This is just a reminder that IHG’s 100% bonus on purchased points ends today. This is IHG’s best promotion of the year on purchased points (up until now we haven’t seen a bonus this good), and there are lots of situations under which buying points could represent an excellent deal. I even bought points earlier this year with just a 75% bonus.
IHG Rewards Club has just rolled out a new offer on purchased points, and it’s potentially their best offer of the year.
You have to log into your IHG Rewards Club account to see what you’re eligible for, though best I can tell, IHG is offering up to a 100% bonus on purchased points through Friday, March 22, 2019.
The way the offer is structured, you earn a 100% bonus when you purchase at least 7,000 points in one transaction. It’s possible some people may be targeted for a different bonus, but all the accounts I manage show the same offer.
If you maxed out the promotion and purchased 100,000 points, you’d end up paying $1,000 and would get a total of 200,000 IHG Rewards Club points. That’s just 0.5 cents per point.
I’d note that generally speaking IHG’s 100% bonus on purchased points is as good as their promotions get. Generally this is what people wait for to buy points, as up until now the best we’ve seen is a 75% bonus (at least as far as I know). Heck, I actually bought points during the previous 75% promotion.
Last year IHG changed two things to make buying points more interesting:
- IHG Rewards Club increased the maximum number of points you can buy per year from 60,000 to 100,000 (pre-bonus)
- IHG Rewards Club lowered the cost per purchased point from 1.15 cents to 1.0 cents (pre-bonus)
Note that while the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card offers a 20% discount on purchased points, that benefit only applies when buying points at the normal cost, and wouldn’t be applicable here.
However, one huge benefit of the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card is that it offers a fourth night free on award redemptions, so you can book four nights and only pay for three. So if you are staying somewhere for four nights, think of it as a further 25% discount.
IHG Rewards Club points purchases are processed by points.com, meaning they don’t count as a hotel purchase for the purposes of credit card spend.
Therefore I’d recommend using a card on which you’re trying to reach minimum spend, or otherwise a credit card that maximizes your return on everyday spend, like the Chase Freedom Unlimited® or Citi® Double Cash Card.
See this post for more on which credit cards are best for buying points.
Cards for everyday purchases
Here are the full terms of the promotion:
Offer available for purchases made between 12:00 AM ET March 18, 2019 and 11:59 PM March 22, 2019 inclusive. This is an exclusive, non-transferable offer for intended recipient only and may not be forwarded. Bonus points will be awarded upon completion of the transaction. Bonus points will be awarded to the recipient of the points purchase. Offer is subject to change. Offer cannot be combined with any other offer.
Price includes all applicable fees. Purchased points are not refundable and are applicable toward all IHG® Rewards Club awards. Members may purchase a maximum of 100,000 points per calendar year and receive as a gift a maximum of 100,000 points per calendar year. Please allow 72 hours for points to post and appear in the recipient’s account. All other IHG® Rewards Club Terms and Conditions apply.
Is it worth buying IHG points with a 100% bonus?
Over the years IHG Rewards Club has devalued their redemption rates quite a few times, though for people buying points, it hasn’t necessarily been bad news. IHG has lowered the cost to purchase points, with many promotions they’ve increased the cap on how many points you can buy, and the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card has a great fourth night free benefit.
For example, at a rate of 0.50 cents per point, you could acquire 210,000 IHG Rewards Club points for $1,050 (the maximum you can buy is 200,000 with the bonus, but let’s apply the same value to the other 10,000 points).
IHG’s most expensive hotels go for 70,000 points per night, so if you had the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card, you could get four nights at that rate. That’s like paying just $262.50 per night including taxes and fees at some of IHG’s best properties.
This represents significant savings over what many of these hotels usually charge.
I wouldn’t speculatively buy points at this rate, but there’s value to be had under the right circumstances. Sometimes this can be a deal on IHG’s highest end hotels, and other times there’s value to be had with their mid-range properties as well.
IHG also has their excellent PointBreaks promotion, where you can redeem 5,000-15,000 points per night at select hotels. That’s like paying ~$25-75 per night at a hotel, which can be a great deal.
Bottom line
I’m happy to see IHG finally bring back a 100% bonus on purchased points, which is usually as good as it gets.
This can represent a good deal, especially in conjunction with the IHG® Rewards Club Premier Credit Card, which can get you a fourth night for free on award redemptions.
While this isn’t for everyone, with a specific use in mind it could make sense to buy points.
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