nacho

It's an insane devaluation - I remembered that Hong Kong Soho started at 15000 pts in 2012 and 3 years later 30000! That's 100% inflation over 3 years!

rumbataz

Gosh. I'm stunned by some of these changes. Not only are the promotions fairly useless to loyal IHG customers, it's now going to be even harder to reap the benefits of the programme.

It seems like the less desirable hotel at the lower end of the market have gone down whereas the nicer hotels have mostly gone up. A lot!

Very, very disappointed with all of this right now.

holtju2

InterContinental Koh Samui is a small property and by the program rules they only must make 5% of their room inventory available as awards. That's only 4 or so rooms?

stimpy

I have to laugh at the overreactions here and with the bloggers. There's nothing "huge" about these changes. These changes are tiny compared to with other chains such as Hilton have done. And I think any reasonable person saw some of these coming at hotels such as Amstel and IC HK.

whimike

But they aren't even making those 4 rooms available. They removed inventory while I was searching, I found it for one day I wanted, and when I went to check another day, poof, all gone for the entire next year!

Big difference, as I went through the Hilton devaluation and remember it well. Hilton gave people a ton of time to book rooms at the old rates, and hotels didn't play games such as removing their entire inventory to redemptions.

christianj

Sorry but Hilton's gutting of their program does not make these negative changes any less significant. I never understand when people seem to justify a devaluation by saying "it could be worse" or "brand X Y Z was worse." For some who use PC as their main program the changes have a larger impact than for those that don't. (Luckily I'm mainly an SPG guy.....due to past changes at PC, HH and MR...so I'm not as upset about these changes but talk to me if SPG guts their program!)

factory81

I agree with everyone here, up until you. Hilton has always been one of the worst chain in terms of redemption value.

IHG is trying to get 30k/nt for a HI in Steamboat Springs. SPG is asking for 12k-16k depending on season for a Sheraton. I think this is clearly further differentiating IHG from Marriott, who I use to compare IHG's currency to - and putting IHG more in line with Hilton. In fact, I am at this point waiting for them to raise the ceiling from 50k to a 60k at IC's. Or modify the free night benefit.

For a long term IHG-er. I know I remember all the Times Square hotels being around 15-25k points at one point, haha! Yes, CP Times Square for 25k. 15K for the Candlewood Suites. Now this crap just seems like a pipe dream from the 1970's or something.

In terms of hotel point currencies and realized values, it is;
1. SPG
2. Hyatt
3. Marriott
4. Club Carlson/Hilton and now IHG.

If IHG's new promotion sounded nearly impossible to complete for a "boatload of points", it now sounds nearly impossible - and pretty useless.

I say this now because it seems like there is very little to say for having 2-300k points laying around in Club Carlson/Hilton/IHG. They just don't have "burning power". If I am going to put so much effort into obtaining 25k points to stay at a $109/nt Holiday Inn Express, it seems useless really.

So to recap - Marriott hotels now become more preferable for me based on their foot print and point value. IHG as a last resort for paid stays (with Hilton/BW/Choice not being considered). And this devaluation with the introduction of their promo where all IHG's membership base has the opportunity to earn a quarter million points - yeah, we all see how valuable those are now. Just wait for another increase in the IC's in high-profile international cities.

Lastly - this shows an over-riding them in what is a valuable point, and its a convertible currency. Chase UR/Amex MR give you the diversification you need to convert 20-30k points to nearly all programs that matter. Because every brand (both hotel and airline) sucks in their own way. Some mega brands have huge gaps in their international footprint, or above average coverage in certain areas, or certain desirable properties. And having 2-3-400k points in any one program seems to be entirely too limiting, unless you have a use for those points.

Global321

Thanks for publishing the list. It shows - for the most part - spend the points as soon as you can. The points value drops quickly over time.

jpdx

I think anyone who knows what they're doing has long given up on HH and Marriott, so it goes without saying that they're much worse than IHG. However, with last year's and this year's devaluation, IHG is catching up.

