I’ll pass on buying IHG points with 25% to 100% bonus offer

IHG Rewards Club points are on sale with a targeted mystery bonus offer for 25%, 50%, 75% or 100% more points on your purchase. This offer is available through 11:59pm ET April 21, 2014. My email offer came from IHG Rewards Club on Friday, March 21 with the title “Reveal Your Mystery Bonus”.

My targeted offer was 50% bonus points. I will pass on this promotion. Note that the offer is targeted to the specific IHG Rewards Club member and is non-transferrable.

The regular purchase rate for IHG Rewards Club points ranges from $11.50 to $13.50 per 1,000 points. The price is lower when purchasing a higher number of points.

You may purchase points in 1,000 increments:

• 1,000 – 10,000 points for $13.50 per 1,000 points
• 11,000 – 25,000 points for $12.50 per 1,000 points
• 26,000 – 60,000 points for $11.50 per 1,000 points

Here are the promotional rates depending on your bonus offer:

25% Bonus Points

• 1,000 – 10,000 points for $10.80 per 1,000 points
• 11,000 – 25,000 points for $10.00 per 1,000 points
• 26,000 – 60,000 points for $9.20 per 1,000 points

50% Bonus Points

• 1,000 – 10,000 points for $9.00 per 1,000 points
• 11,000 – 25,000 points for $8.33 per 1,000 points
• 26,000 – 60,000 points for $7.67 per 1,000 points

75% Bonus Points

• 1,000 – 10,000 points for $7.71 per 1,000 points
• 11,000 – 25,000 points for $7.14 per 1,000 points
• 26,000 – 60,000 points for $6.57 per 1,000 points

100% Bonus Points

• 1,000 – 10,000 points for $6.75 per 1,000 points
• 11,000 – 25,000 points for $6.25 per 1,000 points
• 26,000 – 60,000 points for $5.75 per 1,000 points

IHG Rewards Club bonus points offer analysis

My targeted offer was 50% bonus points. I will not consider this offer at 50% bonus points. The 50% bonus points offer means I would pay $90 for 10,000 points or I could buy 60,000 points for $460.

Through booking Points & Cash rewards and canceling the reward reservation after I purchase points, I can buy 60,000 points for $420.

There is no discount with this mystery bonus offer compared to the other option I have for acquiring points.

The only real deal here is if you are targeted for 100% bonus points. The rate drops to $5.75 per 1,000 points. The 100% bonus means 120,000 points can be purchased for $690.

This is $150 less than buying 120,000 points through Points & Cash reservations that are cancelled after booking. It will cost $840 to buy 120,000 points through Points & Cash rewards or $690 to buy 120,000 points for a member targeted with the 100% bonus points.

Buying IHG Rewards Club points is not an elite qualifying points transaction, so that is not a consideration here in favor of the Points.com purchase.

In my opinion, this mystery bonus points offer is just another IHG marketing gimmick with little value for the savvy IHG Rewards Club member. I’d only consider this offer if I needed some points to enable booking Points & Money rewards to buy more points at a lower rate.

Here is a response I posted on Deals We Like when she asked, Is Purchasing InterContinental Points Worthwhile?

Last year when IHG Rewards Club points were available for $567 to buy 100,000 points during the U.S. Travel Association’s Daily Getaways, the IHG points did not sell out.

As Stephen Colbert likes to say, “The market has spoken”.

If you have a plan for using IHG points, then this current sale is a good deal at 100% bonus points.

Otherwise stay once or twice at an IHG brand hotel, earn 10,000+ points through stackable promotion bonuses, and then book Points & Cash reward stays to buy more points and cancel those stays to build your account balance at the rate of 10,000 points for $70 when you actually need points.

http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2013/06/28/ihg-daily-getaway-points-pointbreaks-and-the-trick-in-pictures/#sthash.WaeWM0Ol.dpbs

http://loyaltytraveler.boardingarea.com/2013/11/05/brg-follow-up-holiday-inn-express-tehachapi-california/
This post shows how I received nearly 16,000 points on a one night stay at a Holiday Inn Express. And I even got my money back for the hotel stay payment since it was a Best Rate Guarantee.

*****

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.

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