adam61

I road warrior'd a bit more this year and was able to stay at IHG properties more often. I have an IHG card, but as far as I can tell I need 75k Elite Qualifying Points or 75 nights...

-50% Platinum bonus points don't count
-Welcome points don't count
-Reward night 10% rebate points don't count
-Accelerate Points don't count
-IHG card purchase points don't count

Only thing that seems to count is:
-Stays
-Point Packages at booking

I'm making my fourth quarter plans now and no matter how I look at it I will end up at around 60-65 nights and 65-70k EQP. Is there any tricks to getting the last bit? I hate to get 90% of the way there although I know spire isn't a huge deal. I don't have any more personal stays planned and it seems silly to spend $100's of dollars for stays I don't need, and the business stays I can sometimes book point packages and sometimes not, it's based on the city and the options available from my corporate site.

Thoughts? Thanks for the help!!

floridatraveler90

If you are that close I would consider staying for pleasure somewhere that has a 10k+ bonus rate for a weekend somewhere. I have a hotel that I frequent that usually has nights in the average of $89.00 and an option to add 5k bonus points for only $15.00 extra with no minimum night stay requirement.

P.S. - IHG Card purchases are elite qualifying too just not the initial sign up bonus.

adam61

Oh I noticed the IHG card rebate, and the initial points didn't count so I assumed nothing did. So the 1/3/5 points based on where I spend fully counts as elite points? I have about 7,500 a month in spend so I could switch to that card and hit it.

Points Scrounger

Yes, card spending points qualify!

Baze

Think of it this way, the IHG credit card gives you Platinum status. but if you want Spire you need to forget you have Platinum due to the card and need to meet all the requirements of Spire to get that status. Yes, having the Platinum status gives you a boost but it does not mean you can just meet the difference between Platinum and Spire to make Spire. So if you desire Spire, you will need to make a few more stays/nights/points OP to met the Spire requirements.

Ramsay

Spend money at the hotel: eat there, use the services, etc.

jtc246

IHG card spend counts, as does Ultimate rewards transfers if that is an option. Also a more complicated Membership Rewards to Virgin Atlantic to IHG also counts.

markis10

Is it really worth going out of your way to get Spire, given it’s high requirements and low benefits?

adam61

I don't think it's worth going crazy to get Spire like some do for AA Executive Platinum and others. My point was my natural usage was only going to leave me about 10 nights, and 5-10k EQP short. The IHG Chase card does give you platinum, but you don't have to just earn the difference you need all 75k points from scratch.

Thanks for the tips, I think the card should work I would just need 5-6k in spending based on where it was used by December 31st so this shouldn't be an issue.

Super Mario

From the ground up, probably not. But if you're close, and spend a lot of time at IHG, I'd go for it.

Deez Nutz

I found myself accidentally very close to Spire last December and transferred ~5000 Ultimate Rewards points to get me there. Although IHG points aren't by themselves a great transfer option for UR points, the 5000 immediately got me 30,000 IHG points (w/25,000 Spire choice) plus another ~15,000 this year for the extra 50% bonus on stays. So not a bad return. The unexpected lounge access at European Crowne Plazas this year was just icing on the cake.

CalItalian

The cash portion of Points + Cash are EQP's and they post 5X the amount. Doesn't matter if you cancel the reservation, all the points will then go back to your account but you still get 5X the amount of the cash portion purchase and they are EQP's.

rbAA

Reward nts count as stays. Depending on where you are, find a PB deal and use it. I did 16 PB nts at the HI Silom in Bangkok last time, as I wanted to concentrate my spend on SPG.

Oh, and unlike some other posters here, I actually find Spire to be useful, though I would trade it for Hyatt Globalist any day.

Leaping_Deere

To me unless you are doing the nights or spending the money then don't chase it. The spire benefits at the moment aren't IMHO worth the extra effort but they do keep promising to roll more out. You can get the platinum status with some CC and then it might then be better chasing other hotel status levels.

yurtripper

Transfers from VS still count for elite status, so if you're close enough to the 75K mark it can make a lot of sense. Although you only get 1:1 for the transfer (compared to a 5:1 ratio the other way) you should remember that you will also get the 25K bonus for Spire qualification.

e.g. you have 65K IHG points counting towards elite status. Transfer 10K from VS and you qualify for Spire and can then elect to get the 25K bonus. So you've turned 10K VS into 35K IHG, which is a reasonable deal considering that you'll be earning 100% bonus points from Spire in 2018 (rather than 50% from Plat).

If you don't have VS miles to transfer you can use SPG points, UR or MR to get the miles you need then do the transfer to IHG.