

The promotion

• Book by 16 September 2023
• Stay by 26 October 2023
• Save 15% on the price of an award booking of 3 nights or less.

Holders of the card_name, the card_name, the card_name, and the IHG One Rewards Select credit card (no longer open to new applicants) should be eligible for this offer, and if previous promotions are anything to go by, holders of IHG cards issued in other countries around the world should also be eligible.

Note: The 15% discount can also be used in conjunction with a ‘points+cash’ booking, but only the points element of the price will be discounted.

Thoughts

As far as I can tell, there’s no official landing page for this promotion, but if you’re eligible for the discount, it will be appear automatically in your search results when you search for a stay that’s in line with the promotion’s guidelines.

I hold the card_name (as well as the legacy card) and this is what I see when I search for award availability in Los Angeles within the promotion period:

Joanna, who does not hold an IHG co-branded credit card, does not yet see these discounts when she logs in.

Clearly, a 15% saving on eligible award bookings is a nice thing to be offered (even if it’s only available for stays being made in the next six weeks), but this promotion could be especially useful to anyone looking to use a free night certificate that comes with one of the IHG co-branded credit cards.

The free night certificates offered by the card_name and the card_name are worth up to 40,000 points each and while IHG now allows holders of these certificates to top them up when booking a property costing more than the certificate is worth, the 15% discount that’s currently on offer may bring down the cost of a property that you’re looking to book to within range of your free night certificate. You may not need to use any of your hard earned IHG One rewards points at all.

Here, for example, are two Kimpton properties in Los Angeles:

As you should be able to see, without the 15% discount neither property would be bookable with a free night certificate alone, but with the 15% discount, both now cost less than 40,000 points (for this particular night) and fall right into a certificate’s range.

The biggest winners in this kind of situation will be holders of a free night certificate from the legacy IHG One Rewards Select credit card.

Unlike the certificates that are issued by the currently available IHG co-branded cards, this kind of certificate cannot be topped up so, unless a property that a certificate holder wants to book costs 40,000 points or less, their certificate is of no use.

Speaking from experience, I can tell you that it’s getting increasingly hard to find nice properties that can be booked with a legacy card’s free night certificate, but things get considerably easier (if you’re flexible) when there’s a 15% discount on offer.

Bottom line

If you hold an IHG One Rewards co-branded credit card, now is the time to consider if you need to make any IHG award bookings for stays in the coming six weeks as there’s a 15% discount currently on offer.

If you don’t hold a co-branded credit card but would like to make the most of this deal, check IHG.com at least once a day for the next few days as there’s a very good chance that this deal will soon be opened up to all IHG One Rewards members.

[HT: OMAAT]