The two hotels you reference -and I assume you very well know this- were outliers to begin with -- it never made sense to have Amstel, which routinely runs EUR400/nt priced at 40k, when many $200-ish ICs are at 50k. Similarly, why would IC HK be at 45k, when IC GS HK is at 50k? There's no complaining (from reasonable people who know what they're talking about) about these changes. It's about HI Atrium at 35k, CP Kowloon East and HIX Kowloon East at 30k, and many more hotels that now provide redemption values of well below .5cpp.

scubaccr

London lost all value hotels eg HI Wembley which rooms are often 85gbp jumps. from 10k to 20k and HI Commercial Road rooms 120gbp jumps from 20k to 30k so at often used c&p $7/1k new rates can not be justifie
(I noted Glasgow also took a hit on all the worthwhile hotels)

The bad part is all the good ones jump by 10k which is a 100%, 50% , 33% or 25% increase whilst reductions are typically 5k so just eg 17% on a previously 30k option.

This is not a rebalancing overall points neutral change but is about eliminating any remaining value

Other increases eg IC Amstel are expected and understandable but some IHGers have not helped matters as exclaiming on FT which ones are the value hotels, which just gives info to IHG on which they should increase

stimpy

Sorry, I still don't see an overall devaluation. But if we divide ourselves into two groups its easier to understand.

1. People who do not stay a huge amount at IHG hotels, but who signed up for the 70K bonus on the credit card, use the credit card and also got sweet deals on the last few promos.

2. People who do stay at a lot of IHG hotels, especially international IC's who saw their points earnings increase substantially.

So for group 1, you got a lot of free points for doing practically nothing. And yes those free points could be considered devalued if you were planning to stay at those hotels that went up in value. Of course a lot more stayed even and some went down. Still I can't see how you can complain when most of your points were gifted to you.

I'm in group 2 and I've earned a ton more points since the change in earning policy. And I don't see this change as having any effect on the value of the points I've earned. The hotels I generally use have not changed and I really thank IHG for not following Hilton and keeping the 50,000 point ceiling. In effect the two changes mean that the value of my loyalty to IHG has gone up.

So if you are complaining, please stipulate that you are in group 1 because it sounds like whinging to those of us in group 2.

And as for the post above about SPG points, you need to realize that SPG points are generally worth 2.5 to 3 times what an IHG point is worth. Try your comparison again. I'm SPG Plat too and the two programs are fairly even when it comes to redemption as an elite. Certain SPG redemptions do have higher value and certain IHG redemptions have higher value. It depends on the hotel and I know where to spend my points.

soitgoes

Right.
An IHG Platinum spends $2000 on hotel rooms and earns 30,000 points (without any special promos). An SPG Platinum spends $2000 on hotel rooms and earns 6,000 points.

NJUPINTHEAIR

Stimpy --

I'm a Group 1 guy and am totally in agreement with you.

First, I should state that my business nor personal travel plans are taking me to Asia, so no loss there for me.

With respect to Europe, there was no way I was going to stay at the Commercial Road or Wembley hotels over closer in venues, so it is not a devaluation there either. I was not going to stay at the IC AMS anyway, but the shift upwards is not altogether unreasonable, and they have actually reduced another hotel that I probably would likely have used as for my stay before leaving at the AMS airport.

They may have increased stuff on the West Coast of the USA, but not so much where I go in the East Coast and anyway, I am looking to redeem at either Indigos, soon to come in the fold Kimptons or the Point Break properties so this re-categorization, although more painful that SPG and Hyatt, is quite manageable, indeed.

christianj

For me there just aren't enough Indigo's out there yet in areas I travel to or want to travel to. The one I've been able to stay at (Duesseldorf) was very nice but not in an area I would want to stay at as a tourist.

It will be interesting to see at what level the Kimpton properties are introduced at.

I personally have never found a Point Break property I've been interested or able to redeem at.

I used to stay at PC properties frequently but that changed a couple of years ago. I'm just not excited about the lack of aspirational properties in areas I vacation in. Couple that with the increasing redemption rates and I find myself staying less and less.

htb

Could you explain that conclusion? My understanding is that only people who routinely stayed at expensive "international" (I guess you mean "non-US") ICs, especially those with multi-night stays, saw their points earning increase. For everyone else the earning scheme hasn't changed. For me, who usually spent single nights at low-priced ICs, the point earnings have actually decreased.

HTB.