IHG Rewards Selling Points At A Discount
IHG sent out an email to their members today offering a 60% bonus on the purchase of 10,000 or more points. While I generally don’t recommend ever buying points, the one exception might be for IHG’s Point Breaks hotels which go for only 5,000 points per night. (The August & September list was partially released today.)
Lets take a look at the details of the promotion and then I will show you why it is a bad deal and how you can buy IHG Rewards points at a cheaper rate any day of the year!
The Promotion
The promotion offers a 60% bonus on the purchase of points. They are selling the points in the following 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
Lets assume you would only buy points at the cheapest price offered with this deal. That would mean you would have to purchase between 26,000 – 60,000 points. For the sake of keeping the numbers even, lets look at the math for a purchase of 30,000 points.
30 * $11.50 = $345 for 30,000 points
Cost per point = $.0115
Cost of 5,000 points for a Point Breaks hotel = $57.50
A Cheaper Way To Buy IHG Rewards Points
Did you know there is a way to buy points for $.007 every day of the year? Have you ever noticed when searching for hotels on IHG.com that their is a Cash + Points option? That is the key. Lets take a look at the Holiday Inn: Tulsa City Center for example.
This hotel requires 15,000 points per night for a redemption. Alternatively, you can spend 10,000 points plus $40 or 5,000 points plus $70. If you do book the Cash + Points option and cancel your reservation later, then IHG refunds your booking in the form of points. (5,000 points that you paid plus 10,000 points in place of your $70.)
When all is said and done, you end up paying $70 and IHG gives you an additional 10,000 points. (Note: You must have at least 5,000 points in your account for this trick to work.) This method works out to a cost of $.007 or just $35 for a Point Breaks hotel!
The only thing to keep in mind is to make sure your dummy booking is for a date that is within the cancellation period. Other than that, simply make the booking, pay with your credit card and then go back and cancel. It is that easy!
Conclusion
IHG Rewards can be good for redemptions at lower end hotels and their Point Breaks specials are truly one of the best deals around. With that said, don’t fall into their point sale trap. If you really want to buy IHG points then you can get them any day of the week for $.007. Say no to the sale.
Want to learn another IHG Rewards trick? Learn about their Best Price Guarantee and how finding a lower price can get you a free night!
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I used that trick to buy 5000 points to top off my account for a recent stay. I think I probably should have just transferred over more Ultimate Rewards but I value those pretty highly.
Yeah it all depends on how many points you have. I have a ton of UR points, so I may have transferred them, but it all really depends on the situation. I definitely don’t feel that going from UR points to IHG Rewards points is generally a smart thing to do.