Originally Posted by
jpdx
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:
The IHG 4th night free is much honest than BonVoy's cheapest night out of 5 nights free! plus the 10% rebate - the raison d'etre that many of us hold on to this no longer available old select card, AND the 0.005 cost to acquire points - all make IHG program a lot better than BonVoy program now for most regular travel needs, outside the "aspirational" stuff.
To be honest, we dont care for Maldive or Samui or Masa Mara or whathave you. Those who aim for such can feel they are getting a high value per pt redemption but completely ignore the other high costs to get there (may be Samui is not as bad), especially Maldive where we feel extremely boring on an atoll that can be covered on foot in a few hours ...
Again, it is all YMMV on what are worthy redemption - to us, IHG has both the high end and the low end that fit our needs when the corresponding BonVoy properties ask for twice or thrice pts!