1flyer

Just two weeks ago ago, some people received targeted offers for reduced P&C redemptions. Those fortunate enough to receive the offer were able to "purchase" points at an even lower rate than the one you mentioned.

BarryL

Considering signing up for Ambassador, currently am Spire with IHG.

Couple questions

1. If I sign up today (will probably use points) will my Ambassador status expire 11/4/18 or 11/30/18 or something else?
2. Do current reservations need to be canceled / rebooked for Ambassador benefits? I doubt they automatically refresh.

Have a couple IC stays upcoming, want to check out Ambassador status.

Jaimito Cartero

Yeah, half a cent per point is too expensive!

I paid about .45 per point just last week. Staying on a PB with the points as I type.

Never say never.

tdcao

Yes. I saw the posts about $600/120,000points (0.5¢/point) targeted promotion. Just combed through my emails to see if I got one but nothing. I would have been content with 0.5¢/point. For those specific promotion where you have to stay at a specific place at a specific time for a specific length to get any benefit will not work for my travel style. I will have to hoard points for cheap and use them when I need them as I wandering around the Country/World.

tdcao

Just PM'ed you about this PB deal. Is it a targeted PB? I need to hoard about 80,000 points for the year end travel and can't seem to find any properties with a good deal to use the Points+Cash+Cancellation method on. PM me back or reply publicly is OK with me. Thanks!

Jaimito Cartero

I’d pay attention on the forum. People usually post when they get offers.

I checked my account and a relatives that I manage. Both had the offer. I only checked a few properties, but all had the same cash and points discounted offer.

tenant13

I wasn't specifically targeted but when I read about this promotion I logged in to my account and was able to buy 120000 points for $600 even. Being Platinum I'll get 10% points back so I suppose I just paid .45 as well.

tdcao

I just saw a 15% off on P+C on the Cash Portion promotion when I login to my profile and went to the "Offer" section.

The $115/20,000 points is now $97.75/20,000 points ((0.48875¢/point). I think I'm going to hoard about 80,000 points at this price for the year end travel.

CalItalian

Thanks for the heads up. I went and did some digging after your post.

Although these are the terms and conditions (below), it appears to work for bookings as early as today and as late as check-in on January 31, 2018 (with any checkout date thereafter). At least that's how it did in my searches tonight.

15% Off Points & Cash -
Use as few as 5,000 points to book & save on the cash portion of your stay
Pay part of your stay in points and the rest in cash. Points & Cash bookings let you redeem Reward Nights faster and stay for less—even if you don't travel often.
And now when you book by November 29, you'll save 15% on the cash portion of your booking on stays through December 31, 2017.

Terms and Conditions:
IHG® Rewards Club members must be logged in to receive 15% savings.
Must book by 11/29/17.
Stay dates include 11/27/2017-12/31/2017.
15% discount is offered at time of booking and only pertains to the cash cost of bookings.
Bookings for The Venetian® and The Palazzo® hotels are excluded from discounts.
This offer is subject to the general IHG® Rewards Club membership Terms and Conditions.
Consult Rewards Program Rules and Regulations and product brochure, or your Cardmember Agreement, as applicable, for details.

iahphx

Can anyone find a points and cash hotel that results in a lower point purchase price?

If you're a Chase IHG cardholder, you get to buy points at .476 cents in the above example. Because you'll also get 10% back in points for redemption, that makes the cost of a 20,000 point hotel less than $86 (with no tax). Because IHG reward prices are all over the map, this can be a very good deal at some properties. Since there aren't a lot of great way to manufacture IHG points through credit cards, this seems like a decent price for frequent travelers who want the ability to pay by points if the point rate (compared to the paid rate) is attractive at a particular IHG hotel they want to stay at. If I were running out of IHG points, I'd be a buyer at this price. But I wouldn't hoard at this price. I'd "hoard" at .40 cents.

minz56

Ever seen it that low?

iahphx

No! But they do seem to be inching that way. Sadly, that might also trigger a devaluation.

barracuda93

Current ~0.48 cents is the lowest I can recall. Still may not make much sense in fact, unless used for points breaks, which recently have no inspiring properties on the list.

iahphx

If you were targeted, the promotion last month was actually a little cheaper.

If you travel a lot but avoid redeeming IHG points because you're running out of them, it's not a bad deal at this price. Their award chart always seems bizarre, and there are some $200/night properties at 20,000 points. (My personal favorite is the Holiday Inn at the SCL terminal; there's really no comparable hotel, but $200 is too much to pay for this property). There are also $150/night properties at 10 or 15,000 points. There are also many, many properties for 20,000 points that cost only $100/night to stay at. So it depends.

barracuda93

Can't comment for other regions, but for Asia I seldom saw any cases of points booking making sense from post-per-point perspective. Perhaps ICs in Japan in high season, like sakura time, and Holiday Inn Taipei, especially prior to its category change (but then, its location is weird).