Originally posted back in August but reposting in case you didn’t see it originally or meant to do this and forgot – the deadline to get an additional 12% off IHG Cash and Points stays is September 18th (Sunday), and bookings can be for dates through November 30th
IHG is one of my favorite hotel chains. While I am not a big fan of spending a ton of points on some of their aspirational hotels (70K for an Intercontinental? No thanks), they do have periodic Point Breaks hotels for only 5,000 points, and good promotions like the current IHG Accelerate Fall 2016 promotion. Though I don’t enjoy staying at Holiday Inns…
Getting the Chase IHG credit card
The Chase IHG credit card is one of the few credit cards that I will pay the annual fee on. The main reason is that the $49 annual fee gives you one free night at ANY hotel worldwide, even an overwater bungalow in Bora Bora
(SEE ALSO: Why you should get 2 IHG cards at the same time)
Another good perk of the IHG credit card is that you get a 10% rebate on all award stays. So that 5000 point Point Break hotel actually only ends up costing a net of 4500 points.
IHG Cash and Points 12% off
Currently IHG is offering 12% off Cash and Points bookings for Platinum members (which you get for free by having the IHG card). You have to book by September 18th and is valid for stays through November 30th.
Taking a look at a sample booking at Times Square (one of the top 28 worst tourist traps?)
You end up essentially buying IHG points at 0.55 cents per point at the cheapest valuation (20,000 points for $110). This is a fairly low price, but not one that I would advise buying points speculatively. As always, it depends on how many points you have and how many upcoming stays you have.
One thing to remember with Cash and Points bookings is that Cash and Points bookings do NOT count as a paid stay like they do with some other hotel chains – it’s basically just buying points at a specific rate and using those for an award stay.
If you do make a Cash and Points booking and end up canceling the booking, you’ll get the points back (no cash)
Are you going to take advantage of this IHG Points + Cash sale?
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The thing I found misleading about this promotion is that they call it 12% off Cash and Points rates, but it is really just 12% off the cash portion of Cash and Points rates. So rather than being a discount off points redemptions, it is a discount off the purchase of points (which happen all the time in various forms).
I just booked a room under this promotion because it’s part of my “Accelerate” offer. I was surprised to find out that if I cancel the room I’ll be refunded completely in points. I didn’t realize that was how it worked until I called IHG to verify. It’s a little odd from a consumer standpoint to do it that way.
Yes – cash and points do NOT count as a regular stay (though if your accelerate offer specifically said to book cash and points then it will count). This is different from other chains, where cash and points often do count towards things like requalifying for status and such. With IHG Cash and Points you’re essentially just buying the points that you need at a given rate, and then booking an award stay. So if you cancel it’s just getting the points back. Some people actually do this intentionally as a way to buy cheap IHG points