REMINDER: Last Day To Book IHG Properties At Pre-Devaluation Rates

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Back on the 7th of January a sharp-eyed Flyertalker noticed that IHG had published a webpage showing that almost 700 of its properties would be changing the number of points that they charge for an award night.

Approximately 82% of these properties will be increasing the cost of an award night from tomorrow (25 January 2019) so today is your last chance to book these properties at a reduced cost.

Likewise, should any of the properties that are going down cost be on your list to visit this year, you have less than 24 hours to wait before you can lock-in the new rates.

The IHG Devaluation Recapped

• The award changes are kicking in for bookings made from 25 January 2019
• IHG’s top-tier properties will continue to cost 70,000 points/night
• No properties are being promoted to the top-tier in this devaluation
• Approximately 82% of the properties on the list are increasing the cost of an award night
• Approximately 18% of the properties on the list are decreasing the cost of an award night
• No increase or decrease appears to be greater than 5,000 points
• 29 InterContinental properties are changing the cost of an award night:
  • 21 InterContinental properties are increasing in cost
  • 8 InterContinental properties are decreasing in cost
• 5 of the 8 InterContinental properties that are decreasing in cost are in mainland China
• 10 Kimpton properties are changing the cost of an award night:
  • 2 properties are increasing in cost
  • 8 properties are decreasing in cost
• There will be 37 fewer properties costing 40,000 points or less from 14 January 2019

This Is A Bad Devaluation No Matter How You Look At It

IHG seems to have taken to increasing the cost of award nights on a yearly basis and, even though a token number of properties see the cost of an award night reduce, the properties that get cheaper are almost all in less desirable locations.

Reducing the cost of an award night at a few token properties is not IHG offering us a little bit of a trade-off – that’s IHG reducing the cost of awards because occupancy rates at these properties are so low.

Also, as far as I’m aware there still hasn’t been an official announcement from IHG to let its Rewards Club members know that a significant number of properties will cost more from tomorrow (I haven’t had an email to any of the accounts I control).

Why?

That’s a staggering level of arrogance and displays a complete disregard for IHG Rewards Club members….and it’s also a great example of why we just cannot trust loyalty programs.

Bottom Line

Here are a couple of key things to keep in mind:

The free award night that comes with some IHG Rewards credit cards is capped at 40,000 points and, from tomorrow, there will be fewer properties available at 40,000 points or lower in the IHG portfolio.

If you’re sitting on a free night certificate make sure you check the IHG list to see if any properties you’re considering visiting will be out of reach come tomorrow.

If you’re planning on making an IHG Rewards award booking at any point this year check the list today.

If the property (or properties) you’d like to visit are about to cost more you should do what you can to book them before the devaluation kicks in tomorrow.

If a property you’d like to visit is going town in price, hold off making any bookings until the new rates are reflected in the system tomorrow.