IHG Rewards Club has a bonus offer for up to 100% bonus points through August 23, 2019 when you buy at least 26,000 points for $260 at the regular price. That price point at $260 drops the rate to $5.00 per 1,000 points when you receive 56,000 points.
You can buy up to 200,000 points for $1,000 in this offer.
I personally use $5.00 per 1,000 points as my benchmark value when deciding whether to spend points or dollars for an IHG hotel room. In general, most IHG hotels are not a good value for points. Nearly all my IHG points redemption hotel stays are 15,000 and 20,000 points hotels where room rates are priced over $75 and $100.
For example, I stayed two nights at Holiday Inn Prague this month for 15,000 points per night when room rates were $112 per night. That offered a savings of $74 on my 2-night stay using points compared to the price of a room. Then the following week I stayed three nights at Hotel Indigo Krakow on an advance purchase rate I booked in April for $101.50 per night. Hotel Indigo Krakow is 30,000 points per night and paying cash was the better deal, plus I picked up 42,500 points with the IHG Rewards Club Accelerate promotion after one additional night at Holiday Inn Warsaw. I paid $95 at Holiday Inn Warsaw for a hotel that only cost 15,000 points. The low rate at Hoilday Inn Warsaw was $67. What made the $95 paid rate a better value is I booked a 3,000 bonus points package and paid to add breakfast for 2 persons, so we got about $28 in added value from the higher rate. Plus the stay completed all my IHG Accelerate tasks for 37,700 bonus points.
Loyalty Traveler – IHG Rewards Club Accelerate summer 2019 complete – 5 nights, $485 spent, 52,505 points earned (July 19, 2019).
I rarely buy IHG Rewards Club points. I have a large multiple six-figure account balance in points with IHG Rewards Club simply by planning 6 to 10 hotel nights each year to maximize bonus points earned from IHG periodic promotions.
