Deals We Like beat me to the post I planned to write this morning about a Points & Cash opportunity to buy cheaper IHG Rewards Club points with the IHG CyberWeek offers through Friday December 2, 2016. But I have a more detailed analysis of why this is a great week to book Points & Cash Reward stays.
CyberWeek deals from IHG include several offers for room rate discounts in the Americas, $25 off InterContinental Ambassador membership, auction items, and 8 points/$1 dining.
Points & Cash Reward Night Strategy for Cheaper IHG points purchase than 100% bonus points offer
Points purchases are the focus of this post with my analysis showing IHG Rewards Club points are cheaper to buy through Points & Cash reward nights than the offer for 100% bonus points this year on points purchases this week.
The CyberWeek special offer available through Friday, Dec 2 is a 10% discount on the cash portion for IHG Rewards Club Points & Cash rewards.
IHG Rewards Club MasterCard members get a 15% discount on the cash portion.
Holiday Inn Express Chicago Midway Airport Tue Jan 10, 2017
Points + Cash Reward Night = 15,000 points + $84.15
As an IHG Rewards Club MasterCard member, the IHG Points & Cash rate for this 30,000 points hotel is 15,000 points + $84.15.
Purchase rate = $84.15/15 = $5.61 per 1,000 points.
100% Bonus Points Rate Price Comparison
IHG members can buy points this week with a 100% bonus points when purchasing 5,000 points. Points purchases through IHG come at three different price points.
IHG Rewards Club Points Purchase Price Points
- Buy 1,000 to 10,000 points = $13.50 per 1,000 points. 100% bonus points rate = $6.75/1,000 points.
- 11,000 to 25,000 points = $12.50 per 1,000 points. 100% bonus points rate = $6.25/1,000 points.
- 26,000 to 60,000 points = $11.50 per 1,000 points. 100% bonus points rate = $5.75/1,000 points.
Points & Cash Reward nights have several advantages for members who want to buy cheaper IHG points.
- IHG MasterCard members can buy 15,000 points for $84.15 through a Points & Cash reward. Cancel the reservation and the 15,000 points are deposited directly into your account. The 100% bonus points offer rate is $94.50 to buy 14,000 points or $108.00 to buy 16,000 points. Even without an IHG MasterCard the rate is less.
- You need to spend $299 with the 100% bonus offer to get a points purchase rate below $6.25 per 1,000 points. Any IHG Rewards Club member with 5,000 points can buy 10,000 points for $63 through Points & Cash reward nights at most hotels.
- Not all Points & Cash copay amounts are the same for all hotels. Chicago area hotels provide a good example of copay discrepancies.
Candlewood Suites Chicago O’Hare offers Points & Cash reward nights with the purchase price for 10,000 points = $65.00. Most hotels charge $70 copay to buy 10,000 points for a Points & Cash reward. This means the rate to buy 10,000 points at Candlewood Suites ORD is $58.50 for IHG Rewards Club members and $55.25 for IHG MasterCard members. The cost to buy 10,000 points for me is reduced from $67.50 to $55.25 for 18% savings on the points purchase price.
Crowne Plaza Chicago O’Hare has an even lower Points & Cash copay at $51 for 10,000 points.
- Another advantage of IHG Points & Cash Rewards are points purchased with cash copay do not account toward the annual purchase limit of 60,000 points with IHG Rewards Club. The bonus points received through the 100% bonus points offer also do not count, so you can buy up to 120,000 points with the 100% bonus points offer. That is a good purchase rate for points if you have a need for lots of points. But if you have already bought 60,000 IHG points in 2016, then you can’t buy any more points in 2016 through the 100% bonus points offer this week. But you can still buy even cheaper points, as low as $5.10 per 1,000 points through Points & Cash reward bookings by December 2.
My IHG Tour de France Cycling 2017 Hotel Stay Plan
I had already planned to buy points this week for a hotel stay I want in France next July at a Holiday Inn Express charging 15,000 points per night with current room rates running 130 EUR per night during a Tour de France stage. I expect this hotel to sell out or at least have even higher rates in July when Tour de France comes through the city.
I currently have 29,000 points and need 16,000 additional points to book a 3 night reward stay in France for next July. While writing this post I booked a 2-night Points & Cash reward stay for 20,000 points + $102 for a Chicago hotel.
I now have 9,000 points and a Points & Cash reservation in Chicago for two nights. If I cancel my Chicago Points & Cash reward stay, my account balance will be 49,000 points. I can then book the 3-night hotel reward stay I want in France.
$102 to buy 20,000 points is nearly a 25% discount on the price of points purchases compared to buying 20,000 points for $135 through the 100% bonus points offer available during IHG CyberWeek running through Friday, December 2.
Purchasing 20,000 points for $102 brought my points purchase rate down to $5.10 per 1,000 points rather than spending $299 for 52,000 points to get the $5.75 per 1,000 points rate through the 100% bonus points.
4 Comments
Comments are closed.