IHG Rewards Club Devaluation 2016
IHG has devalued their award chart today, however you wouldn’t know it if you read their post. As part of their new annual shuffle of properties between categories, they introduced two new price levels of 55,000 and 60,000 points. This isn’t really announced, the only thing they say about today’s changes are:
Point redemption amounts for Reward Nights at approximately 400 hotels will change, starting February 17, 2016. Please take a look at the chart below for hotels where redemption amounts will change 5,000-10,000 points.
The thing is that prior to these changes, award redemptions varied from 10,000 points to 50,000 points. It even says so on their website!
I’m not sure why they didn’t decide to make it a little more obvious that they are adding two new categories (ok I know why), but I think this is dishonest to say the least. It is not surprising given how generous their promotions have been (like 50K points for one stay), but it is dishonest nonetheless.
Hotels Moving to 55K Points
- InterContinental Sydney
- InterContinental Melbourne the Rialto
- InterContinental De La Ville Roma
- InterContinental The Willar Washington D.C.
- InterContinental Boston
Hotels Moving to 60K Points
- InterContinental Carlton Cannes
- InterContinental Paris – Avenue Marceau
- InterContinental Paris – Le Grand
- InterContinental Le Moana Bora Bora
- InterContinental Bora Bora Bora Resort Thalasso & Spa
- InterContinental Hong Kong
- InterContinental London Park Lane
- InterContinental The Clement Monterrey
- InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco
- InterContinental San Francisco
- InterContinental Alliance Resorts The Venetian
- InterContinental Alliance Resorts The Palazzo
- InterContinental New York Times Square
About 400 Properties Changing
As part of the announcement about 400 properties are changing award levels. Some are moving down, but and some are moving up. Most of the properties increasing are on the top or bottom ends and the ones decreasing seem to be mid-tier. You can find a full list of properties changing categories as of February 17, 2016 on their website.
My Thoughts
This isn’t an unexpected move since IHG has been in the habit of increasing many more properties every year than they have decreased. With that said, I think a mention of the fact that the 55K and 60K levels are new would be nice, but apparently they don’t think so. What do you think? Should IHG have made it more clear that they are devaluing?
HT: Loyalty Lobby via Travel Blogger Buzz
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It doesn’t matter. The only way to use IHG points is Rewards Club PointBreaks. Everything else is a waste of points.
Not true in my opinion. There are some very good value redemptions in their lower tiers, but Point Breaks definitely represent the best overall value.
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Looks like I will be staying at le moana with no thalasso switching opportunity. Glad I booked everything months ago because this news would have screwed me entirely.
I was looking at a holiday inn union square San Francisco weeks ago and it was only 20k per night. Then I looked last week and 40k per night. The one thing I don’t like about ihg rewards is that rewards night might not be available for some dates even tho you can book $. And sometimes only certain room/bed types are available for redemption even tho they are all priced the same in $. Never been able to find a good value
No need to stay at stupid expensive Union Square San Francisco brotha.
99% of the hotels in the city are OLD ASS relics of jank ass 1900s which still get away with charging high prices without updating or modernizing its shit cuz its a tourist attraction. Unless youre traveling with a delicious hottie or looking to get a delicious hottie in the city, just do couchsurfing.com or AirBnB (AKA AirBnDeek). Using precious points/miles in that location is not even worth it.
So if we book now for a future date like June, the new rates will apply or we can save some points by booking now?
If you book before February 16 then you will get the old rates.
One word comes to mind: ridiculous. IHG already has a ridiculously expensive award chart. Now they want to charge even more? I don’t think anybody is going to pay for their properties with points except for on Pointsbreaks.
Your statement is not accurate. “As part of the announcement about 400 properties are changing award levels. Some are moving down, but the vast majority are becoming more expensive.”
The changes are equal with around 200 up and 200 down. Problem is nearly all the hotels going down are 30,000 points or less.
Thanks Ric. I missed that on my initial scan, but have corrected the text to make it more accurate.