IHG One Rewards Flash Sale: Should You Stock Up on Points?

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IHG One Rewards is having another points flash sale. The offers differ, but my wife and I got an offer to buy points with a bonus of up to 100% through Saturday, October 5, 2024. To get the 100% bonus, you have to purchase at least 40,000 points. This is a recurring offer from IHG. I previously took advantage of the same offer last October and bought 300,000 points for $1,500.

Should you purchase IHG One Rewards points?

While I’m not usually a proponent of speculatively purchasing points, I make an exception to this rule for IHG One Rewards. That’s because IHG One Rewards is the program where we consistently find the most value.

Of course, your situation could be different than ours. Across the board, I almost always manage to get more than 0.5 Cents Per Point value when redeeming points at one of IHG’s many brands.

Most recently, I redeemed 50,000 points for a pre-cruise stay at the Intercontinental Miami. Rooms were going for $351 a night, which is a 0.716 CPP value or a 43% premium over what I paid for the points. I’ve redeemed points for more than that, like when I received 1 CPP when we stayed in Key West (It’s a shame there’s no longer an IHG property there.)

While it’s harder to find oversized value at lower-priced properties, we paid 30,000 points for this Holiday Inn Express, which was going for $175 a night. Still, we saved a little cash and since it’s relatively easy to replace IHG One Rewards points, I don’t mind spending them.

Why not transfer points?

It’s legitimate to ask why I’m buying points when I have Chase Ultimate Rewards and Bilt Rewards points, which can both be transferred to IHG.

I only value IHG points at around 1/2 cent each. I can get more value from Chase and Bilt points by transferring them to other programs or booking through their travel portals, receiving far more than 1 cent per point. That’s why I’ll purchase IHG points instead of transferring them.

Extra bonus to using IHG points

When you buy IHG points, you can get some great benefits when you use them to book stays if you have an IHG credit card. For example, with the discontinued IHG Select card, you get 10% of your points back when you use them for stays. With the IHG Premier card, you can get the fourth night free when you book a stay. The best part is that you can combine these benefits, so if you book a four-night stay, you’ll pay 25% fewer points and get 10% back.

Final Thoughts

While I’m skipping this flash sale, it’s only because I have points left over from when I purchased them last year. If my account balance was low, I’d most likely be scooping up another 300K points. What about you? Do you stock up on IHG points during one of their 100% bonus point sales?

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