FlyerTalker78341

I agree with the above. But I disagree with your other generalizations. I don't see how you can claim the absolute best people can expect out of their IHG points is .5 cent per point and adding that .4 cents is the more realistic figure.

While the .5/.4 cents figures might ring true for some IHG members, it doesn't for others. I regularly buy points at .5 cents because I have much more valuable redemption options.

And I reiterate: Point redemptions are attractive when room rates are high. Your argument that you'd book another hotel if the cash rate at an IHG property is high is only part of the equation. Of course, it makes sense to shop around. No way I would claim one should redeem IHG points whenever IHG properties' cash rates are high.

But it's a fact that hotel rates are more and more in sync these days. When cash rates at Palazzo and Venetian (IHG) are particularly high on one weekend, chances are room rates at Elara (Hilton), Bellagio (Hyatt), and Wynn are high, too. And that relation doesn't just hold for Vegas. Late last year, I needed a room in midtown NYC on short notice. It turned out basically all properties charged north of $350: HIX, Moxy, Novotel, Marriott, Hilton Garden Inn etc.

So a redemption with IHG (a program without surge pricing for awards) made a lot of sense and gave me a very good return on the points used.

craigthemif

You misunderstand me. I didn't mean that you can't possibly get more than 0.5 cents. What I mean is that you are deluding yourself if you think that the points are worth more - on average and across hundreds of IHG hotels. If you start believing that you should only use points when you're getting 0.7 cents or better, or should buy unlimited quantities of points at 0.5 cents because they're "worth more than that", then you are going to lose out from devaluations and/or you need to do serious mental gymnastics to convince yourself that you're "getting high value" for them.

FlyerTalker78341

Diminishing marginal utility of consumption along with the fact that IHG points are illiquid (i.e., you can't easily convert them back into Ł/€/$) implies that the "average" points value you are referring to is not a useful concept in this context.

If I have 200k points in my account, a point has different value than with 2m points in my account. That is true even if points inflation is negligible (as people discount the future; you have only limited free time you can use to enjoy award nights).

Personally, I just have a few 100k points in my account. So perhaps it's not that surprising my take on points value and the prepaid MC is different than that of posters which have an order of magnitude more.

But I can't resist posting that points millionaires (for whom--everything else equal--the points value should indeed be lower) probably have a bigger problem than the exact value of an IHG point. Given the limited redemption opportunities many (not yet retired) travellers got in any given year, I would question if it was smart to accumulate so many points with IHG. As we all know, IHG has very few luxury properties. If I generated a huge number of nights and points essentially for free through work travel, I'd be looking harder at Accor, Hilton, Hyatt, MO, Marriott, etc. IHG has nothing compared to Raffles, Waldorf Astoria, Park Hyatt, MO, St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton, etc.

Flying Lawyer

You really should resist posting since you might not be able to understand that there are travellers who hold highest status in more or less every chain. You might further not be able to understand that there are parts of the world where Raffles, Waldorf=Astoria, Park Hyatt, MO, St. Regis and Ritz-Carlton to not have an anyhow relevant footprint. And there are other part of the world where eg. Waldorf=Astoria are nothing but crappy three star properties (eg. Florida). And you might not be able to understand that there are travellers like myself, who eg use an IC in one place, a Westin in another place and a Hilton in a third place. It all depends on personal schedules and preferences. I do avoid certain ICs as I do avoid certain Waldord=Astorias or certain other places. I have a choice. And "I would question" whether somebody without such schedules is "smart" enough to comprehend this fully.

336

Any difference between the "Meeting Credits" card and the "Any Hotel, Anywhere" card?

The naming of the cards is not very clear imo.

From the product details I seem to understand that the "Meeting Credits" card is good for any expenses at an IHG property, and the "Any Hotel, Anywhere" card is good at any hotel.

Can someone confirm?

Lewis42

Cielito_

shoven

I would be interested to know if they are accepted in asia would be nice if I could use in Hong Kong or Danang even the Thai properties would be handy for me.

milemission

Sure sometimes points booking only get a basic room for 2. With cash, I can book a room for our family with a teenager.

rdh0924

This is my understanding as well. At 260,000 points for a $1,000 "Meeting Credits" card, this seems to be a better value if being used at IHG properties. Worth noting that there is a 2% conversion fee when used outside the U.S.

I called IHG and was assured the Meeting Credits card would work at either of the ICs in Bora Bora, FWIW.

lipsum

As a Spire Amb, it seems to make no difference in terms of status benefits whether I book an award or a regular night.

I easily get a value of 0.8-0.9 cents on award stays, even when comparing versus a non-flex rate. (More when comparing award vis-a-vis flex rate.)

It is a bit of work as at some properties, many due to their prices fluctuating so heavily. E.g., recently, I needed a cheap-ish hotel near MAD just to crash for 8 hours between flights. Four weeks prior to the date, all properties (Hilton, Melia, Accor, IHG) were hellishly expensive. The CP was completely sold out. A few days later, a few rooms opened up at the CP. Cash was 250€, but award nights for 25k were available. So I booked an award. I kept checking prices regularly like once or twice every week or so. Cash prices continued to fall until like, 48h before my stay, the rate was down to 104€. Plus there was increased cashback to be had at topcashback.co.uk. So I reserved a regular room and cancelled the award.

Morale of the story: Optimal points usage can be a bit of work. In that story, it was more time-consuming than normal and I ended up not spending points. But, the bottom line is that I can get a value of 0.8-0.9 cents just by paying a little bit of attention.

Obviously, with brain.exe not running, you can make very poor decisions booking award stays, getting as little value as 0.2-0.3 cents. For people who don't like to maximize or people who simply don't have the time to do so, these prepaid cards are a decent option.

hclee01

Can I check if this prepaid card is available for redemption outside US/UK? I am based in SG and when I logged into my account, I am not able to select this gift card and encountered error.

https://catalog.ihg.com/79462IHHCLUB...duct/_/A-02988

Land-of-Miles

Bit late to this and something of a tangential point but what upgrade at the IC JNB? My only stay there was memorable for a complete lack of any benefit there at all as a RA apart from the minibar where after a massive stand up row I went about ensuring that I emptied all the contents I didn't drink down the sink as I was so annoyed about the lack of upgrade when clearly there was an available suite to upgrade me to available for sale.

Since at that particular property status seems to be worth very little, it seems like a decent enough redemption opportunity, of course I would never stay there again and much rather stay at the infinitely better IC Sandton and use their shuttle and the Gautrain.

I burned through a lot of IHG points last year and this for work stays and recharged my company the equivalent revenue cost which was quite a bit better value than taking the prepaid card but I do see the appeal of the card where it works out well.

ILS2

I have decided to get a couple of these because:
- Account balance was nearing one million (don't want to wake up to a sudden devaluation)
- Lack of time for personal travel (can't even find time to burn the RA "free night" voucher), but plenty of corporate travels
- Would like to guarantee full RA benefits on rewards
- My local currency is nearing a 20-year low vs USD (the prepaid card are in USD, so no exchange rate horrors)

hclee01

Hi, can you assist to share how you can redeem for this prepaid card? When I click on the Redeem button, I keep encountering the error message. Thanks!