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This is just a quick reminder that the latest [thirstylink linkid=”25103″ linktext=”IHG Rewards Points sale ends tomorrow (12 September) at 11:59 PM ET” class=”thirstylink” title=”IHG Rewards Points sale ends tomorrow (12 September) at 11:59 PM ET”]. This promotion is offering rewards members the chance to buy IHG points with a bonus of up to 100% and, for a number of people, this could be a good deal.
In Brief
- If you’re going to buy IHG points in this promotion you need to do it by 11:59 PM ET tomorrow night (12 September 2017).
- This is a targeted promotion ([thirstylink linkid=”25103″ linktext=”you can check your offer here” class=”thirstylink” title=”you can check your offer here”]) so not everyone will have the 100% bonus offer on the account.
- IHG Rewards members are allowed to buy up to 60,000 points per calendar year (excluding any bonuses received) so, if you haven’t purchased any points yet in 2017 you still have the full 60,000 allowance available to you.
- Purchases of IHG Rewards Points are processed by Points.com so they’re not eligible for a credit card category bonus – I would use my SPG Amex credit card to buy the points (I need Starpoints) and you should choose a credit card that offers you points you value highest.
Who Should Pay Attention?
If you didn’t get targeted for a 100% bonus my advice is that you don’t buy points this time around.
IHG Rewards offers 100% bonuses reasonably frequently so, unless you need to buy IHG points urgently (to top up an award for example), I’d wait until you have a better offer available to you.
If you were fortunate enough to be targeted for the 100% (as I was) there’s a good chance you hold the IHG Rewards card….
….and you should definitely be thinking about whether this promotion makes sense for you.
The Math
Here’s the offer you’ll see if you have the 100% Bonus available to you:
- Buy 5,000 – 19,000 points & get a 40% bonus
- Buy 20,000 – 60,000 points & get a 100% bonus
Purchasing the minimum number of points to get the 100% bonus (20,000) would see the math work like this:
40,000 points for $250 works out at 0.625 cents per point.
However, the way IHG has structured this points promotions means that if you buy more than 25,000 points the math gets more favorable.
For example:
If you were to buy the maximum of 60,000 points you would get a further 60,000 point bonus for a total of 120,000 points for $690:
This works out to approximately 0.575 cents per point.
So if you’re going to buy IHG points in this promotion make sure you buy over 25,000 of them to get the best cost/point.
Most of the [thirstylink linkid=”25108″ linktext=”top IHG properties around the world” class=”thirstylink” title=”top IHG properties around the world”] cost 60,000 points per night so, essentially, you would be buying 2 nights at a very good InterContinental for $345/night.
If you shop around you’ll find a number of great properties for 50,000 or 55,000 points per night so, in the case of those InterContinental properties, you would essentially be paying between $287.50 and $316.25 for a night inclusive of all taxes and fees. On top of all of that, award bookings are flexible while the best cash rates are not so they can be very useful if your plans are fluid.
The InterContinental Amstel Amsterdam – my favorite example of a great property that doesn’t cost the full 60,000 points/night
Final Thoughts
As I always say, it’s important to understand what you plan to do with any points you buy before you actually buy them. Also, make sure you do the math and compare the cost of buying points to the cost of just buying the room outright – that will help make sure you don’t go wrong when deciding whether to buy points or not.
Whatever you do don’t buy IHG points speculatively. No one outside of IHG knows if or when a devaluation will next hit (hotels can move up categories, IHG may increase the number of points needed for top hotels etc…) so only purchase points that you know you’ll be using in next few months.
[thirstylink linkid=”25103″ linktext=”Follow this link to check the bonus you were targeted for or to buy IHG points” class=”thirstylink” title=”Follow this link to check the bonus you were targeted for or to buy IHG points”]
