Thank you for the great laugh! IHG redemptions are
amazing value if you are (a) willing to book far out and check occasionally and rebook in case of a drop, (b) somewhat flexible on dates, and (c) US-based (and thus able to obtain Chase cards, which offer 4th night free and 10% back on points redemptions). Mind you, it's easy to buy IHG points directly from IHG or via Discover America at $.005 per point, so the dollar values shown below aren't hypothetical, but rather actual cost. For reference, here are some of my redemptions in the past half year:
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IC Paris at 43.75k points ($220) a night. Beautiful junior suite, excellent club with free-flowing champange all day. Advance purchase rates for the base room around €450 at time of booking, inching up to €600 as the stay approached. Marriott wanted 50k points for Moxy (!) Bastille, 65k for Ren Republique, 75-90k for Westin/Ren Vendome. Initially had the Indigo reserved here for 31.2k a night ($155), but IC dropped significantly a month before the stay.
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IC Vienna at 19.8k points ($100) a night. Not an amazing hotel, but the similarly weak Marriott would have cost over 50k points a night.
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IC Strings Tokyo at 36k points ($180) a night. Aging upscale hotel with a good lounge, easily on par with Westin Toyko, which would have rung in at 87k points a night.
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Regent Phu Quoc at 49.5k points ($200) a night (over peak NYE season). Spectacular hotel with a stunning club lounge. JW Marriott wasn't available on points, and the godawful Sheraton wanted 41k points.
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IC Phu Quoc at 28.5k points ($140) a night (NYE). Have this puppy booked again for NYE 2024 at 18,675 points a night ($94).
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IC Osaka at 36k points ($180) a night during peak Sakura season (well, what was supposed to be peak), beautiful hotel with an excellent lounge. RC and SR were at 80-90k points, Sheraton, Courtyards and Alofts at 45-50k, some Moxies around 30k, the Westin (Westin!) at 70k. Completely nuts!
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IC Cascais at 27k points ($135) during 2023 peak summer dates, vs. cash rates around €400. I have 12 nights booked there for July 2024 at 20,925 points a night ($105), also vs. cash rates of €400.
I'm not gonna dig up more reviews, but realized while searching for the above ones that the two of us had an
exchange in the "is Titanium worth it" thread where you showed that you weren't quite up to speed on recent improvements to the IHG program.
From 2015 to 2019, I had over 100 nights annually with Marriott. This was due in part to footprint, but mostly because of Marriott's BRG program, which was far more honest than what the competition had to offer. It's become much harder to find BRGs, especially at rates I'm willing to pay. Post-Covid, my experience as Marriott Tit deteriorated, culminating in an awful year in 2023. Minimal (and in many cases zero) upgrades even in Europe and Asia, crowded lounges with reduced offerings. Add to that the grotesque Bonvoy points requirements in many places, and it's just not worth it for me. Now, to be sure, I'll probably end the year with a couple dozen Bonvoy nights, simply because there are some hotels I like, and also because my main programs IHG and Hyatt don't have good coverage in many locations, at least not with hotels I want to stay at. Bonvoy is a great tertiary program to fall back on with LTT status, as long as one goes in with low expectations.