Originally Posted by
js1993
Basically, both, although sometimes you can book by the expiration for a stay within a week after expiration. That was a small loophole in the past that might have been closed by now.
I think that loophole is closed now. I was initially allowed to book a night 1/1/22-1/2/22 with an expiring 12/31/21 cert. But when I checked a few days later, IHG had switched the certs I was using for the stay. It replaced the 12/31/21 cert with another one expiring later in 2022. The 12/31/21 cert was put back into my account.