Intercontinental Ambassador Status Half Off
I was sent an email from IHG Rewards last week that shows an offer to get Intercontinental Ambassador status half off. It doesn’t appear to be a targeted offer after skimming the terms. You just need to sign up for, or renew, Intercontinental Ambassador status before the end of the year. This status works at Intercontinental & Six Senses hotels and runs separately from the IHG One Rewards program.
Email Subject: Enjoy 20K bonus points when you join Ambassador
Offer Details
- Join now through 31 December 2022 then stay two nights with InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants, or Regent® Hotels & Resorts by 31 January 2023 and receive 20,000 bonus points.*
- Join InterContinental® Ambassador today for $200 or for 40,000 points.
- Link to Offer (although no offer mentioned on the sign up page for some reason)
Offer Terms
To participate in the “Join Ambassador, stay two nights, earn 20k bonus points” offer (the “Offer”), an individual must first enroll in the InterContinental® Ambassador program during the period of 2 September 2022 through 31 December 2022 and then complete two qualifying nights at participating InterContinental® Hotels & Resorts, Kimpton® Hotels & Restaurants, or Regent® Hotels & Resorts by 31 January 2023 to be awarded 20,000 IHG One Rewards bonus points. This offer is not applicable for Royal Ambassador members and is not valid for InterContinental ® Ambassador membership enrolments or renewals obtained on a complimentary basis or using the IHG Employee discount.
To qualify for the 20,000 bonus points, each of the two nights must be part of one or more Qualifying Stays. A Qualifying Stay is defined as a minimum 1-night stay booked under a Qualifying Rate, with total spend exceeding $30 USD (or local equivalent) per night. Only one room per member per Qualifying Stay will be eligible. If more than one member checks into the same room, only one member is eligible to claim the night for purposes of the Offer. No retroactive credit will be awarded for stays prior to this Offer or prior to enrolment into the InterContinental® Ambassador programme. The “Ambassador Complimentary Weekend Night” rate is a Qualifying Rate, and the complimentary night may be counted towards the two nights needed to qualify for the additional 20,000 bonus points.
This Offer can only be redeemed once when first joining the Ambassador programm and a maximum of 20,000 IHG One Rewards points can be achieved for enrolments based on the payment of USD200 or redeeming 40,000 points. Please allow up to six (6) weeks for bonus points to be posted to the recipient’s IHG One Rewards account.
Link To Full Terms For The Offer
Benefits Of Ambassador Status
Here are the perks you get for having Intercontinental Ambassador status:
- A guaranteed one category upgrade
- Complimentary internet and bottled water
- A $20 Food and beverage credit
- Guaranteed 4PM late check-out
- Complimentary weekend night certificate
- Platinum Elite status in IHG One Rewards
The bolded perks are guaranteed. If the hotel is unable to provide them during your stay they need to give you a $50 restaurant, bar or spa credit or 10,000 IHG One points.
You will also get perks at Six Senses properties with your Ambassador status:
- Complimentary breakfast for two each day
- Signature Amenity of either a complimentary 50 minute Six Senses Spa massage for two or local experience (once per stay)
- Complimentary one category room upgrade
- Extended check-out of 4PM subject to availability
- Early check-in subject to availability (10AM)
- Complimentary internet access
- Wellness Platter welcome amenity on day of arrival. Benefit always subject to availability for all tiers at Six Senses Residences.
Intercontinental Ambassador Status Half Off: Final Thoughts
With this offer you can essentially get the status half off since it costs 40,000 points and they will give you 20,000 points back. I would pay with points if I had enough because their value is $0.005 to me, or $200 for 40,000 points.
You do have to stay 2 nights to earn the bonus so there is an added cost there. The free night certificate you get with your status should work for one of those two nights. If you had a stay planned at a hotel that works anyway this could be a net positive. Of course, that is assuming you would be paying cash anyway. You do have to book the free night rate for the first night which isn’t always the cheapest available, so be aware of that.
If you stay at Intercontinental hotels often I think this is a status worth getting. After just 5 stays a year you would have paid off the other $100 in cost on its own with the $20 food and beverage credit. It all depends on how often you frequent their hotels though, which is difficult with their small footprint.
I do end up staying at the Intercontinental Hotel in Cleveland a few times a year so I am considering grabbing this. Although it isn’t normally on a weekend so that makes using the free night certificate a bit more difficult if I was trying to work it into my normal travels.
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The free weekend night cert is only on special rates associated with that cert so it’s not worth that much to most people. Having been Ambassador off and on for years with IHG I think it’s worth it if you are going to stay more than 4 nights (award or paid) with IC or at Six Sense.
$16k nett cost if you have the credit card due to 10% off on point redemptions.
Not sure why you used the dollar sign, as it’s obviously not $16,000.