ausstone

I'm roughly 3,500 points from Spire.

1) Can I make it since it's the 27th?

2) Does it matter?

Mauibaby2008

Find a relatively cheap night with the 5,000 bonus point package to secure Spire. With the 25,000 bonus points that is an easy 30K points + benefits for 2016. Do it

jedicat666

He's right you know

scubaccr

yes

a night of December (even 31st) that posts in Jan2016 still credits the night to the 2015 year.

cheapest nearby hotel with 5k bonus option ticked is your best bet. You need to physically visit to checkin and get roomkey, but do not need to either visit room or checkout next day.

airmotive

UGH!
Thank you for this information.
Why is IHG's support so horrible?

I'm 1200 points short of spire. I wasn't sure if I purchased points, if that would apply to spire status.....so I pulled up chat on IHG.com.
"Gary" said I had to call IHG to get an answer.
I called IHG and, (after doing battle with the woman who knows she is a machine) made it to a real person.
Me: "If I purchase points, will those apply towards spire status?"
Rep: "You can purchase points on our website."
Me: "Yes. I understand that. If I do purchase points on IHG.com, will those points apply to spire status?"
Rep: Promptly hangs up.

So a second call...and I eventually made it to a non-native English speaker who, in no uncertain terms, congratulated me on being platinum, over and over, while completely ignoring my question.
I finally had to interrupt:
Me: "Ma'am. I would like to make spire status by the end of the year. How do I do that?"
Rep: "You need more points."
Me:
Me (again): "If I purchase points, will that apply to spire status?"
Rep: "No" (Hallelujah. An answer, albeit not the answer I wanted.). "You will have to make a reservation, and those points will apply 5 days after your stay."
Me: "Will those points apply to 2015 or 2016?"
Rep: "Five days after your stay."
Me: "If I book a room for tomorrow, will those points apply to 2015 status?"
Rep: "The points will apply to your account five days after your stay."
Me: "Yes, I understand that. But five days from now is 2016. Are you saying there is no way for me to make spire status by the end of the year?"
Rep: "No. But I would like to thank you for being a loyal platinum member...."

I am inclined to accept what I read on FT as far more reliable information than that from any IHG source.

treydawgmt

Airmotive - what you've read on FT is much more accurate than what IHG told you, at least in my experience. Which is wrong, but hey. I will say, email and online chat are far more reliable in my experiences than the phone too. The email takes a lot longer, and chat might be a decent wait some days (but usually quite quick), but otherwise very helpful.

ausstone

Can you guys help me find a hotel that will work? I don't know how the points are earned. I'm in the Miami area.

Mauibaby2008

Find a hotel room that is offering a 5,000 bonus point package. Book it. Easy enough :-)

Happy

South Florida is NOT a location you can do affordable mattress run even at Summer time, let alone in the high season time as now. I happened to look at a possible mattress run in Jan for the Acceleration 2016 promotion - after checking the room rates I said forget about it. The cost is way too high.

You are looking at about $250 and up cost for your hotel night. Are you willing to pay for that in order to get the 25K pts? when you could easily get IHG pts at the cost of 0.007 per pt? Only you can decide whether the cost is worth it.

BrightlyBob

ausstone

It's a bit last minute and Florida isn't exactly cheap at this time of year. Also not all hotels offer the 5000 point package. The best I could find in the South Florida area is the HI Palm Beach Airport Conf Centre at $157 inc tax and the bonus 5k points you need. It's available at this price tonight and tomorrow night.

Once you've taken into account the 25k Spire points, the 5k bonus points and the 2k points for the spend it works out at 32k points for $157, just less than half a cent per point. That's low enough to make it a buy for me.

Then there's the benefits of Spire for 2016. IHG has promised "exciting" enhancements for Spire during 2016, but assuming they all come to nil, you will definitely get the extra 50% Spire points over Plat during 2016. Assuming you've reached your current ~71,500 qualifying point total on stay activity alone during 2015 and repeat that next year the extra Spire points will be worth another 35k points over the year. That's a total of ~67k points for a $157 outlay.

I think it's worth the effort ausstone

BrightlyBob

airmotive
Your mattress run should be far easier than ausstone's since you're only 1,200 points short so any $120 night will do it for you - the best bets for cheap rates are tonight, 29th, or tomorrow, 30th, although if you don't mind spending NYE on a cheap mattress run in the middle of nowhere that could be your cheapest night option. I'd remind you that the Staybridge and Candlewwod brands award only 5pts/$. Of course even these will do on a, say, $50 night with the 1,000 bonus points which typically cost $5-$10. It should be worth the mattress run for you,especially if you live somewhere with cheaper rates. If in any doubt about the points just buy a package with the bonus 1,000 points and you'll definitely make it.

submonte

May I ask for clarification:

Dec. 31st check-out date is meant, or also 2015, Dec. 31st, as check-in date / 2016, Jan. 1st as check-out date, would count as stay for 2015 history?

airmotive

I look out my office window at a Candlewood. Yesterday I booked a room with a 4k bonus package (just to have a little padding), walked over and picked up the key. This morning I stopped by, had a cup of coffee and a USA Today, and checked out. Most expensive cup of coffee I've ever had, but the free newspaper took the sting off.

chrism20

Checking in on December 31st and out on January 1st will definitely count towards your 2015 totals.

In the event that it adds to 2016 contact them and ask for it to be adjusted although I doubt very much you will have to do this. Having looked at screenshots of my account for January this year my stays on Dec 28th and 30th both automatically counted into 2014s total even though they didn't post until 2015.

For your own reference though id recommend taking a screenshot of your stay summary and the transaction history on your account just in case. It's also handy if another chain does a status match offer early in the year as you have your 2015 information handy should you need it.

ausstone

I just doubled checked my status. I'm 2,190 points from Spire. I'm still not sure how the points are calculated. Is it 10 points for every dollar?

I'm about to book a room at the Intercontinental for 349 or would the Holiday Inn Downtown for 219 work?