Point Breaks
I have a couple of IHG news related items to bring you today. First off, IHG announced their next Point Breaks list. For those who don’t know, every two to three months IHG releases a list of hotels that are available for 5,000 points per night instead of their normal redemption rate. These sales are limited quantity and often times the best hotels sell out quickly.
The latest list is available for bookings from March 24, 2014 to May 31, 2014. It seems that every new list brings with it less and less of the upper tier properties. This time the list is mostly a mix of Holiday Inn & Holiday Inn Express properties with a few Intercontinental and Crowne Plaza locations thrown in. You can find the full list here.
Mystery Bonus
IHG is also running a bonus sale on the purchase of points. Accounts receive a bonus of 25-100% on points purchases. If you receive a bonus of 25% or 50% then this isn’t a great deal since you can always buy IHG points for $.007 each. (Search Google to find out how.) Let’s take a look at the cost and breakdown for bonuses of 75% & 100%.
Cost of Buying 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
I would only consider purchasing 26,000 or more points since this comes at the cheapest cost. Let’s take a look at how it breaks down with either a 75% or a 100% bonus with a purchase of 26,000 points.
75% Bonus
Points Received – 45,500
Cost – $299
Cost per point – $.00657 (Less than the everyday $.007)
100% Bonus
Points Received – 52,000
Cost – $299
Cost per point – $.00575 (Less than the everyday $.007)
Analysis
If you receive one of the higher bonus amounts it may be a good idea to purchase points if you have a specific redemption in mind. I received the 100% bonus and am not sure at this point if I will utilize it since I already have a ton of IHG points.
As always it is a good idea to look at the cost of the hotel at which you will be staying to figure out if it is cheaper to purchase the points for your stay. Sometimes you will find it is and sometimes not. To find out your bonus amount click here.
Conclusion
IHG Point Breaks are a great way to stay in nice hotels for only 5,000 points per night. Combined with this promotion, you could certainly get a lot of wonderful stays for very little money. It is good to see IHG remaining competitive with their promotions. Hopefully I will get a chance to stay in one of the IHG Point Break hotels very soon! (As in a couple of days from now!)
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