There is a side benefit of the IHG Flash Sale on reward nights at 67 hotels worldwide today, September 30. The discounted reward nights at 25% to 75% off mean some hotels are bookable as Points & Cash nights for only 2,500 points + $70.
This opportunity means a person with 2,500 points and less than 5,000 points can use the Points & Cash trick to build up IHG Rewards Club points.
A person without any IHG Rewards Club points can buy 3,000 points today and earn a 20% bonus during the bonus points offer running September 24 to October 18, 2013.
Spend $40.50 = 3,600 points to buy 3,000 points at $13.50 per 1,000 and receive 20% bonus points (600 points).
Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley is normally 25,000 points per reward night and today hotel reward nights are 50% off at only 12,500 points.
- 12,500 points
- 7,500 points + $40
- 2,500 points + $70
- Published rate for Nov 5 = $208.85 + tax, prepaid, nonrefundable.
A Priority Club member with 2,500 points can buy 10,000 points when booking a hotel stay at Crowne Plaza San Jose-Silicon Valley for $70.
Cancel this reward booking and the 10,000 points go back into your account.
This could be a useful tactic if you are short on points and want one of the hotels offered today during the reward night flash sale or if there is a PointBreaks hotel you might want to book.
This is a sideways tactic for someone with no points to get 13,600 points for $110.50. Or someone with fewer than 5,000 points, but more than 2,500 points has an opportunity to pick up 10,000 points for $70 compared to buying 13,200 points for $137.50 with the bonus points sale running through October 18, 2013. Savings = $27.00.
Generally speaking, buying points this way only makes since if you want to redeem for one of the discount reward options available right now.
IHG Links:
Buy IHG Rewards Club Points with up to 50% bonus points Sep 24-Oct 18, 2013.
September 30 one day flash sale at 67 hotels for stays Oct 8 to Nov 8, 2013 (Loyalty Traveler post Sep 30).
IHG Sep 30 Flash Sale direct link.
IHG Rewards Club PointBreaks at 5,000 points per reward night for stays through October 31, 2013.
IHG Points & Cash Trick tutorial (Loyalty Traveler – June 28, 2013)
Ric Garrido of Monterey, California is writer and owner of Loyalty Traveler.
Loyalty Traveler shares news and views on hotels, hotel loyalty programs and vacation destinations for frequent guests. Check out my page of collated current hotel promotions.
Follow Loyalty Traveler on Twitter and Facebook and RSS feed or subscribe to a daily email newsletter on the upper left side of this page.
5 Comments
Comments are closed.